How we met: I know most girls say this but I truly, truly mean it. I thought I was never going to meet “him”, you know “the one”. I had been told “you’re too sweet…too nice…you’re a good friend”. I was extremely traditional and still believed in my Prince Charming and many said that I needed to forget about the old ideals. Too many broken hearts and it left me…to be honest a little sad and a teaspoon of bitter. I met people through church, through school, through friends, at weddings, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would meet my future husband ON LINE!!! Hehe.
Singleness was an interesting journey. Lots of wondering who you are, who you want to be, and then who you end up to be. In the process there are many laughs, joys and tears. When the time had come that I finally felt ready to share my life with someone, my darling sister asked me (well actually begged me) to give “Match” a try! I was SO hesitant, but when you are truly ready for something in life you are willing to take any adventure to get to it. So I began the amazingly awkward challenge that was online dating
I started in April of 2011. I went on a couple dates with some very “normal” men but that exuded personality traits that I just couldn’t get used to. After having gone on about 4 dates (a few second dates) in 3 months (which is a piece of cake compared to some stories I’ve heard!) I was reluctant to keep going. As I was scrolling through the photos of eligible bachelors I kept coming across this one cutie. He had “winked” at me over the time I had dated the other guys, but I just kept going past him because I thought maybe he was too young and just wanted to have fun. Soon he emailed me and in his very thoughtful email he mentioned his family loved and had gone to a camp that I had worked at for many years and was VERY near and dear to my heart, Forest Home. I figured anyone who loved that place as much as me I had to at least go on one date with.
We proceeded to talk for several days. Days turned into a couple of weeks (although it felt MUCH LONGER!) and so we decided to meet. I felt very comfortable with him and did something I would never encourage a girl to do for a blind date…I had him come pick me up at my house! (I know dangerous! :) (just an FYI the day I met Tim I had also gone with my sister to buy her brand new car…which we later saw her license plate randomly said “TIM” on it….we just laughed!). When Tim showed up he drove up to the curb and I was standing there….with my long hair pinned halfway up and wearing a strapless baby doll pink flowery dress.
He quickly got out of his car. When I saw him stand up I discovered a long single pink rose in his hand. He had the biggest smile on his face and greeted me then proceeded to open my door. I was nervous. I got in and when we got to the first red light he looked over at me and said “you look great tonight”. I giggled inside.
He took me to a beautiful restaurant in Laguna Beach (that is no longer there. Boo!) We sat, ordered and talked. We seemed to get along so well. I thought/asked myself “JUST FRIENDS?” or love of my life? At the end of the night the waiter came out with his hands behind his back and presented us with a small round beautiful cake and said to Tim and I “Happy Anniversary!” We looked at each other and were speechless. At first I thought Tim was playing a joke on me (and a part of me still thinks that he did that, “but to this day he claims he was just as surprised as I was)! The waiter apologized and said we just looked so cute and happy and thought it must have been our anniversary! Obviously we never forgot about that sweet first date!
how they asked: One date turned into a few. Before you know it, 3 years lapsed and that brought us to NOVEMBER 27th, 2014.
Tim and I both come from divorced parents. We both dealt with many joys and pains that go along with that. We decided that if we wanted to marry it would be forever. That’s it. Done deal. Once and it’s for life. So we decided to take our time with the journey. It was not easy. ESPECIALLY for me. I so wanted us to start our lives together, but Tim being such a thoughtful person wanted to make sure we worked through everything that matters, everything that starts off a marriage the right way. I began to feel weary. I prayed for God’s unfailing love over my silly insecurities. The night before Thanksgiving I caught a BAD cold. I had a fever of 101, coughing, sneezing, I was miserable. I called Tim to ask him what time I should be ready for him to pick me up for Thanksgiving and he said 8:00 am! WHY on earth 8am!?!?!?!? but I didn’t say much about it. We don’t get much time together due to our somewhat long distance, so I obliged. That night my sister took me to get my nails done! I still didn’t think much of it as she treats me to a manicure often being the greatest sister she is! Then the next morning I woke up bright and early and still sick! I got all ready and waited for Tim to pick me up. He did. We got in the car and we headed out for our 2 1/2 hour drive to his brother’s house in Santa Barbara. It didn’t take long on the drive for me to see that he was acting strange…lol. He seemed anxious and he doesn’t get anxious. We got to State Street at about 11 am. He asked me if we could take a walk on the beach. We parked, took a walk and strolled on the sand. Lovely…right? Except he wasn’t looking at me or talking to me lol! He nervously kept checking his phone. Finally my bad cold couldn’t take it anymore and I asked if we could turn back because I was achy and tired! He sweetly said “just a little longer”. About 5 minutes after that we slowly stopped and he turned to me and said “you know how much I love you, right?”. I said “of course I do”. Then he said “look”.
I looked in my peripheral vision and saw rose petals and just said “oh that’s nice”. I thought it was for someone else! He then said “no honey, LOOK”! I took a much better look and saw that inside a HUGE drawn out heart in the sand it read “MARRY ME” in red rose petals! I turned back to Tim and he was on bended knee! That is when I started my true ugly cry. Not just a cry for how happy I was but because all the richness of my past… the good, the sad, the parts of it I thought I would never get through all came crashing in that moment. Almost like EVERYTHING I went through, that he went through was all for THIS moment. This GIGANTIC moment that only lasted a few seconds and became a blur… it all happened for this. For him. For me. For US.
The happiness didn’t end there. Tim has swept me off my feet since the first day we met. I still can’t believe God blessed me with such a sweet, humble, outgoing , kind , and funny man. Now I get to spend the rest of my life with my best friend. I ALWAYS tell Tim “you are the best man I know.” He IS the best man I know. His heart is unlike anyone else. Not perfect, but perfect for me. Tim always says to me “I need to tell you and show you everyday of your life how much I love you and how much you mean to me and how beautiful you are” and he does…..he’s the love of my life.
Photos by Kate Noelle Photography