Our Story

Our story's barely begun, but here's the first 5 years...in 12 brief chapters.

February 2005: The first time John and I met, I thought he was way too attractive for me. We were seniors in high school, and both came to Westmont for a scholarship competition. We toured campus together, and even had the same interviewer in the competition. He was clearly wicked smart, and also didn't really seem to know it. I liked him instantly, but was also pretty realistic. He wasn't really available, and I knew the chances of me seeing him again were small. Besides, I was pretty gangly and kind of weird. My chances were not good. 

 

May 2005. See?

August 2005: Westmont, on a bus to the beach during freshman orientation. There he was, in the seat in front of me. (I knew he had won the scholarship, and was glad to see he'd accepted it.) Me: "So, congratulations! You won right?" I honestly don't remember what he said. I was a bucket of nerves just trying to talk to him.

Fall 2005 through Fall 2006: A very formative first year of college. I returned to Westmont a little more grounded, a little more confident, and although John and I hadn't seen that much of each other in the past year, I was happy to learn he would be living for the year on the floor immediately below mine. I mean, he seemed cool. If he was too good for me maybe he could set me up with one of his friends? The Armington dungeon looked a little brighter.

Fall 2006: The First Breakfast. I don't remember the day, but it was early in the semester - I spotted him sitting and reading over breakfast in the Dining Commons. I sat my tray down across from him very purposefully and proceeded to completely ruin his attempts at quiet breakfast reading. And from that day on, every Monday/Wednesday/Friday, he couldn't escape. There I was, chatting away - it was a pretty big crush. He didn't really seem to mind. At the same time, I started studying in the lounge on his floor. There were two reasons for this: 1) People liked to make out in the lounge on my floor. 2) I might see John when he left or came back from class. Creepy? Eh.

Nov 2006: Fight Club. We were watching the movie with a large group in my room. He sat next to me. Somewhere in the middle I put my head on his shoulder. It was intentional. I only pretended to be tired. We never talked about it until months later.

Nov 2006, 2 weeks later. Braveheart. John's RA at the time, Josh, felt it was unacceptable that I had not yet seen Braveheart, and commissioned John to make sure I saw it. Somehow John and I ended up watching it just the two of us. I'm actually still unclear about how this happened. It only took about an hour and a half for John to hold my hand.

Dec 2006: Winter Formal. I was way excited when he asked me.

Dec 9, 2006 - Our first non-school function date. We went on a drive to see some Christmas lights. He bought me a Andes Mint Milkshake from the Jack in the Box drive-through and we took them to the Shoreline Beach cliffs. (He doesn't like that I consider this the first date - apparently I'm classier than Jack in the Box, but I think it was perfect.) Then we watched a movie and broke closed hours by accident. We didn't go to bed until 5, just staying up talking. Through a series of carefully constructed moves, I also secured girlfriend status with our first kiss. I'm pretty proud of it. 

And so the next morning, I had a boyfriend, and I was really happy. Not because I had boyfriend - because it was him. 

Dec 2006 - Aug 2009. The Rest of College. He never stopped taking me on dates, even when we saw each other every day on campus. We celebrated 1, then 2 years together, graduation, made it through a semester of me in Spain, summers apart, and the night before he left for [what would have been] 3.5 years in Architecture at Cornell, I cried really hard. 

Feb 2007.

Sodium Chloride.

Spring Formal 2007.

His first visit home with me, Summer 2007. Instead of threatening him with the guns, my Dad just took us out to shoot them. 

2008. John was an RA, but I still got to see him sometimes. 

Celebrating Graduation.

Fall 2009 - Spring 2010. Separated. I started medical school in Loma Linda and John went across the country to New York to study architecture at Cornell. It was hard on both of us, but we made time to talk, we wrote letters, we visited, and the idea that it wasn't worth it never even crossed my mind. We celebrated 3 years together. 

Ithaca, NY. October 2009. 

Summer 2010. The move back. John moved to Loma Linda for the summer, right across the street. Meanwhile, thoughts were brewing under John's handsome exterior, and by July he had decided the architecture career was not a great fit for him, and began setting in motion plans not to return to Cornell that fall. I held my breath. Afraid he would change his mind, and never wanting to seem too excited, in case it wasn't the career, but me - I didn't want to hold him here if that's not what he wanted. But it was real. He moved to Santa Barbara. He was just a short drive away. We saw each other every few weeks and celebrated 4 years together. It's not that I thought he would propose soon, I was just relieved we could be in the same place again. 

May 31, 2011: The Proposal. You can read all about that on the other page. It was just after Boards, I was  pretty stressed, but so relieved to be done. I thought he was just being extra-nice because it had been a hard couple months in school. I didn't let myself believe he was actually proposing until the part where Joe picked me up wearing a suit - and made me sit in the backseat. You can read the whole proposal story from my perspective here.

Since that time he's moved for his Masters of Engineering at UC Irvine, even closer, and seeing him more makes everything better. On Dec 10, 2011, we celebrated 5 years together. And well, did you hear? We're planning a wedding, and we can't wait to see you all there. 

And that's the story.