our meet cute, part two.

Well, I've been avoiding the second half of this post for the entire day. Mostly because I've been incredibly busy, but also because it's really hard to remember just the way everything happened, and I want to do our story justice by getting all the small details right. I'm sure you understand.

So. Here goes nothing. Jeffrey and a good friend of his kept asking me to hang out with them. I obviously was into Jeffrey, so I happily obliged. It was fun. I liked hanging out with Jeffrey and his two best friends, but I was (still am) painstakingly shy, so it was hard for me to be myself around them. I wondered if I was ruining things for myself, so I made a change. I started being bold, saying things that I normally would reserve for only my closest friends, and laughing, uninhibited, at things that were funny. It was freeing. One particular night (I couldn’t tell you which one) Jeffrey admitted to liking me while we were on AIM. I remember running out into the porch, where my mom and aunt were sitting, and doing a little happy dance. I was soaring.

Fast forward a few weeks. Jeffrey and his friends were going on a trip to Michigan to stay with another of their best friends. Since Jeffrey confessed that he liked me (and I confessed right back) we had gone on a few dates, most of them awkward. Neither of us had been in a relationship before, so I think that had everything to do with it. Anyway. The trip to Michigan. We were talking the night before he left, and it happened. He asked me to be his girlfriend. I was overjoyed. I’m pretty sure I blushed even though no one could see me. Of course, I said yes. I ran and told my family right away. Now I'm going to skip some parts, mostly because they're uninteresting. So, Jeffrey's back from his trip and I'm getting ready to leave for mine. I went on a trip to New York City with my family. The night before we left, Jeffrey kissed me on my front porch. We often joke that one of us had to leave the state for anything monumental to happen. I remember driving to the airport the next morning and whispering to my sister that Jeffrey had kissed me. It was the most perfect first kiss, and I was happy. The rest, as they say, is history. Jeffrey and I continued to get closer, spent more time together, and eventually fell in love.

I love our relationship for many reasons. But, perhaps, one of my favorite reasons is because before Jeffrey and I were together, we had never been in any other relationship. It has meant so much to me to be in only one relationship with one person. I’m not saying that that works for everyone, but it worked for us. And, it’s still working. I appreciate and love all the people who have been there for me throughout our journey together. It has been friends and family that have supported me, helped me, given me advice, and the courage to go after the things I really wanted. And, Jeffrey has absolutely played a huge role in that. When I met Jeffrey I also met my best friend, confidant, and everything in between. His love means the world to me, and then some.

Phew! Sorry about the length of this story, but I've never really been short-winded. Well, I believe that's enough cheese for one night. xo, R.

(And the wonky font is staying because it's impossible to fix!)

our meet cute, part one.

I’ve known Jeffrey since the fifth grade. He attended our youth group’s program for fifth graders. I liked him right away. I probably like liked him right away, but it’s been awhile, so who really knows. What immediately struck me was that he wasn’t afraid to show all the colors of his personality. I gravitated toward his humor, his easiness, and his genuine interest in making friends with the people around him.

In the sixth grade we attended the same middle school. I remember being really excited about it. (I definitely had a crush on him at this point.) I remember talking to my best friend, Sara, all about him and how much I liked him. She was very gracious about the whole thing because I’m pretty sure I talked too much about Jeffrey in those days. Still, Jeffrey and I were just friends. I was only in middle school, though, so it’s not like I was waiting for some serious relationship to bloom. It hurt a little when he dated another girl at our middle school*, but I was resilient and carefree. It didn’t matter. I think after that time our relationship was strictly friend-to-friend. I pushed him out of my mind as a crush and moved him into the friend category. Let’s just say we carried on as friends for a long time. Like, fast-forwarding-to-our-junior-year-of-high-school long. I remember my sister cajoling me to like Jeffrey (He’s a stellar guy. She was smart.), but I was a dum-dum and liked a few other guys during my high school years.

* I use the term ‘dated’ very loosely. We were in middle school, people. However, I feel the need to point this out because it will matter later, when I tell you that Jeffrey was my first boyfriend and I was his first girlfriend. Because I technically don’t count his middle school relationship as an actual relationship. You understand.

