Our Story

I’ve blogged about our love story in the past. A few years ago, as we were approaching our 3rd anniversary, I wrote a fully detailed 7 part story highlighting how we met, became friends, fell in love, got engaged and became man and wife. Seven parts might seem like a lot but it was necessary considering we had about 12 years to cover between our first introduction and the day we walked down the aisle.

Nearly three years has passed since I wrote that story and a lot has changed in those three years. We’ve graduated from 2 degrees, started a new business, started a new career, welcomed a child and became pregnant with our second. Oh yeah? And, more importantly, I’ve met a ton of new blog friends who have likely never heard or read the story of how we came to be Us.

So today I’m linking up with the lovely From Mrs to Mama who’s hosting a Love Story Linkup between now and Valentine’s Day. Of course, I can’t cover every thing in one post, so I’m giving you a sort of summary and, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll follow the links and read the entire story.

Our story begins when we were about 8 years old and met at a youth rally and then continues when we became friends at summer camp. It gets even juicier when I began stalking him and taking sneaky photos with him in the background because I was too chicken to actually snap a photo of the guy. The next few years passed with us seeing each other a few times a year, at youth rallies and summer camp, and me being too shy to ever say more than Hi to the cute boy with the hat from Papua New Guinea.

Part two takes us to three years in high school where we were in the same class at a Christian Boarding School where we went from being best friends to worst enemies every other week. Here we struggled together as both of our mom’s faced breast cancer and we learned a lot about life and each other. During this time, Evan went through a rough patch and I found myself hurting for him in a way I couldn’t understand.

Part three is where the story gets really good when the high school hottie confessed his love for me just one week before graduation and just one week before we walked the aisle at commencement together as Mr and Mrs GL. Trust me, you gotta read it to believe it.

Next up, we go through a summer of separation where I battled confusion, entirely unsure of what my future would hold in terms of university and a pending relationship with the boy of my dreams. The summer ended with him coming home from his job at camp and asking if he could visit me.

In part five, we date. We fall in love. And it is just mushy and beautiful. Go, go now. Read.

Part six is probably the best portion of all, where my sweet love put together the most elaborate plan he has ever conspired and somehow completely surprised me when he proposed to me on horseback. This portion of the story even includes photos of scrapbook pages since it took place way back in the olden days when we didn’t have digital cameras.

In the last part, I became his wife in a wedding celebration that completely made all my dreams come true. We committed our lives to each other in front of our family, friends and our God. And we’ve never, ever looked back.

Who Wouldn't Love This Face?

My younger cousins both have Nintendo DSi's which we all have fun fighting over playing with when we are together as a family. One of the features on them, is that they have a camera built in and you can do all sorts of whacky, special effects. Quite often, she posts funny pictures from her DSi on her Facebook account. I had forgotten about the time we spent playing around with the camera when we were at their house last fall for Thanksgiving until this morning when I signed into Facebook and saw she had uploaded some new pictures. I hope she won't mind me stealing her photos and posting them here. But I just had to.

I give you my Fabulous Dude. The one I love. The one I chose.

Let me have a sentimental moment...

I am sentimental. I'm not going to deny it. I cherish memories, traditions and other "special" things. In the post I wrote about Christmas decorations, I said that I was going to share some of the ones that have a really special meaning to me. Well, here is one such decoration.

I am not sure I can really describe why this decoration is so meaningful to me, but I am going to try my darnedest to. Let me take you back a few years...

It was the fall of 2006. The fabulous dude and I were establishing ourselves as a newly married, newly living together young couple. It was nearing the end of November and I began to realize that we didn't have an abundance of Christmas decorations and this would not do! Thankfully, some good friends of ours had given us a Gift Certificate for a Christmas store in a quaint village located about 25 minutes from our home. So, on American Thanksgiving weekend, we headed out for the day to gather some goodies to make our home look like Christmas.

I remember that day so well. Even though we had gone to that village many times before that, and many times since, I remember it as being a special day for us. The next day, we went shopping again and used the remaining gift cards we had at other stores from wedding presents to buy some more decorations. It was special because I knew that the FD probably could care less, but knew how important it was for me to have a "Christmas house".

We got all of our decorations put out all over our tiny little basement apartment and I was excited to share our first Christmas together as Mr. and Mrs.

