He Says...
My friend JB was having a birthday on April 21st. Well, I had already agreed to be a the chauffer for a group of high school students to and from prom. After a nice dinner (paid for by the generous students) I dropped them off at their prom, got changed, and headed quickly over to JB’s party. For the most part, I recognized everyone at the party, whether they were Theta Xi guys or the girls who always hung out with the Theta Xi guys. But there was one girl who I had not met or seen before. Luckily she was talking to my friend Ashley, which gave me an easy entry point to begin talking with her.
After a little get-to-know-you conversation, I got a call from the high school students that they were done and I decided to head out. Lucky for me, Leah asked if I could walk her to her car, since it was a ‘dangerous’ area, amongst all the rich people in midtown Atlanta. As we walked out, we kept talking about ministry, our jobs… the standard things. After shooing away a few homeless folks from her car, I started walking away, only to hear the homeless folks start talking to her as she was trying to pull out of the parking spot. I guess this freaked Leah out a little, and she backed up right into the parked car behind her. She then pulled away. Seriously. My first impression of Leah is that she was a criminal… a hit and run right before my eyes.
Well, here is where the nerdy part kicks in. Since I hadn’t gotten her number from her, and I was uncertain when our paths would cross again, I chose to send her a message on facebook, figuring we could at least maybe grab coffee or something. I was out of town at the time with little going on, so I had all day available to just chat online, and we spent some time getting to know each other through online communication. Yes, we are dorks… we know. Eventually we decided to grab dinner and movie together. As she has pointed out already, we sat and talked for hours at dinner and throughout the movie. Everything just came so easily. I didn’t feel like I had to impress or ‘put my best foot forward,’ but we just talked about what each of us is passionate about, what we like, and life in general. I knew after our first date together that there was something really special about this girl. I was rather saddened at the end of our date, when I reached out to give her a hug and I simply got one arm reaching back for me. ONE ARM! I asked myself, "Is she seriously giving me a side hug? I thought things were going so well!" Luckily the side hug was no indication as to what was to come.
Well, after a few days of seeing each other, including a trip to the aquarium and some coffee at Octane, I invited her to dinner and to come see my band play a benefit concert at Smiths Olde Bar. After a nice dinner, concert, and an evening out at Loca Luna to celebrate another friend’s birthday, we decided to make official what we already knew was the direction we were heading at the park across from Smiths Olde Bar, where I would later propose to her.
It was an interesting start to a relationship, since she had exams, a conference for work, a trip to Africa, and 10 weeks in Panama City. Let’s just say communication was a vital part of the beginning of our relationship. During her time in Panama City, she had a week off and we got a chance to hang out for more or less a week straight. This included a trip out to West Georgia to go skydiving together. Dating a girl who was interested in doing something so extreme and willing to act on a whim was something that really made me fall in love with her more, and it’s something I’ve always valued in our relationship. From a fairly spontaneous trip to New York to an unexpected engagement, it has been a thrill ride, but not of ups and downs… just filled with ups. I have loved the journey so far and can’t wait to see where God takes us next.
She Says...
So…I went to this party one night and I was just going to drop in, say my hellos, and head out. So, there I was chatting with some friends when this guy walked in the door. I knew most of the people there, but I had never seen this guy before. So he walks up and starts talking to my friend Ashley, and they were joking around and laughing, and they exchanged numbers. So I was definitely thinking “he is so digging Ashley!” So I made a funny comment to Ashley about exchanging numbers and then just continued chatting with Ashley and “that guy” who I am sure you all know now is Chris.
Well, 11:00 rolls around and I decide I am going to leave, and then Chris said he was leaving too so I asked him to walk me to my car because, as I told him, I was parked in a really sketchy area. So he walks me to my car and we were chatting (I made sure to tell him my feet were REALLY hurting so he would look down and see I was really not 6’2” , but that I had on 4” heels!). So we got to my car and said goodbye. I was SO BUMMED that he did not ask for my number because I was so intrigued by him and really enjoyed talking to him. So I jump in my car to drive away and this man knocks on my window and scared me, so I started backing up and ran into the car behind me…oops! Not knowing Chris was still standing there, and since I was still scared, I just drove away. A few days after the party I went to paint pottery with my best friend, Lo, and told her I met a guy who was “really intriguing” but I didn’t see anything happening because he didn’t get my number, and I hadn’t heard anything from him.
Now, this is the really dorky part that shows Chris and I are both absolute nerds. I was sitting at my computer and checked my Facebook and saw that I had a new message from Chris that just said “What days are you downtown?” (he was referring to my classes). So we sent a few messages back and forth and then he ended up sending me an instant message. We ended up talking all day about pretty much everything and then I was definitely interested in seeing what was happening here. So through the week we continued chatting, sometimes for hours and hours and I realized that this Chris and I had SO much in common, it was kind of freaky. So I actually went on a date with the Orkin man (if you want that story, you are going to have to ask!) the week Chris and I were talking which turned out to be a total BOMB, but I was glad I could tell him I had a date, you know, put some fire under his feet. ;) So after a few days of talking Chris asked for my number and asked me to have dinner and watch a movie.
Monday rolls around, the day we are going to have our date, and it was a long day at work! I was sitting in traffic on my way downtown to meet him and talking to one of my best friends, Stephanie, and told her I was so nervous I felt like I was going to throw up. She told me to turn around because he was probably a crazy stalker/murderer and that is why I was nervous. I know I can always count on Steph to lighten the mood! ;) So I got downtown to Chris’s place and we went out to dinner. We ended up sitting at the restaurant for about 4 hours talking about everything under the sun, and then we went back to his place to watch a movie we both love, Shine. I got there and he offered me my favorite wine which he had remembered in a conversation from the week, and we sat down to watch the movie. Well, instead of watching the movie we ended up sitting there and talking for about 3 or 4 more hours. It was so much fun! So then I went to leave and he gives me a SIDE HUG!! I was like, what? After a great night I get a side hug? (We still argue about who actually gave the side hug, but I swear it was him).
The next day I had planned to go to the aquarium and I mentioned he was welcome to come, so he joined me that afternoon and we spent another 6 or so hours just talking and talking. So that week led to coffee dates, phone calls, online conversations, dinners, and then we “officially” started dating, and the rest is history!
2 weeks or so after we started dating I left for Kenya with my job, and then went down to Panama City Beach, FL, for BigStuf Camps, the ministry I work for. At first I thought the distance would make our relationship progress nice and slow, but the multiple hours of conversation that we had everyday just made our relationship move faster than I could ever imagine! I always said I would date someone for a year, MINIMUM, but boy was I wrong! After a summer of awesome conversations talking about our passions, dreams, goals, and so much more, I realized that Chris was the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. It has been an amazing adventure and I am so excited to spend the rest of my life with him.