In high school, Jeffrey, Sara, and I took French class together. We sat together, we had nicknames for one another (our names spelled backward, so original), and we were a regular Three Musketeers kind of bunch. I think I probably had a crush on Jeffrey at that time. I probably (definitely) told my family members (like I said, my sister and mom were (are) big fans of Jeffrey) that I did not have a crush on Jeffrey, but it’s time to confess – I was lying. I think they knew. At the end of our junior year, I really had a crush on Jeffrey. I remember we joked about him taking me to prom that year. We were both shy, it ultimately didn’t happen, but I remember wishing that it would. The school year ended, and Jeffrey and I spent many a summer nights conversing on AIM (it was popular at the time, kay?). I loved staying up late and talking to Jeffrey. I think, at that point, my parents wondered if the amount of time I was spending in front of the computer was healthy, but I really wanted to be old-fashioned (What am I talking about? The computer is the opposite of old-fashioned. I guess I mean old-fashioned in the wanting-the-guy-to-make-the-first-move way) and didn’t have the guts to make the first move.

I'll be back tomorrow with the rest. And on Wednesday I have a list of Christina's quirks to share with you! Have a wonderful Monday! xo, R.

a happy little story.

I have some big, exciting news to share! I've been waiting a few days because it's been kind of fun keeping it all to myself (Well, not really to myself. Lots of people know now.) but now I'm ready to tell you. On December 23, 2010, Jeffrey and I got engaged! Before I tell you the story, I think it's important to say that our engagement came as a total surprise to me. Jeffrey and I have talked a lot about marriage over the past few years, but after all of our conversations, I came to the conclusion that the proposal wouldn't come until sometime in the spring. Turns out, I was wrong. And it also turns out that it's sort of fun to be wrong. Sometimes.

Anyway. So, Jeffrey and I planned to get Thai takeout (from our favorite Thai restaurant of all time) and take it to our favorite picnic spot. We got to our spot and it was dark. The sun sets quite early these days. It was cold, but we had a blanket. And it was dark, but we had a lantern. Everything was perfect. We were eating and talking about all sorts of different things. If you were to ask me if I knew that at this point Jeffrey was planning on asking me to marry him in a few short minutes, I would say absolutely not! I know Jeffrey, and I knew that he would be nervous and scatter-brained and all of the above when it came time for him to propose. Or, so I thought. But, nope. That Jeffrey was as cool as a cucumber, and he totally had me fooled.

Well, it became clear that we were both really quite cold. I suggested that we head home, but Jeffrey suggested that we not head home. I said okay. Then, Jeffrey started rifling through his wallet. It seemed irrelevant, but hey. Sometimes I randomly pull out my wallet because I think I've left my credit card somewhere, and I just want to make sure I have it. I thought it possible that he was making sure his credit card was tucked safely away, and I let it be. Then, he pulled something out of his wallet, looked me right in my eyes, and asked me to marry him.

Well, the waterworks ensued, I gave Jeffrey a big hug and for a split second I wondered how I had gotten so darn lucky. Here I was hugging the love of my life in one of our favorite spots of all time, in the peaceful, calm, dark of the night. It was so perfect I wanted to grab the whole moment and tuck it away to save forever. It's probably quite obvious that I said yes.

After our perfect little moment, we walked across the street to a little path that's lush and kind of like a mini-jungle. Every time Jeffrey and I have a picnic at our spot we carve the date into a bamboo shoot. I held up our little lantern and Jeffrey carved the date and the word 'engaged' into the shoot. It was so sweet and sentimental to the both of us. We stood back and admired Jeffrey's handy work; a long line of all the times we had made the short little journey to our favorite spot to enjoy a picnic together. It felt unreal and beautifully perfect.

The outpouring of love that Jeffrey and I have received from friends and family means the world to us. It's so comforting to know that our support system extends further than we can even imagine; that there is a network of people thinking of us as often as we breathe. It is all very magical.

It was so very special that Jeffrey proposed to me while my sister and Mark were here. It made everything that much sweeter! I'm so very pleased to be hitching my wagon to Jeffrey's. xo, R.