Bryan and I have known each other for close to 12 years, his older sister and I played softball together throughout high school. When I graduated and left home for college I didn't come back for 7 years. As soon as I moved back over the summer Erin, my best friend since the age of 10, started trying to set us up. At the time I was very ill so I refused. I knew who she was talking about and I remembered him from all those years ago. She was very persistent and kept asking me to just give it a chance. In January I decided that I would give in. We started with messages on Facebook. It was awkward for both of us so he asked for my number. The night after I gave him my number I broke out in hives in anticipation of his call. It was another 3 days before he actually called. We talked for awhile but we didn't have a lot to say. We decided to go on a date that weekend. We met at the bowling alley where we had to wait to for 45 minutes for a lane and just stood there with nothing to say. Once we finally started bowling he beat me by 100 pins. By the third game he only beat me by 2 pins. After that we went for ice cream and then to a church social. It was an awkward first date but I knew that I really wanted to see him again. We decided that since I live an hour away we would go out again the next weekend.
On Tuesday of the next week he read my blog and realized that I was dealing with a major illness. I had planned on telling him, just not on our first date. So we had a long phone conversation and I tried my best to reassure him that I am better now than I have been in years and that the doctors feel like I'll be healed soon. On Thursday he didn't have to work so he drove an hour to take me to lunch and he surprised me with a dozen red roses. We planned to go out that Saturday night but we ended up going out Friday night, Saturday night, and all day Sunday. That Sunday I was feeling pretty sick and was having a lot of heart palpitations that were painful. We were sitting on his couch just talking and he could see that I was in a lot of pain so he put his arm around me and the pain stopped immediately. That was the moment that I knew I would spend the rest of my life with him. The next 3 weeks were a whirlwind of dates and late night phone calls. On Valentine's Day we said I love you and we've never looked back.
Bryan is the most amazing person in the world. He has so much kindness and patience for everyone but especially for me. He takes care of me and loves me in spite of all my weaknesses. I have never been so happy or so at peace in all my life. We know that this has happened fast but we feel like it's right. Our families are both so happy for us and our friends are celebrating.
It is truly amazing to see how God works in our lives through the good times and the bad. I have had three really bad years in a row and when I quit my job to move back home I felt like my life was in shambles. If I hadn't gotten sick I would have never moved back home and I wasn't all that happy about it. When Erin and I started hanging out again and spending more time together I was so relieved to have a friend that knew me for me and not for the person that I had become since I'd gotten sick. I trust her completely and when she wanted to set me up I knew that it wasn't just to have something to do. I knew that she truly believed that he would be the best person in the world for me and I was also honored to know that she felt that I would be the best person for him. It is wonderful how things work out when you quit worrying about them. I had decided a couple months ago that I wasn't really going to worry about finding a husband anytime soon but that if something happened then I would be open to it. I never imagined that I would be getting married this year. I honestly thought that I'd never get married but I always hoped that I was wrong.
Thank you to Erin who is truly our ANGEL and thank you to our families for the love and support. We know that you love us both and are so happy for us. We know that we are crazy and that this relationship has progressed at warp speed but we know in our hearts and souls that this is bigger than the 2 of us and that this has been GOD's plan all along.
Pray for us as we start our lifelong journey together.
6 years ago
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