How We Met
Eric and I met on our first semester at our college campus. Honestly, the mean reason I got to know him was because I had an incredibly huge crush on his roommate. Because of that, he and I were together pretty frequently. He had a girlfriend from back home, and he and I became good buddies. Second semester, I tutored him in a math class an hour twice a week, and still-just friends.
Sophomore year and we were just good buddies. We still hung out with him and his roommate (who I finally got over, thankfully). Then, near the end, things with his relationship from home changed, and suddenly he was single. It hit me as sort of a shock to see the guy who had come to be such a best friend so sad. So, I took it upon myself to make sure that he smiled at least once a day. We would sing worship songs together in the piano practice rooms, sit around and watch movies, and things slowly started to change. It wasn’t planned, and it was like suddenly, right in front of me, was the guy I had always dreamed about. One who made me laugh, remember the good things in life, and showed me the love of the God above each and every day in such small, simple ways. What a shock it was to find that slowly, he felt the same way. & here we are, ready to be best friends until the end of time.
how they asked
The first night that Eric and I were ‘Eric and Shelby’ was during the first real snow in northern Indiana on a December evening. He walked me from his dorm to mine, the furthest on campus from his, and we took the long way around. While on this walk we laughed and joked, made small little memories along the way.
On December 14th, 2015, Eric said we ‘would take a trip down memory lane’ and re-create that walk. I thought it was completely normal, since he does cute little things all the time. We stopped at his old dorm first, and he said “This is where our walk started that one night that I realized you were someone I wanted to pursue.” Kept going, and every time he would ask me, “Do you remember what happened here?” We would laugh, talk, remember little and big moments. Went up to one practice room that we stayed and talked in for hours on end one night, stopped at the tree where we first held hands. Ever time, “Do you remember what happened here?”
Then, we come to the beautiful fountain on campus, ‘Helios’, and stand in front of it. “Do you remember what happened here?” And… I didn’t. Had no idea. Figuring I had forgotten something important, I said, “No! Should I?”
He looked down at me and said “It’s because we haven’t made a memory here yet, but I want to. Here is where I ask you the most important question of my life.” & there he was, down on one knee. & I said yes to the man I never saw coming, but always wanted.