So, today’s blog post (I know it’s been a long time) includes some guest writing from none other than the other namesake of this blog – The Lawyer! We purchased a book at the church bookstore last week called That Crazy Little Thing Called Love: The Soundtrack of Marriage, Sex and Faith by Jud Wilhite (our pastor). We began reading it together that evening – our plan is to read it together, chapter by chapter. Along the way it asks us to do little things that strengthen our bond. The first chapter talked about how you look back on your memories is an indicator to the health of your relationship. Both Jimmy and I have very fond memories of the way we began dating and the experiences we’ve had together. The challenge in this chapter was to share “our story” with someone. Well, most everyone we know knows our story, but we love to share it so Jimmy came up with the idea to do a blog post. We wrote our stories separately, and I’m combining them here. Jimmy’s text is in italics.
Jimmy and I basically grew up together – attending the same elementary school, junior high school, and high school – but never really talking to one another. I knew he was, and he knew who I was, but we were a year apart in school and didn’t hang out with the same crowds. We actually “met” in college. I was in a sorority, Delta Zeta, and Jimmy was in a fraternity, Sigma Alpha Mu. Delta Zetas hosted an annual philanthropic event called “Turtle Tug.” In this event, the various fraternities on campus competed against one another to raise money for our philanthropy. The Turtle Tug of my freshman year I ended up coaching the “Sammies” (as the Sigma Alpha Mus were called) with my sorority sister, Alyson.
Jimmy and I basically grew up together – attending the same elementary school, junior high school, and high school – but never really talking to one another. I knew he was, and he knew who I was, but we were a year apart in school and didn’t hang out with the same crowds. We actually “met” in college. I was in a sorority, Delta Zeta, and Jimmy was in a fraternity, Sigma Alpha Mu. Delta Zetas hosted an annual philanthropic event called “Turtle Tug.” In this event, the various fraternities on campus competed against one another to raise money for our philanthropy. The Turtle Tug of my freshman year I ended up coaching the “Sammies” (as the Sigma Alpha Mus were called) with my sorority sister, Alyson.
I met Marcie in College. We were young students in the greek fraternity/sorority system with no idea that we would end up together – one because I thought Marcie out of my league and two because Marcie said she “would never date a SAMmy.” But, here we are, together and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
I remember Marcie from High School. It’s not like I never saw her before college. In fact, we joke all the time with people about how we knew each other from elementary and high school, but never spoke. I saw Marcie with all her young boyfriends. I also saw her because we had classes together. But, it wasn’t until college that our lives actually crossed paths and we took the same road together.
Turtle-tug! Marcie’s sorority was throwing their yearly event, and our fledgling Fraternity was finally invited to a formal event with the greek system. We were totally infatuated with the DeeZee’s, but had no idea how to keep it together to be anything other than we were – a motley crew of mess ups and knuckleheads who had the very best of intentions. Marcie and Alyson were the two coaches assigned to our fraternity to coach us to success in the various games and activities our fraternity had to compete in. So, my first impressions to Marcie included horrible etiquette (or lack thereof) in fraternity meetings, fights amongst brothers, a “big nuts” dance which I mustered up the courage to perform with balloon breasts and miniskirt on, and regular hanging out at the Student Union between classes.
When I first met these guys I admit I was wondering what in the world I had gotten myself into. They were disorganized, foul-mouthed, and somewhat crazy! What I didn’t see off the bat was how extremely loyal they were. As we coached these guys and got to know them, we started hanging out with them in more social situations, and as time passed I started to gravitate towards Jimmy – he was funny, a good storyteller, and an all around likeable guy. I was actually dating someone else at the time, but I liked Jimmy – he was a good guy.
We did pretty well at the games, and Marcie for some reason continued to talk with us and hang out at the Union with us. We started talking more regularly at that time too – but mostly to discuss Marcie’s relationship with her current boyfriend at school – the future pro golfer. Days and days we would spend talking on the phone – the pretense was how to break up with the b/f, but really was an excuse just to chat about nothing really. After weeks of that, Marcie bought little CALI, the Calico Cat who was the precipice of getting me to go visit. I went to Marcie’s house to see her new kitten. In fact, my two fondest recollections that day included: (1) putting on my brand new jeans to go over there just to have the cat scratch them pretty good, and (2) the “quick” trip to Arby’s for a bite that ended up taking all evening while we sat in the booth with mostly eaten sandwiches and piles of paper napkins.
Within a couple of months the guy I had been dating and I broke up. I started calling Jimmy under the guise of not knowing what to do about this ex-boyfriend that wouldn’t leave me alone. He didn’t really know what to tell me, but it got us to talking outside of events we attended together. Finally, in July of 1998, I bought a kitten and invited him over to my house to see her (by the way, he’s allergic to cats). This was the start of us hanging out more and more. We started shooting pool together (with his fraternity brothers) and flirting over the pool table. Then we’d go out to eat together and really just started spending a lot of time together. We didn’t really admit to each other, ourselves, or anyone that we might be dating. One day we went out to eat at Olive Garden and the waitress wrote “His” and “Hers” on our to-go boxes. This started a conversation about the idea of being together.
That was the beginning of our relationship, even though I didn’t admit it. The two of us hung out and went on dates with groups. It was SAMmys at first, where we went to play pool, and everyone thought we were together. All the frequent eye contact and unspoken flirting, silly smiles and silly jokes. We played pool alone after that, and quite often too. I highly recommend shooting pool as the perfect date thing to do because of all the flirting you get to do. We would constantly talk about “kissing” while shooting pool. CONSTANTLY.
Those games of pool quickly led to hanging out, and movies, and dinners. We quickly started spending as much time as possible together. Summer vacation was perfect for that. We finally admitted we were “together” when the waitress at Olive Garden told us so by writing “his” and “hers” on to-go boxes. And from there, we finished school together, moved away from home together, and completed every future accomplishment from that point on together.
Our first kiss was a little awkward – well, not the kiss, but the lead up to it. We were sitting on the couch at my parent’s house watching Legends of the Fall one evening. It was one of those situations where we both knew the kiss was coming, but we weren’t sure how it was going to be. I remember thinking that Jimmy and I had such a good thing going – a great friendship where it was easy to be around one another and share our thoughts – and I didn’t want to screw it up. What if we kissed and felt nothing – that would ruin everything. Luckily when he finally mustered up the courage to lean in and kiss me, there were sparks!
That’s the story of how we met – “big nuts” dances, fluffy kittens, beef n cheddars, and kissing, lots and lots of kissing.
Two years later we moved to San Diego – where Jimmy attended law school. We got engaged July of 2001, and married October of 2003. The rest, as they say, is history! I love you, Jimmy. Thanks for being the best husband a woman could ask for!
