The Story of How We Met

This photo was taken literally two minutes before he proposed!

The happiest day of our lives.... so far!


South Dakota honeymoon!

Someone left a comment asking me to tell the story of how my husband and I met. Part of the purpose of this blog is to tell the tales of newlywed life, so I thought I'd start from the beginning! (The other part of my blog is to explore Catholicism, but I'm still struggling to piece together an interesting, enlightening post. Stay with me faithful followers- I promise these posts will get better!)

It was my very first day of class at Benedictine. I was so incredibly nervous. Even though it was an 8:00 a.m. class, I dressed my best and even put make up on! (This is a rarity for me.) I got there twenty minutes early and sat anxiously at my desk. The classroom was very small, something I wasn't used to since in the rare times I did go to class at CMSU and Northwest the classrooms were huge and nearly every seat full.

When 8:00 drew near, only seven other students had joined me. The teacher walked in and right behind her was Ryan. He had a gray Chiefs hoodie on (I thought, "This dude has great taste!") He had a ball cap partially pulled down over his eyes, but I could still see his dazzling baby blue eyes. He had a semi-comatose/zombie look on his face and carried a Dr. Pepper can. He sat down two rows in front of me off to my right side.

It was a speech class, so I was even more nervous. Thankfully public speaking doesn't freak me out too much, so my fears slowly went away. It was a small and very fun group of classmates I had, so that helped a lot too.

We had a week or two of just lecture and learning about the structure of speeches, voice dynamic, etc. so we didn't have to worry about giving a speech just yet. I noticed Ryan always turned around and looked at me, but I didn't have a clue who this guy was so I didn't think much on it.

Finally we had to give our first speech. The topic was "The scariest/most memorable moment of your life." I gave my speech about how I was in my very first car accident. My boyfriend at the time and I were supposed to go to the Plaza in Kansas City, but instead went to another town where the roads were slick. After my speech Ryan came up to me and said, "I'm from the area around the Plaza." That got us talking. I told him I had a brother who lived in Kansas City and worked as a police officer. He had two uncles that also worked in the Kansas City Police Department. That conversation started our friendship.

We spent the rest of the semester practicing our speeches together, making late night runs to Wal-Mart, pigging out at Sonic and expressing to each other our romantic woes. He was in an on-again/off-again relationship and I was trying to find the man I would marry but was having a heck of a time. There was a time I met one of my ex-boyfriends and his buddies for a couple of beers and I called Ryan out in the parking lot for some encouragement. After this "date" didn't go so well Ryan assured me that my heartache wouldn't last long since some guy would sweep me off my feet someday.

He quickly became my "best guy friend." He was always there for me, always made me laugh and I knew he was one of those genuine good guys. The only point where we would disagree was with the subject of religion, but whenever I explained my point he would have an open mind and say, "I never thought of it that way." He was far too stubborn to admit that I was right, but he wasn't a close-minded jerk.

That summer we didn't talk as much as I would have liked. We kept meaning to meet up but work or girlfriends or other plans got in the way. Finally we planned a "friend date." He picked me up and we ate at Hooters (classy and dignified, I know.) We sat there talking about what we had done that summer and our recent romantic crap stories. He told me something that made me VERY upset. He said he thought he'd never get married. I was appalled. I was upset for him because I knew he'd make some girl really happy and make an awesome father. I told him this and he shrugged his shoulders. We spent the rest of the meal talking about how many children we'd like to have and speculating what our lives would be like if we married each other...

After our lunch we went driving around and saw some people selling puppies and stopped to oooo and aaaahhhh. Then we went driving around this new development and complained that no one ever builds houses with big front porches. A big front porch was a requirement for both of our future houses.

He dropped me off after a fun-filled day and I suddenly started to freak out. I felt I was developing a "crush" on Ryan. But usually my crushes are along the lines of "I wonder what it would be like to hold his hand" or "I'd love to go on a date with him." But the feeling I was getting was, "I can seriously see myself marrying Ryan and having his babies." This scared me to death because Ryan was such a dear friend that the thought of dating him and possibly breaking up was unbearable. I dwelt on this for a long time, but eventually got it out of my head.

The next semester we didn't have any classes together but we hung out quite a bit. He introduced me to one of this dorm buddies and he thought I was Ryan's girlfriend! Speaking of Ryan's girlfriend, he and her were having great difficulties. My first and foremost concern was Ryan's happiness. His girlfriend never seemed to like me (in hindsight I can see why...) He finally broke up with her and what came next was Ryan and I deciding to become a couple.

Our relationship was a happy one. Since it was built on friendship and we actively tried to include God in our relationship (there were many times we failed at that) we had a solid relationship. Sure we argued, but we always resolved it.

Marriage to each other was on our mind from day one of dating. I had always had visions of getting married to the men I had dated before but it always kind of frightened me. Not with Ryan. I knew our relationship was special and was marriage material. We went ring shopping occasionally but I never had a clue when Ryan would pop the question.

The fall semester of 2007 was a crazy, insanely busy. I was taking 19 credit hours, my grandfather had passed away and I was behind on homework. I was doing 20 hours of observation for an education class and had to build a volcano and come up with a Religion Jeopardy, had two papers due, plus about 500 pages worth of reading to catch up on all in the same week. I was a tad bit stressed so Ryan promised me a date on Friday night. Before we went to see "A Bee Movie" we stopped by State Lake because Ryan thought I'd like to see how pretty the scenery was in the fall. I took my camera to snap some photos.

I took the photo displayed at the top of this post then Ryan pointed across the lake at a very pretty scene. The sun was setting behind the trees that were emblazoned with orange, gold and brown. They reflected perfectly on the lake. I snapped the picture and turned around and Ryan was down on one knee with a ring in his hand. I was beyond surprised and happy!

He had asked my mom and my big brother for their blessing in our engagement. After Midnight Mass we had our engagement blessed by my hometown priest. I knew that wedding planning was going to be a stress, but I knew our marriage was going to be a wonderful journey.

These past nine months we've been married have been amazing. We've had many ups and downs in our lives but have faced them head on together. He still makes me laugh and he takes such good care of me. When I look at pictures of him when he was a tot with big blue eyes and curly blonde hair I long to hold a baby that looks just like him in my arms- that's how much I love him.

For the sake of making this too mushy and gushy, I'll end this for now.

How did you and the love of your life meet?