How We Met
Ever since I was a little girl, my mom would tuck me into bed and ask me, “what do you think he is doing right now?” A question that would come after we would read a Cinderella Story with a mythical prince charming character I then didn’t understand. When I got older and was milliseconds away from giving up on the entire male species as a whole, my mom would ask me, “What do you think he is doing right now?” The phrase “mother knows best” never made more sense than when HE came into my life. She knew “he” was out there, and that I would find my happily ever after. So, let me preface my side of the story with this… ONCE UPON A TIME…
A message from Austin showed up on my inbox, years after high school and a couple years after college. The tall, football stud I always had a crush on in high school. “The guy that got away” as I would continue to remind my best friend, Rachael, sporadically through college was “The Air Force Football player” who I would occasionally creep on through his friends Facebook and Instagram pages to see pictures of (sorry Brandon). HE is Austin Briehl. Moments after reading his Facebook message, blacking out for a moment, and just before hyperventilation commenced, I called my best friend Rachael and made her guess who just messaged me (surprised she could even understand what I was saying at the rate I was talking and squealing between syllables). She laughed and without hesitation said, “Did he go to the Air Force Academy?” For a million more reasons than this-she is my Maid of Honor. I digress… back to the story…
I just had a feeling about this one. Our first phone conversation lasted 7, almost 8 hours as if we had known each other for years. The kind of non-stop conversation where I parked in the mall parking lot across from my apartment, so I wouldn’t loose service underground in the garage. The ever so cliché phone conversation where it took at least 10 minutes for someone to hang up first. The “someone pinch me so I can wake up” kind of feeling. Day 2 of us talking and Austin had booked a flight home to Arizona from Arkansas to “meet” me. Fast forward to taking 5 hours to get ready the day he was flying in, to driving with my hands at 10 and 2 to the Mesa Airport, at least 30 over the speed limit (sorry dad), to watching the airport doors open and seeing Austin walk toward me with a dozen red roses (which he carried on his lap the entire flight) in tow. First kiss, first leap into his 6 foot 5 arms and the rest is history. Church that Sunday confirmed all of our feelings as the sermon was about love, marriage, relationships and a bible verse I will forever remember reading as Austin followed each verse with his finger in the Bible we were both following along to…. “Love is patient, love is kind…” 1 Corinthians 13:4. God had a plan for us. We chose to follow His path and let Him lead us to one another.
how they asked
When you know, you just know. And as most/all (you know it’s true) female instincts go, I had an inkling he was going to propose Thanksgiving weekend, just had no idea what exactly he had up his sleeve. 2 days before Turkey day, he never even knelt down or took a knee to tie his shoe! Thanksgiving day I was certain that morning he was going to propose at the high school (where we met) Turkey Bowl. I took extra long to figure out how to look cute/causal without looking like I was trying too hard. His team won the coveted Bemis Bowl trophy…. and still nothing. By then I was convinced he was going to do it the day after Thanksgiving because there was no way he could propose without my family there, and if I saw my mom and dad in the same room…I would know something was up.
Turkey notes began which I had been sweating because I knew it was a roasting sesh. To those unfamiliar with this annual event on Thanksgiving night… Short poems and riddles are written about every family member by “Turkey”. Turkey, as we call him, always has a way of poking fun at people and finding out things that no one knew was ever leaked. With that being said, I kept replaying over and over in my head what I had done to make a fool of myself in front of his family that entire year to think of what they could make fun of me for…. Austin pulled my Turkey note from the basket (the last one to be read of course. How did I not catch on to the hint?)….
“Turkey life, turkey mate,
Turkey wants to set a date.
For two special people to declare their love,
With the blessings of family and friends both here and above.
With that said, I’ll get done on one knee,
And ask Madison, will you marry me?”
THEN I LITERALLY JUST BLACKED OUT!!!!
Poor Austin was knelt down in front of me and all of a sudden I lost all speech ability! I just remember nodding my head a million times and then screaming YES. Turning around to see my mom, dad, and friends all in the room behind me (slyly smuggled in by his family when I wasn’t looking)
This marking one of the happiest day of my entire life, next to the day I picked him up at the airport for our first date and next to the day he messaged me for the first time, and well next to our first kiss, and….(OK I’ll stop there)
Well played Austin, well played!
This fairy-tale story isn’t over yet, this is just the beginning… Gosh I am lucky, I love this man!
