Since my wonderful wife eluded to our story yesterday, I thought it would be fun to give my rendition of the events that happened 14+ years ago.
It start back in 1999 when I attended a Teens Encounter Christ (T.E.C) weekend retreat. At that point in my life I needed T.E.C more than T.E.C need another person to attend their weekend. Thankfully for that weekend that I was able to begin building a new association. Because of the bond that we built we got together almost every weekend. Through a series of events and parties, I met Steph. At that time of her life she was seeing someone. Obviously she didn't know I was available or that I was a big deal if she did she would have left him on the spot or I'd like to at least believe that.
Moving on from that day I may have seen her once, maybe twice until a memorable night in May of 2000. I was at another party outside of Albert Lea and that night I just received my senior pictures. As customary for people from Waseca (maybe this is common for others as well), I was writing on the back of my pictures a favorite memory or something like that. For some reason, there were a line of people waiting for a picture or two from me, which is hard to believe, but it is 100% true. Steph happened to be at that party and I gave her 2 pictures. Later that evening, I remember it as if it were yesterday, I looked into the dining room and saw Steph talking to one of her friend and God spoke to me and said that I was going to marry that girl. Now you have to remember, I just turned 18 and I wasn't looking for a wife and to be honest, at that time I was probably more interested in a few other girls that night. None of that mattered because God told me who my wife was going to be. I remember leaving that party a little freaked out and thought that God may have misspoke.
Fast forward a few months and I was ready to head off to college. Actually, almost all of my friends had already left for college. For whatever reason St. Thomas started 2 weeks after some of the other colleges my other friends went to. If you don't know me, I'm a very reflective and reminiscent person. The final few days before I was to go to college were a struggle. I remember trying desperately to hold onto a summer that was filled with laughs, late nights and plenty of fun! Maybe it was the fact that I was scared what the next chapter held and that going to college meant that I was no longer a kid and I was going to have to accept responsibility for my life. Either way I felt drawn to reach out to Steph and see how things were going for her. I don't fully remember, but I might have been inquiring about one of her roommates. Either way, God had me reach out and she turned out to be a great friend. It's funny how things progressed. It started out as an email or two a week, then it moved to daily emails and then multiple times a day. Then we started IMing (MSN Messenger) and calling each other. I quickly realized that I was gaining strong feelings for her.
At that point of my life, I never asked a girl out without already knowing the answer. I always utilized "the friends" to give me information and to let me know if a girl was interested or not and Steph was no exception. Steph's best friend at the time, April, went to college just a few miles down the road from me. I would talk to April once or twice a week to find out where Steph's interest was and if I had a shot with her. I was told that she had mutual interest and that I should ask her out. It may have been a weekend or two after we had this conversation that Steph came up and spent the weekend with April. I think they stop by St. Thomas Saturday early afternoon, we hang out for a while and we headed over to April's that night for a get together. At the time I was thinking that this was perfect and that everything was going better than I planned. It was at that party that I realized this sweet, innocent and angelic girl was a major flirt. As it turned out, the little get together turned out to be bigger than I anticipated and was more coed then I hoped. I really didn't know anyone at this event, but little social butterfly whom I thought was interested in me was flirting with this other guy almost the whole night. After a few hours of this tourture I told April that I was going to go back to St. Thomas as I was convinced that the interest just wasn't there. Somehow she convinced me to stay and as the evening wound down we popped in a movie and Steph cuddled right up next to me. Even though I was jealous, I knew that everything was going to turn out as God promised.
We dated for just over 3 years, we had a 6 month engagement, been married for 9 years. Our son Toby turns 2 this summer and kid #2 arrives in late fall. I truly thank God everyday that he told me 13 years ago that he had my bride, soul-mate & best friend picked out for me. I can't imagine what life would be like without her.
Stephanie, I am humbled to be your husband and I hope that I accurately show you how much you mean to me everyday. You are the perfect wife to me, a treasure to my parents and a best friend to my sister. My Waseca High School vocabulary can't describe what you mean to me. I pray that I can be a blessing to you like you've been a blessing to me. You are the best and I love you so much!
And now you know the rest of the story......
