How I Met Your Father, Part 5: How It All Began

Part 4
Part 3
Part 2
Part 1

Where was I? The Loop in the summer of 2004? So I went to the Loop, saw Chris, and...........

nothing happened. I mean I was shocked to see Chris after all that time, so that was pretty cool. We had fun catching up. I found out he never went to school in Alabama, but was instead at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago and had only come home to Memphis because he had to have surgery that summer. Of course, I relished the fact that I had actually been doing something moderately exciting that summer with Walk the Line, so I felt 15% glamorous casually slipping that into the conversation. He asked if we were going to Memphis Pizza Cafe with a bunch of other people from the Loop that night, and we told him we didn’t know yet. And that was it. When Rachie and I left, we decided to go to Memphis Pizza Cafe, because why not? I’d probably never see Chris again if we didn’t! We went to one that turned out to be the wrong location, so then we went to the right one and found some people from the Loop but no Chris. 

{I did mention this encounter to my friend Melissa at church. She asked me what his name was, and I told her, never dreaming that she'd know who he was -- and then she told me that his sister was her best friend!!!!!! Shock and horror doesn't even describe it - ha! Little did we know that the two of them were conspiring to get us together later that winter, but they never had to. We beat them to it! :)}

Oh well. I had lots to look forward to back at school that fall! It was my senior year. Not long after school started, it was time to start working on Tiger Tunes. I was also on the executive committee of Tri Chi, which was super fun, so I was in charge of planning our homecoming tea for current Tri Chis, their families and alumni (almnae? argh!). I was also working with one of my best friends, J.T., to be in charge of our Ad Fed team. Plus, Jennifer had just gotten engaged back home, so there was a lot to do as her maid of honor! (Not that I did nearly as much as I should have, but that's another story -- I was a clueless 21-year-old, after all!) Before I knew it, the fall semester had flown by. Becky had been studying overseas for the semester, so I stayed in Arkadelphia a few extra days to welcome her back to the country, and then I headed back home for Christmas break.

Rachel had heard that the Loop was having a special Christmas edition December 21st (how’s that for memory skills? :), so we decided to go to it. We actually joked about running into Chris again, although we knew it was pretty unlikely! He had mentioned that he hardly ever came home to Memphis anymore (like even for holidays) back when I had seen him the summer before. So to the Loop we went, with a few more friends in tow, and before the night was over, we had indeed run back into Chris... although a slightly more mangey version of him! He had an interesting little hairstyle going on, and he was unfortunately rocking something akin to a goatee... but he was still Chris. One of my friends later said, “That wasn’t the guy, was it?” and I admitted that it actually was, but that something wasn’t looking right about the old fellow. However, I knew that a haircut and a shave would do wonders for him... ha! (And I was right. Sure enough, a few weeks later he asked me about my feelings about the goatee, and I said, "Ummmmmmmm, not my favorite." It eventually disappeared after that!)

That night, a bunch of people were heading to McAllister’s afterward, and once again he asked if we were going. We told him we were and teased him about how he didn’t show at MPC last time and that he’d better show this time... and he did! At McAllister’s we talked and talked, and he asked for my number -- finally! And when he did, not only did I give him the digits, but I also double-checked that he got the right number. Because that doesn't look desperate at all.

Sara was there that night, and she was trying to get the whole group to go see a movie together two nights later. Chris was all about it, and so was I. And then there was an ice storm, which, you know, brought all of Memphis to a screeching halt. Sara called to let me know they were all still planning on going, but then my parents refused to let me get out in it. She offered to come get me, but they weren’t budging: they did NOT want me out in the ice that night. So the night went on, and then a few hours later, Chris called and asked why I hadn’t come! I told him why, and he asked if I’d like to go get coffee with him. “You don’t understand -- they won’t let me leave the house!” I told him. So he asked if he could come over and hang out. I gave him directions, but he completely misinterpreted them and wound up going waaaay far from my parents’ house, on the other side of town, in the ice. He finally called for help, but it was past midnight, and therefore Christmas Eve, before he even showed up!

When he finally made it over, I was watching my Tiger Tunes video. (Yes, video! Totally dating myself here!) We talked and then wound up watching Seinfeld -- DVDs, I think :) -- I'm not that old -- but mostly talking through that. He didn’t leave until sometime around 7 the next morning! In fact, he stuck around so long that he wound up meeting my dad while he was on his way to work that morning. Before Chris left, he asked me if I’d like to go on a date with him, and, without thinking, in my exhausted state I replied, “Yes! I haven’t been on an actual date in a year!”...... because, once again, that's the kind of thing guys like to hear when they ask girls out. UGH! But the good news is that he doesn’t even remember that I said anything but “Yes!” (Of course, he also doesn’t remember 99% of what I’ve been writing about this whole time, but that’s another story altogether!) 

Now our dating relationship was pretty rocky at first, and I for one certainly never thought we would last. We quickly discovered that we were very different, and our values and ideals were also very different. However, as we prayed through each issue we encountered, consulting God’s Word, we came to realize where we were wrong, and we grew closer together. By February, after driving all the way to Memphis to take me out for Valentine’s Day, he declared his love for me. I wasn’t an easy sell, however, and I didn’t say “I love you” back to him until that August!

By the time May rolled around, I was still so unsure we'd last that I asked him not to come to my graduation(!!!). After all, I didn't want him in my pictures if we weren't going to be together much longer. But something happened that summer. Both of us were back in Memphis, and we had a fabulous time together! We'd go on dates and hang out nearly every day. I'd never had so much fun!

Well to make a long story slightly shorter, Chris wound up going back to Chicago that fall for school, and lasted there all of about two weeks, if that. He had grown a lot in his walk with Christ that summer, and he no longer felt right about being president of his fraternity -- and then, the more he stayed, the less he felt comfortable being a part of it at all. He decided the best thing he could do was to make a clean break with his life up there and move back to Memphis... which he proceeded to do while driving through the remnants of Hurricane Katrina. Those were some pretty nasty remnants, and he had no cell service -- so I was a nervous wreck until he arrived back in town! After taking that fall semester off to work and save money, he transferred to the University of Memphis (go Tigers!) in the spring of 2006 and graduated a year later. On September 22, 2007, he proposed to me at the place where the Loop used to meet, and then on June 14, 2008, we were married.

Chris, I love you so much more than I can say! Every day you make me laugh, and you have challenged me in so many ways. I can't imagine a better husband for me or father for our girls, and I am so thankful for you!! And also, I think we have a pretty cool story -- just as I'd always hoped to have. :)

At the apartment I shared with Jenny my senior year. He came to OBU over his spring break and went to a Tri Chi dance with me that night. Not sure why this looks like it was taken in the 70s!

Summer of 2005

Even though I wouldn't officially say it, I was pretty smitten with the Vaf by the time I took this picture in New Orleans. I had gone on a trip with my friends JJ and Emily, and I happened upon this random store in a mall there and felt the need to take a picture for the Greek man in my life - ha!

Wedding day!