My husband and I just celebrated our 4th Anniversary, so I thought I would write a post about how we met and a little bit about our story.
June 17-18 2016 was a Young Single Adult Conference, put together by our church. It was being held in Wilmington, NC and they invited neighboring areas to be a part of the activity and service project. At the time I was living with my sister in Charlotte, NC and I had paid for the ticket to go but wasn’t sure I would, because it was 5 hours away and I didn’t want to drive down by myself. The Wednesday before the event, I was at institute when a friend asked if I was going and I told him I wanted to but didn’t want to do the drive. He said there was a seat available in the car he was going with and he offered it to me. So there I was, heading to the conference in a car with three guys.
We got to the conference late since all of us had work, and we were not able to leave until 4 pm. We got there around 10 pm, missing the fireside but just in time for the dance they were holding. I got separated from the guys I came with but enjoyed myself as I danced to every song and met a lot of new people. None of them were my husband though. He apparently was standing at the edge with his arms folding judging the Army boys who showed in superhero costumes. Who I actually spent most of my time dancing with!
The following morning after breakfast was when I first saw Seth, and he was hard to miss. He was super tall and looked very grumpy. He was watching a group of us play with a frisbee and asked to join. We were playing ultimate frisbee and he joined in on the opposing team. Our first connection was me holding the frisbee and this massive 6’6″ giant running straight towards me! I threw it as fast as I could, and like a dog he chased after it. That was my first experience with Seth.
It wasn’t until later that we met again, but in a more calm and gentle way. That morning was the service project and afterwards while we were waiting for instructions on the next event, which was lunch, I saw him sitting apart from everyone else. This will tell you a lot about me, well I made the first move because I am a shy extrovert. I love making new friends but prefer to do it on a smaller scale. So he was sitting alone and looked like he needed a friend and I decided I could be that friend. So I started talking to him. We talked for probably 10-15 minutes before they announced we could head back for lunch. Well I stood up and started walking and Seth stayed sitting. So I turned around and asked “aren’t you coming?”. He hesitantly stood up and started walking and we continued to talk, well I talked and he gave short one word answers to my questions.
Once we got to lunch, we ran into someone he knew and they asked if he met any new friends. Do you wanna guess what he said? With me standing right there, he said nope. This is where I knew the Lord was involved in our relationship because for some reason I said I would save him a seat because ladies were to get their food first. I did save him a seat, it just wasn’t next to mine.
After lunch, it was time for the beach. So after getting my tent taken down and changing we headed off to the beach. Seth on the other hand was not changed. For those that know him, knows he doesn’t like water so he had no intentions of getting in the water or even changing. So we get to the beach and he’s still in jeans and his boots. But eventually he does get hot and leaves to change while I went into the water to play. Well I see him get back and run up to him and took his hand to bring him to the water. He stops, pulls his hand away and I quote “If you try to drag, push, or pull me into the water, I’ll break your nose, throw you in and leave”. I am not exaggerated in the least. He really said that. To be fair though, I remember thinking “challenge accepted” as I gave him my sweetest smile. Well I got him all the way into the water where he couldn’t touch and with zero casualties.
After playing in the water for what felt like eternity where I was not being shy at flirting at all, I decided this guy must not like me. So after sitting on the beach for a little bit he wanted to get back to the others because we had drifted away. On the way back though, as I was thinking that I will leave this poor guy alone because at this point he probably thinks I am annoying. He grabs my hand. When I say grab, I mean like a man trying to grab a fish out of water. He was not subtle or smooth. When he had my hand and I looked at him scared and confused, he says “got ya……yep got ya”.
Well, once we got back to the area with everyone else, he asked if I liked ice cream and if I wanted to go get some. So we left and got ice cream, started walking around this little trinket store above the ice cream place. After hours and hours of flirting he started smiling and flirting back. We kept talking till my ride was ready to leave. We exchanged numbers and continued to text for the whole drive back to Charlotte.
And that is how I met the love of my life. I definitely know their was some divine intervention going on because he was so stubborn! But I just felt so comfortable with him. I felt like I finally found who I wanted to be because though he seemed pretty standoffish, I never once felt judged for who I was. He just seemed to accept me, even if he thought I was annoying as I continued to talk to him when he just wanted to be left alone.