Underneath a starry dark sky, next to a warm little fire, surrounded by new friends and old (and by old I mean longtime friends... Not age ;), four couples shared their stories of how they met and started dating. We heard very formal, traditional and just the sweetest stories.
Stories of diamonds, childhood camps and persistent pursuit.
Our story isn't so traditional. Our story of proposal isn't very romantic. In fact, our story almost didn't last very long.
Let's start from the beginning....
Joel and I met at a party in college. It was my freshman year and Joel was a junior playing baseball at a university nearby. I had become friends with a couple of his friends from high school.
He decided to come up one Wednesday night to party with his friend Steve. I happened to be at the same party with my friends and we instantly started flirting.
Let me just say that it was like love at first sight. I swore that didn't exist before I met him.... But it does. (Let me just tell you that seeing him in a uniform just makes me.... well, let's just say it makes me melt!) We have been together ever since meeting that Wednesday night in April 2001.
We were little party animals. We were always with friends, drinking and totally head over heels with each other that whole summer. At the end of summer we moved in with each other, along with a couple of my best guy friends from high school.
I remember thinking at the time that it was crazy we were living together because I barely knew him. Almost like he was this stranger that I just met but knew I loved.
That fall and next spring were filled with the same routine: work & party.
Early that spring we found out we were expecting a child. I remember that I couldn't wait to tell Joel. He was actually on his way home from a baseball trip in Oklahoma on a bus full of teammates and friends when I called him. I remember both of us having feelings of fear and excitement.
Fourteen weeks into this pregnancy, after sharing the exciting news with our families, we had a routine ultrasound that showed no heartbeat.... No fetus. What we had was a called a blighted ovum. Basically an unfertilized egg that makes your body feel and grow as if it were growing a baby.
Shortly after that pregnancy we once again found out we were expecting. We welcomed sweet Arly Jaxson into this world in February 2003.
My parents were among many people who suggested we get married. Neither Joel nor I were ready. We felt that having a baby was a huge commitment already and were nervous about adding any other commitments to our plates at that moment.
Now I'm not saying we doubted we would stay together because we still loved each other but wanted to get this parenting thing down first.
We spent a lot of time falling in love with having this new little girl in our lives and every thing we did revolved around her. Joel showed so much love to me as not only a girlfriend but a mom too. You could see love oozing from him... He was the sweetest daddy.
The routine continued: work, baby, sleep... Baby, work, baby, sleep.
The proposal?! That's where I was going with this story..... I guess I got a little detailed in this story of ours.
The day he proposed....
To be continued....
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