Our Story told from the man I love... with my quotes in red.
It all REALLY started with Facebook and Dove Chocolates!
Emily and I have known each other since sometime in the Fall of 2002 when Emily came to (said college) as a student while I was just another working drone (He was on staff and I just remember people telling me that he was a kind man and that if I ever needed any IT support I should ask him because he's not a creeper. I took that as a very good sign.). We didn't really have all that much contact beyond knowing who the other was and occasionally talking while I was working on some project or another (for me, because I had a tendency to break stuff.). What I remember most about her was her beautiful, curly, blonde hair...and her smile. She was pretty quiet and I, well, generally I am, but when I am "working" I tend to be loud and make alot of jokes so we certainly didn't become the best of friends at that time that's for sure (I definitely remember thinking that he was hysterical. But that was about it.). As time went on, she was hired at (said college) and we continued to have the occasional interaction over various projects and whatnot...and then came January of 2009...the REAL beginning of the story!Facebook was all the rage (is it still? I think so but it is losing steam isn't it? LOL) and I was swept up in the spirit of Social Networking just like half the world seemed to be. I had added several co-workers as friends and then noticed that Emily had also done the same. I had been single for a long time and had been wandering the "dating scene" for a few years and not finding anyone that was meant for me. And then one day in January, I had this very strong feeling that I should add Emily as a Facebook friend and get to know her that way. So I nervously sent her a friend request and was surprised when she accepted. (Well, the only reason why I accepted it at the time was because I was friends with his coworker and I didn't see the harm in it. Everyone was adding to their friend list, so why wouldn't I? I had no clue what was going on.) We began to send messages back and forth. Nothing huge in any way shape or form, just "hey hope you are having a great day" sort of messages. And then the questions began.
We started sending questions such as "Do you like creamy or crunchy peanut butter?" or the ever popular, "What is your favorite color...movie...song...band"? You know, all those very heavy duty questions that you NEED to have answered. One of the questions had to do with chocolates and as one of my co-workers just happened to have some Dove Chocolates on her desk, I snuck a few of them onto Emily's desk before anyone else had come in for the morning so there were just some mystery chocolates waiting for her when she came in. (Okay, so that totally freaked me out, and lo and behold it was my birthday so I was running around the office asking my coworkers who the heck it was. No one fessed up so I realized that I had a secret admirer. I didn't really know what to expect. But my suspicions led me to think it MIGHT be him. But no way. Yeah... I was WRONG.) Eventually it came to light that I was the chocolate giver and it just became something sweet (no pun intended) between the two of us. The questions started to become a little more serious as we really started to dig in to find out just exactly who the other was. (I had finally found someone that could hold an intelligent conversation without making me feel like I was an idiot for using big words. He was well read and I enjoyed asking him deep philosophical questions about life. It really made a long audurous day at work whip by and still I didn't know that he really had feelings for me but that we were just getting to be really good friends.) I'm still not sure that either one of us really thought we were headed where we ended up, but at the moment, we were just really enjoying sharing with each other. It was one of the neatest things either of us had ever experienced :-). We very quickly discovered that there really was nothing we couldn't talk about. We were just there to listen and to share. Eventually, our love just developed along with our trust in each other. By the end of August, I told her that I loved her and she said she loved me as well (YAY!!!!) (double yay from me!).
As fall progressed we found ourselves facing some pretty big obstacles as our relationship developed which led to us calling things off before either one of us got hurt really badly...but we always managed to come back together. I can sit here now and recognize it for what it was, God's will! (We both had been praying seperately and God worked wonders during this time of seperateness. We discovered areas in our life that needed more of God's control and I learned a lot about myself and my tendencies to run when things get hard).We both firmly believe this. Then, last spring, we started discussing things that we might like someday if we ever were to get married...which lead me to buy her engagement ring Christmas Eve 2010. I didn't give it to her then as the time just didn't feel "right" to pop the question. May 2011 came and I had traveled to Branson, Missouri for an Polka gig (Yes, we are in a polka group. Imagine that. Crazy!), and during that time I was away, I just knew it WAS finally the right time.
I had been thinking of the right way to ask her for a long time, even before I bought her ring, and finally I had a dream that gave me the perfect way to do it. I had dreamt that I was on my knee asking her to marry me and her ring was the biggest, gaudiest flower shaped ring. It was absolutely HORRIBLE (Funny thing is, I had a dream that the man I was going to marry was going to give me this outstandingly outlandish gaudy rose ring. I had had the SAME dream! Weird!! So when he was telling me the dream I'm like WHOA, what? Really? Have you been reading my mind?) I woke up chuckling and knowing that this was the way I could set it up. So, on Wednesday, May 10th, 2011, the day had finally arrived. We were sitting on my couch (we were getting ready to go to his freinds house to plan our trip camping to the Boundary Waters) and I had her ring in my pocket and I said I just HAD to tell her about the goofiest dream I had. So I explained about the big, ugly ring and then I said...and the funniest part is...that this isn't what your ring looks like at all...your ring looks like this...and I went onto my knee and asked "Emily Marlene...would you marry me"? She had been gasping and saying "oh my gosh, oh my gosh" (I was crying at this point to... of course) and then she looked right at me and said "Yes, I will marry you". We both had said that a long engagement really made no sense to us and so a month or so after our engagement we set the date... October 22, 2011. Five months away.
More to come..... :-)
