Seven Years Ago....

This post actually should have been done February 22...but, I'm just now getting around to it.

It was seven years ago on February 22, 2003, when Marc and I met.

In case you don't know the story, here goes....

Marc and I actually went to the same college for one year (my freshman year and his sophomore year). No, our paths didn't cross that year. We didn't know each other -- which is somewhat odd since this college is small.

After that, I transferred to WSU (and ultimately finished there).

But, my freshman year was not wasted....I met many great people there -- a few of them are my closest friends to this day.

Almost five years after graduating from college (six years for Marc), my really good friend Alissa mentioned to me that she had given my name and phone number to a guy -- a guy she sort of knew from college; a guy with whom she was serving on the Young Alumni Committee at the small college. She told me his name was Marc Friesen. He was an accountant, and he ran A LOT (I had a business degree and did run some then -- she thought we might hit it off; she also mentioned she thought he'd get along with my dad well).

Before I could even say, "Alissa -- why did you do that?" she had already e-mailed him a photo of me. Then, Marc e-mailed a photo of himself to her -- which was forwarded on to me.

Are you getting all of this?

I thought to myself, "We'll see if he calls." (I had been on a blind date before, and NOTHING ever transpired of it, and so, I wasn't real hopeful on this one).

Well, less than a week later, Marc did call. Unfortunately, he called when I was traveling on business. He left a message that he'd call another time. Again, I wondered if he really would.

Two days later (on a Saturday evening), Marc did call me. I guess neither of us had anything going on for a Saturday night :(

We ended up chatting for around 1 1/2 hours -- mainly about "light" stuff -- nothing too heavy.

He asked me out for the following week -- I accepted.

So, a week later, February 22, 2003, we went out.

**As a side note, when he showed up at my apartment door, he did have a rose with him. That was an immediate sweetness I noticed.

It was the most wonderful date I'd had. We merely went to Olive Garden. We tried to get to a movie (I know, I know -- not the best first date thing to do), but we weren't able to find one we liked at the time we wanted.

So, we headed back to my apartment. We ended up watching a movie I owned, and then, we TALKED non-stop until 3:00 A.M. -- yep, 3:00 A.M.

At that point, he did leave. He asked if we could go out again -- of which I said, "Yes, of course."

I went to bed with a smile on my face....I got up early the next morning to go to church. Because it was such a GOOD date and I had an ENORMOUS smile on my face, I wasn't even tired in church and throughout the 3rd grade Sunday School class I was teaching at the time -- despite my late bedtime.

Nope -- I didn't tell a SOUL about the date -- not even my parents.

I was afraid that if didn't work out, I'd be all let down and let others down as well (I was 27 years old at the time, and I think some were wondering if I'd ever meet and marry somebody. After all, we live in the midwest, and the tendency is to get married and have kids way younger than on the west and east coasts).

*****

We did go out again two weeks later, and I would honestly say that it was during that date that I KNEW I'd marry this guy.

*****

Fast forward 6-7 weeks from then -- I hadn't yet met Marc's parents (he had already met my parents)....

Marc mentioned to me that there was this family reunion he needed to go to. He wanted me to go as well -- his parents would be there.

I wasn't sure I really wanted to meet his parents for the first time at a family reunion, but I guess I knew this was the one I'd marry (and actually, by then, we had already talked about marriage).

So, I went...Meeting his parents was fine and not too awkward, despite it being at a family reunion.

We hung out at the family reunion for a bit (neither of us are huge family reunion people). Then, since it was a nice spring day, we headed over to Dyck Arboretum and took some photos of ourselves.

Here they are....seven years ago.





And, just for fun....





We were engaged one day short of 4 months after eating each other...Then, Marc gave me this....



Not quite 16 months after first meeting, we were married...And, it's been a wonderful almost 6 years being married to Marc.

And, as a result, we have this little guy....



A couple of fun facts about us....

**I mentioned that I used to run. After Marc and I met, we did quite a bit of talking about running. It turns out that we've run MANY of the same races (we had some "like" t-shirts to prove it). I did tell Marc that he could've spared me the extra time of waiting and asked me out at some race.

**We have figured out that one year, we were at the same New Year's Eve gathering (several years before we met). The ULTIMATE funny thing is that this New Year's Eve gathering was VERY SMALL. We think there might have only been 5 or 6 people there, TOTAL! But, neither of us remember each other. And, Marc was there with a girlfriend at the time. Perhaps that's why I didn't pay attention to him.