Unfortunately, when I returned home from school on the first Friday in December, at which time we were experiencing a major rain fall, I found our floors covered in about an inch of water. By the time I made some phone calls and got some people to help (Thanks, Swampy!), the apartment was sitting in about 2 inches of water. We quickly put all of our furniture up on blocks and got everything important off the floor. We stashed stuff on every dry surface, including in the shower.

By that evening, we had packed all of our clothes and linens and headed to the FD's aunts house to stay while we sorted things out.

Don't get me wrong, it was a total blessing to be able to go to M&L's home and to feel as though we were welcome to stay as long as it took to get this mess sorted out, but I was sad. I was sad to know that we wouldn't have a home to spend our first Christmas in and that all our decorations we had just bought were not going to be seen.

I was stressed out. I was in the middle of exams, I was trying to get ready for Christmas and I felt displaced. I was sad.

The FD and M&L cheered me up quite a bit by getting a Christmas tree and decorating it in their basement, so that I didn't have to miss out on that tradition. There are also two ornaments on our tree that have our names on them that M purchased for us that day.

Amazingly, the Lord poured out his blessings on us and led us in a very mysterious way (this is an amazing story that I really should share someday) to finding the apartment we are now living in. Within a week of the flood, we had moved out of flooded apartment, "settled in" at M&Ls, found this new place and moved in. Literally, the house flooded the first Friday of December, we found this place the following Wednesday. We started moving stuff in on Thursday night and we made the "big" move and began sleeping here the following Saturday.

One of the first things I did while my family members were there to help us move and unpack was find the box where I had stashed all of the new Christmas decorations and set to work at decorating our new home. And, M&L brought the tree that we had decorated at their house over to our new place so that I could have a real live Christmas tree in my house for our first Christmas (something I would not have been able to do at our flooded apartment).

Although we were heading away for a week for the holidays and wouldn't even be at our home for Christmas, there was something so comforting about knowing that we were sharing our first holiday season as Mr and Mrs in a place that so quickly came to feel like home.

For some reason, ever since that year, these two snowmen bring back all of these memories of that first Christmas. I'm not sure why, since it is one of many that we accumulated that day in the village, but each time I see it, I think of the journey we took to get to this place - our home - where we spent our first, second, third and now our fourth Christmas together as a family. Maybe it's because I see the two snowmen as representing us - clinging to each other despite the storms of winter. Umm, too cheesy? Okay, I'll stop.

This year, I decided to put these guys right beside my kitchen sink, where I am sure to see it every single day. And now that I've articulated into words the reason this decoration is so special to me, I have a feeling that with each passing year, the tradition will carry on to place these snowmen in a special place to remind me of our first Christmas.

Wow. I just re-read this and I realized how amazingly lame it sounds. The fabulous dude would make tremendous amounts of fun of me if he knew I wrote this. I told you I was sentimental.

This post is being shared at the Holly Bloggy Christmas Bash Christmas Traditions and Memories

Which room do you live in?

I have recently restarted working my way through The Love Dare by Stephen and Alex Kendrick. This is a devotional book that is centered around becoming a better spouse and learning to lead your heart to unconditional love. The book is a 40 day challenge that discusses a different aspect of love, presents a specific dare and provides questions to reflect on each day. A few days ago, one of the themes really struck a chord with me and has been on my heart ever since.

The theme for that day was "Love Believes the Best". The writing was focused on seeking out the positive in your spouse rather than constantly focusing on his flaws. In this chapter, the authors presented an analogy that was very meaningful to me. They discuss two rooms that are housed in our hearts: the Appreciation Room and the Depreciation Room. The appreciation room is where we store all of the positive and encouraging aspects that we love about our spouse. Alternately, we also have a depreciation room, where we harbor negativity, irritations and flaws.

While discussing these two rooms, the authors challenge us to reflect on these rooms and to think about where we spend most of our time. Do we spend the majority of our time in the Appreciation Room, building our spouses up and encouraging them to succeed? Or do we spend more time in the Depreciation Room, criticizing our spouses and bringing them down?

In the chapter, the authors suggest that the only time we should enter the Depreciation Room is to write "COVERED IN LOVE" across the walls, over top of the negative thoughts and to pray for our spouse and for our marriage. This image makes me think of Jesus - and how he has written these very words - "COVERED WITH LOVE" - over top of all of our sins and shortcomings.

