Our Story… Part 1
Alright Tam, here it is. This is being posted here all because of you! 
I met Eric at church. I was good friends with his little sister (by 9 years) and he had just moved to our little small town from LA (culture shock!). We were sitting on opposite sides of the church, but in the same row. He was wearing a denim button-front shirt and a tie. He was tall, blonde, tan and (let’s just get it out there) hot. Yup. I could no more have told you what the sermon that day was about than anything else…
I artfully arranged a meeting (offered to drive his sis to a youth event even though I was not in the youth group anymore) and poor Tami had to put up with both of us asking her about the other one for the next week. Sorry sis!
Then there was the college & career picnic at highline lake, where I *supposedly* tackled him during a game of… well it was kinda volleyball without a net crossed with soccer. This is something that I don’t remember, but he does (and quite vividly). That was July 10, 2004. The CC pastor informed me later that evening that there was a guy there that had asked him about me, and was interested in getting together, but he wouldn’t say who… I had such hopes! It wasn’t Eric – he wouldn’t go through someone else I now realize.
There was another C&C outing at another lake – this time an overnighter. We sat in the car and talked for hours and hours. His other sis informed me that I was too young for him & to back off (don’t worry, I stil love ya D!) but I managed to ignore that… I know, big shock. He was thinking I was interested in someone else (gag) and took a slight it of prodding, but eventually figured it out.
I came home & informed my mom that I had found the guy I was going to marry – he was smart, handsome gorgeous, well-read, liked music, and actually enjoyed literature (!). On top of all of that, he was a Christian. Did it matter that he was just a tad bit older than me? We don’t have to tell Dad, do we? How old he is, that is… (I was almost 18, he was 24, but Dad thought he was about 21 – still a bit on the old side!)
Our “official” first date was Aug 5, 1994. We went up on the Monument and talked. Watched the sun set & the lights begin to twinkle in the (small) city below. From that day to the day we were married we saw each other every single day except 10. We got married on Dec 1, 1995.
He had just moved to town and didn’t have a job, so my dad hired him for odd jobs so he’s have cash in his pocket to take me out. (Dad built houses, so there were ALWAYS odd jobs). Gotta love a Daddy that thinks of those kind of things! I was in college, and I would often come out to my car to find roses under the windshield wiper or inside the car. Such a romantic!
We started talking about “life plans” around February ’95, and the subject of family, kids, goals, etc came up. We kinda meshed there too. When we started looking in jewelry stores I kinda had a feeling. I didn’t want to go ring shopping, I mean, every girl wants to be surprised, right? He informed me that my wedding/engagement ring was too important to leave it to the chance that I wouldn’t like it. Me made me go along and took Tami for reinforcement – and to help him remember which one I liked the best.
On Mar 6 we took my parents out to dinner for my dad’s birthday, where Eric asked his permission to ask for my hand in marriage. What a birthday present (ha!) Daddy’s little girl had found her knight in shining armor, and would be heading off to start her new life.
On March 8 he “officially” proposed. We went out to dinner and for a walk in the park (a regular occurrence). He found a small grove of trees, got down on one knee, held up the ring box and asked me to be his wife. The answer had been yes for about 8 months, so it was a given there!
And that, my friends, is all that you get tonight! It’s 11:15, and I’m tired.
More to come…
6 comments
awwww…. this is so darn sweet!
i think im in love with your daddy tho. how precious and thoughtful and loving is he?!
more to come? cant wait!
thank you, girl
Suspense! I love it.
Did you ever read/see the whole of our saga? It’s on my blog anyway, look in the February archives for the start if you’re interested
Wait… there’s more???????? Now I’m stuck to my seat until I get the next one…
(Came over from Tam’s blog… first time here… I like it! Now to go exploring!)
Yeah, my daddy was a good one. He crashed his plane 7 years ago, and I still miss him terribly. He and Eric never really got to know each other, since they (subconsciously or not) saw each other as “the other guy” – weird, I know. I had ALWAYS been Daddy’s Little Girl. He knew that Eric was “the one” because he suddenly wasn’t the #1 guy in my life anymore. I think it’s just a daddy thing.
Oh wow…that makes my heart break Jennifer. Diane’s dad died a year after we were married (cancer) – and she was Daddy’s Little Girl too. ‘Course, I did whisk her away to the other side of the world too…
“‘Course, I did whisk her away to the other side of the world too…”
that was one thing my dad tried to make Eric promise… that he wouldn’t marry me and then take me away. We did stay for a couple of years, but only long enough for me to finish college. Then we moved to Phoenix for Eric to go to grad school. Then here to Washington (as had been the plan all along!). One of our unwritten wedding vows was that he would never move me a) east of the Mississippi river and b) there would always be mountains nearby – visible is a necessity!
Whenever we threaten the other side of the world both our moms get a little nervous… Eric did a “guest post” a while back on Ultrecht, Netherlands that made me somewhat seriously consider it as an alternative!
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