I have been reflecting on this a great deal - gazing into my own heart and my own thoughts to determine which room I live in most often. Unfortunately, I know that I spend far too much time in the Depreciation Room and not enough time in the Appreciation Room. But I don't want to. I want to dwell in the Appreciation room because I know that is where Jesus lives.

Whether it be with your spouse, your children, your parents, your friends or your coworkers, what room do you live in? The Appreciation Room or the Depreciation Room? Have you written "COVERED IN LOVE" in the Depreciation Room?

One Lovely Day

On Wednesday, the fabulous dude and I were blessed to spend the entire day together celebrating.

The day started out early when I woke up and found myself too excited to get back to sleep. It was like Christmas! I kept pestering and pestering him for about an hour until he finally woke up enough to open our presents. I did take some pictures but there is no way I am actually going to show you pictures of myself taken at 7:30 am! I got him a turkey vest for hunting that he already had. What can I say, when I went to Walmart there were only two camo things and I picked one. How could I have known he already had it? It all looks the same to me.

He did better on the gift front than I did. He got me a silicone cookie sheet and muffin pan and a really cute necklace I have had my eye on for a while. Does my man know me or what? Baking and jewelry all at once - bliss.

After opening presents, the dummy my fabulous dude fell back asleep and it took me ages to drag him out of bed. Finally, he got up and we were ready to head out for a day at the Toronto Zoo. It's been a billion years since I've been there and he had never been there that he could remember so we were quite excited to go.

It was one of the hottest and sunniest days we've had all summer. Nice for us but not so nice for the animals. They were super docile and weren't moving around a lot but we still saw everything.

We paid the extra cost to see the "Sharks" at Stingray Bay exhibit. FYI: If you are going there, it is NOT worth it. There are only four sharks that are about 3 feet and they were all huddled in the middle of the pool where you couldn't even see them. It was cool to touch the stingray but not worth the extra $3/person.

I loved the Polar Bears! They were so huge and I loved how they were just hanging out on that little slope. Right after I took this picture, the bear on the right started floating around, riding the current from the jet. It was cool.

Can you believe that I actually took this picture?

AND this one...

Those two photos will haunt my dreams forever. This lovely waterfall makes it all better.

This picture doesn't show it so well but this monkey was hanging there in quite the attractive position. Arms and legs straight above his head with his bum bum hanging out for the world to see. What a little monkey!

Part way through the day we stopped to have some lunch by the camels.

We were joined by this guy...

Then after lunch we had a Beavertail (possibly known as an Elephant Ear by my friends to the south). I have not had a Beavertail since my trip to Ottawa in grade 9. I knew they had them at the zoo and after dreaming about them for years and years and years, I decided to make that dream a reality. I will admit, I suggested going to the zoo for our anniversary solely because I wanted a Chocolate Hazelnut Beavertail. It's a deep fried whole wheat pastry. Something just doesn't add up there. Please excuse the completely sweat drenched version of moi.

Here are some more shots from the day:

I wish this picture came out more clearly because it was so cool. The baby baboon was such a little character. He kept sneaking up on the daddy baboon and poking him in the back. Finally, the daddy snuck his hand out behind him and flipped the baby up into the air. Then the baby ran over to the mommy who was laying right beside the glass and started nursing. It was such a neat thing to see. The mommy just lifted her arm up as though to say "do what you want, just don't disturb me". They were so cute!

After the zoo, we headed to Bass Pro so that the FD could pick out something that he did not already have. Then we headed to Turtle Jack's for dinner. I'm not even going to tell you what I ate but let me just say that all the calories I burnt off while walking around the zoo and eating whole wheat pastries were put right back on! I don't have any pictures from dinner because I left the camera in the car and the FD refused to go get it. Blame him.

It may be a stretch, but I am sharing this post at Kelly's Korner Show Us Your Life "Favourite Vacation Spot" edition because my favourite vacation spot is anywhere if it means a whole day off with my hubby, celebrating our anniversary and enjoying fun times and good food!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway - ends August 19th!

Real Life Romance: Part Seven

Welcome to the last installment of the series. If you need to catch up, click here.

The End (or Maybe Just The Beginning)...

After 10 months, 4 weeks and 1 day of anticipation, our day had finally arrived. On a beautifully warm and sunny Saturday, in the midst of a picturesque garden, my father took me by the hand and led me down the aisle to the one who would become my husband.

There with our friends and family present, the fabulous dude and I committed our lives together in Christ. Our wedding was such a blast. It was honestly the best day of my life. I have written about some of the details of our wedding before so instead of revisiting that, I would like to share with the words that were spoken by my cousin (our officiant) as we exchanged our wedding rings and made a public commitment to each other. We found this online but adapted it to fit with us. I don't take credit for the original piece but I don't know the source of it either.

Lucy, please face FD and hold his hands so that you may see and cherish the gift they are to you.

These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and vibrant with love, holding yours on your wedding day as he promises to love and protect you all the days of his life.
These are the hands that will work along side yours as together you build your future, as you laugh and cry, as you share your innermost secrets and dreams.
These are the hands you will place with expectant joy against your stomach until he too feels his child stir within you.
These are the hands that look so large and strong but will be so gentle and soft as he holds your baby or the first time.
These are the hands that will work long hours for your and your new family.
These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years for a lifetime together.
These are the hands that will countless times wipe tears from your eyes, tears of sorrow and tears of joy.
These are the hands that will comfort you in illness and hold you when fear or grief overwhelm you.
These are the hands that will tenderly lift your chin and brush your cheek as they raise your face to look into his eyes, eyes that are completely filled with his overwhelming love and desire for you.
These are the hands that will give you support as he encourages you to chase down your dreams.
Together, as a team, everything you wish will be realized.
These are the hands that will connect your hearts as you kneel before your Father in prayer.

FD, please face Lucy and hold her hands so that you may see and cherish the gift that they are to you.
These are the hands of your best friend, smooth, young and carefree that are holding yours on your wedding day as she pledges her love and commitment to you all the days of your life.
These are the hands that will work along yours as together you build your future, as you laugh and cry, as you share your innermost secrets and dreams.
These are the hands that will hold each child in tender love, soothing them through illness and hurt, supporting and encouraging them along the way and knowing when it's time to let go.
These are the hands that look so small and timid, yet will be bold and strong as they protect your children from harm.
These are the hands that will work long hours to care for and keep your family.
These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years for a lifetime together.
These are the hands that will hold you tight as you struggle through difficult times.
These are the hands that will comfort you in illness and hold you when fear or grief overwhelms you.
These are the hands that will give you support as she encourages you to chase down your dreams.
Together, as a team, everything you wish will be realized.
These are the hands that will connect your hearts as you kneel before your Father in prayer.

God, bless these hands that you see before you today. May they always be held by one another. Give them strength to hold on during the storms of stress and the darkness of despair. Keep them tender and gentle as they nurture each other in your wondrous love. Help these hands continue building a relationship founded in your grace, rich in caring and devoted to reaching for your perfection. May Lucy and FD see their four hands as healer, protector, shelter and guide. We ask this in your name.

Over the past seven weeks, I have had the joy of sharing 'our' story with you. Over the course of the real life romance series, I have found myself reliving each of these pieces of the story and falling in love with him all over again. But, I must tell you, this is not the whole story. This story is incomplete and constantly being rewritten as we share our lives together. There is so much of this story that cannot be spoken into words but is held in my heart.

So, today as we honour our third anniversary, I celebrate the life I share with this man who holds a piece of my heart, without whom I would not be complete, and I give thanks to my God for bringing us together.

The Real Life Romance series is being linked up at MM&Ms at Musings of a Future Pastor's Wife

a note on socially approprite behaviour...

I've written before about how it irks me when strangers comment on the relationship between our age and marital status. Recently, I've had another experience and I thought I would share. I mentioned in a post last week that we attempted to head to the states to shop but the border wait was too long. Let me recap on the conversation between the border patrol officer and my husband as we re-entered Canada.

Customs officer (CO) takes our passports and looks at them.

CO: "Where you from?"

FD: "[Our town]".

CO: "How long have you been out of the country?

FD: "Actually we haven't. We were just going across to shop but we saw the line and bailed."

CO: Nods head. "You two are married?"

FD: "Yes, we are."

CO: "You're frickin' young, dude."

FD: "Yup. We've been married for three years."

CO: "How did you manage that?"

FD: "Found the right girl, had to keep her."

CO: "Thatta boy."

We drive away. I'm shaking my head. FD says, "I should have told him I knocked you up and your dad threatened to shoot me if I didn't marry you".

Is it just me or is this completely inappropriate? Seriously. I get it that we seem too young to be married and that we are not necessarily the norm in our society. But, if you met a couple who were getting married for the first time much later in life, would it be okay to say "WOW! You're really old to be getting married." I didn't think so. Why, then, is it okay to make those comments to us?

Am I completely off base here or do any of you other "young marrieds" have these feelings?

Real Life Romance: Part Six

Alone in the Field - October 8, 2005

To check out the first five parts of the series, click here. I don't have great pictures to go along with section because I didn't have a digital camera yet and I can't locate the CD with these photos on it. I pictures of my scrapbook but I know it isn't great.

We arrived to his parent's house to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family. I was unsure of the status of things at this point. If you remember, the fabulous dude had recently confessed to me that he wasn't 100% sure he wanted to marry me (at least right now). However, the weekend seemed to be going as usual. He was busy doing things around the house with is dad and I was busy helping his mom get things ready for Thanksgiving dinner. On Saturday morning he left early with his dad because they were helping a friend with some moving and so I didn't see him at all that day. Let me just say that this is not unexpected or surprising. Since we started dating, it is kind of the norm for him to be out and about with his dad and for me to be spending the time with his sisters and mom when we go to visit. That's just the way it goes.

However, as the day progressed, some strange things started happening. We had been busy getting things sorted out for Thanksgiving dinner but his mom didn't seem at all concerned with what we were going to be doing for dinner that very evening. I remember asking her a few times if there was anything she wanted me to pick up or prepare for supper and she just kept saying, "Oh we can worry about that later". This is when things got strange. You see, it is pretty standard for his family to eat at around 5:30 on the dot. So when 4:00 came around and we still hadn't even begun thinking or preparing, I started wondering what the heck was going on.

About that time, the FD rolled back into the driveway in his dad's truck. But, when he came in, his dad wasn't with him. I asked him where he was and he said he had dropped him off at the barn on his way home. This made sense, the door to the barn faces a different road than their driveway, so it would be normal for him to drop him off there instead of bringing him home and having him walk out to the barn.

He came over to me and said, "Sorry I was gone all day. Do you want to go out to the cabin and go for a walk and take some pictures of the fall leaves so we can spend some time together?"

"Sure", I said, "but maybe we should wait until tomorrow because dinner will probably be soon".

His mom interjected and said not to worry about that. They could wait and eat later or we could just grab something when we got home. That made sense to me, so I agreed. Again, he reminded me to bring my camera to take pictures out there. No big deal, I take my camera everywhere and since autumn is my favourite season, this would be no exception.

He ran upstairs to change and I noticed he was taking quite a long time. When he came back down I could smell that he was wearing cologne and had shaved. Umm, yup, that's when I knew I was getting the ring that night. This guy isn't exactly one to care too much about his appearance or hygiene. So, to clean himself up just to go for a walk in the woods must have meant something.

We headed out to the cabin and his dad was still nowhere in sight. Apparently, he was still in the barn. I don't remember what we talked about on the drive out there, but I remember as we were pulling down the lane, I spotted a large object on the side of the road.

"What in the world is that?" I said. "I think someone came back here and dumped a washing machine." I was thinking that it was quite rude for someone to do such a thing.

The fabulous dude kind of let out a chuckle and said that he wasn't sure what it was.

(You see, at this point, I was fairly confident he was going to propose but I didn't really have a clue what he was up to).

As we got closer, I could make out the shape of the "washing machine" a little bit better and realized that it was not a washing machine, but rather, his dad standing in front of a trailer instead.

"What is your dad doing here? I thought he was at the barn?"

FD just smiled.

We got out of the truck and his dad was beaming, "Hi, Luc".

Evan took my hand and walked me around to the other side of the trailer, where two Clydesdale horses were waiting. I had never been horseback riding before, and he knew it.

He helped me onto the horse and after he and his dad got over how ridiculously scared I looked, he got on his and instructed me how to get the horse to move. We rode on for a while. I was trying to admire the leaves and enjoy the views (although it was hard since I was scared for my life) and he was mocking me and telling me I looked ridiculous riding a horse.

We finally got to an open field. He asked me to stop and get off the horse to go for a walk. He tied the horses up and took my hand, leading me through a path. We got about halfway through the field and he stopped.

I don't remember exactly what he said, but he pulled the ring from his pocket and asked me to be his wife. I was so nervous, I started laughing. I don't think I ever even said yes. I just pulled out my cell phone and started to call people to tell them I was engaged.

We had to quickly ride back because it was approaching dusk and he didn't want me to have to ride in the dark. We got back, tied up the horses, took them back to their owner and headed to his parents house, where more surprises were waiting.

When we got there, his whole family was there waiting for us with an ice cream cake that had a tractor on it. Since it was Thanksgiving weekend, Dairy Queen was limited in the selection of ice cream cakes so his sister had picked this one and it said "Congratulations [FD] and [Lucy]". Everyone started hugging us and congratulating us and as I moved from the kitchen to the living room, I glanced into the dining room and saw that my parents were there! What a surprise! They were on their way to my mom's sister's for Thanksgiving and made a quick detour to join us in celebration. It was fabulous!

I could not have asked for a better proposal. There were so many aspects of it that were so significant to us. First and foremost, autumn is my absolute favourite season. FD knew how much I wanted to get married in the fall but because of school, if we were to do that, we'd need to wait quite a few more years. So he decided he'd propose to me in the fall, which was the next best thing. The cabin is his favourite place on earth and so it was special for us to be there.

Second, the horse back riding is significant not just because I had never been on a horse before but because in a letter that he wrote me early in our relationship he had written...

"When I think of a team, I think of a team of horses. They stand side by side and each has to pull its own weight or else the load cannot be carried. I want to pull the load of life with you by my side".

Somewhere in the actual proposal, he repeated something along those lines.

Also, I could not get over how much planning he had put into the whole thing. He had obviously snuck behind my back at some point to buy the ring. I'm not so easy to surprise, so this was an impressive feat. And since we had already started saving money together, he had to lie to me and tell me he was lending money to a friend ... I never even suspected it for a second. I also found out later that he had asked my parents for permission the week before. Lastly, he and his dad had gone to great lengths arranging to borrow the horses, pick them up and get everything ready for our ride.

So, the whole deal about not being sure if he wanted to marry me was all just a big hoax so that he could be off my radar and have a better chance of surprising me. And, surprise me, he did!

To be continued...

The Real Life Romance series is being linked up at MM&Ms at Musings of a Future Pastor's Wife

Real Life Romance: Part Five

Need a refresher? Click here for parts 1-4 of the Real Life Romance series.

Lucy Got Lucky

I am very sorry, but this installment of the RLR series is very lengthy. I tried to condense it, but there is just so much to tell and our story just would not be complete without the details. If you need to take a break and rest your eyes part way through, I completely understand. But please bear with me and stick it out until the end. Trust me, it's worth it. I tried to break it up with some of my favourite photos of us while we were dating. They have no real relevance to the story - just a visual to break up the writing :)

If you are catching up you will remember that the fabulous dude had just arrived home from summer camp after leaving me hanging for a grueling 6 weeks. As soon as he returned to his parents house, however, the very first thing he did was call me and ask if he could come visit. Of course, I was ecstatic and said yes. It was a three hour drive and I had an afternoon/early evening shift at the restaurant so I knew he'd be at my house when I got finished. In the last post I said it was a Saturday but now that I think about it, I think it was a Friday and he was planning to stay until Monday or something. I asked my parents if it was okay if he came over for the weekend and everything was all set. I was a nervous wreck during my shift at work!

I got home and he was there waiting for me. It was somewhat awkward because neither of us were really sure what we were supposed to do or say. We headed down to my parents boat where we would stay for the weekend. We spent the day on Saturday enjoying the sun and the beach. We stayed up late catching up and talking. Somewhere in the midst of our convo, we talked about the bed-wetting problem he had until he was about 8 years old.

Apparently this conversation struck something in his subconscious because he woke up at about 3 am and realized he was wetting his bed (don't worry - I have his permission to share this story). Remember - we were on my parents boat. Boats don't have a lot of room. My parents were asleep in their bed, he was in the other bed and I was on the floor between them. If I stretched, I could literally touch the base of my parents bed with my fingers and the base of his bed with my toes. Apparently he woke up, rushed out of the boat and tried to think about what to do. Finally, around 5 am, he woke me up and asked me to come outside. He took me for a walk and said he had a surprise for me and that he bet me $100 I would laugh at his surprise. I took the bet and he proceeded to tell me that he had peed the bed on my parents boat. Needless to say, he won the bet. When my parents woke up and were on the dock making breakfast, I quickly stripped the sheets off the bed. Luckily, he was sleeping on top of a sleeping bag and so the pee didn't soak through onto the sheets or, worse, the mattress. I loaded all the bedding (including the stuff from my parents bed so as not to look suspicious) into my car and told my mom I'd wash it all and bring it back because they were having more company the next weekend.

So, you may be wondering why in the world, other than to embarrass my husband, would I tell this story? Well, because, as I'm sure you'd agree, if a girl agrees to sneak around her parents and clean up a guy's pee sheets on their "first date", and the guy isn't too ashamed to show his face around the girl again, there is no doubt that they are meant to be together. After that incident, he basically had no choice but to marry me. (As a funny aside, over the next couple years, most of our friends and his family found out about this story. But, miraculously, we managed to keep the incident a secret from my parents and my entire family, until he confessed it to my father at our wedding reception - the way he told him is quite funny - perhaps I shall share this story another time...)

After the weekend of holding hands and laughing together and cleaning up pee sheets (but NO kissing - not for his lack of trying), he headed back to his parents house. He stayed there for about a week, bought his first truck, and then moved back to the town where we went to high school to return full time to the farming job he had during high school. It seems as though we never really looked back. There was never a time when we "officially" started dating, it just seemed as though we both had the understanding that now was our time. We sometimes questioned why we didn't start dating during high school but both of us agreed that there was a reason and that God timed it perfectly for us to begin our relationship.

Somewhere around the beginning of our relationship, he nicknamed me Lucy. There was also a song on the radio at the time that said "Lucy got Lucky and Lucky got Lucky, too". So, we became Lucy and Lucky. To this day, I am Lucy to him and some of his family members.

In September I moved into my sister's apartment and began university (I was about 1.5 hours away from him now). Thankfully, the farm he worked at shipped out of a town about 15 minutes away so he usually was able to visit about once a week (I've got some really cool stories about these visits too - another day). We got really serious really fast and he started talking about marriage. Believe it or not, he wanted to get married at Christmas only 4 short months after we began dating!! I quickly put an end to that idea. Yet, I knew that marriage was in our (near) future and living 1.5 hours apart wasn't going to cut it. After my first semester, we decided that we were serious enough to make some drastic changes. We started weighing our options. He could quit his job, move to my city and find a new job. I wasn't enjoying my time at university and I hated living in the city (small town girl) so, instead, I applied to transfer to a university closer to him for my second year. By May, the plans were all set for me to move in with his cousin, who lived in the same town as him, the following September.

At this point, we started seriously saving some money so that we would be able to afford to get married. His father was skeptical of us talking about marriage when we were so young because of financial constraints, so we wanted to show him that we could do it. And we certainly did show him, I might add. I was almost certain that the proposal would come at some point over the summer, before I moved back to GL town.

The summer came and went, and I did not have a ring. We had started looking at rings and had picked out a few that we really liked. I was starting to get impatient although now I have no idea why I was in such a hurry. I became almost obsessed with talking about getting engaged. If you know me at all, you know that I am a planner, an organizer and perhaps a control freak. The idea of not knowing what was going on and having no control over it drove me bonkers. The FD started to get really fed up with my constant bugging.

Just before Thanksgiving, he took me for a walk and told me that he thought we were moving too quickly. I was so angry with him. Wasn't he the one who had wanted to get married right when we started dating? Wasn't he the one who suggested we move closer to each other? He apologized and told me that he just wasn't ready to think about marriage. He said he wasn't doubting that he wanted to marry me. He was simply doubting when he wanted to do so. He said all the pressure was making him uncomfortable. I was sure he was having second thoughts about our relationship. I was scared, confused and insecure. However, he stilled invited me to come home with him for Thanksgiving. I agreed and so as we headed up north to his parents house to celebrate Thanksgiving, I had no idea what was going to happen to us.

To be continued...

The Real Life Romance series is being linked up at MM&Ms at Musings of a Future Pastor's Wife