Our Love Story

Today is a special day.  August 22, 2000 is the date Jonathan and I started dating.  I was a mere 14 and he 15, but we fell for each other quickly.  We met the Friday of my first week of high school through mutual friends and it turned out we had drama together.  We were instantly drawn to each other and after flirting throughout the day, we ended up at a football game that night.  He was wearing a pair of cargo shorts that had these ridiculous zippers all over them and every single one of them was unzipped.  It drove me crazy!! I couldn't help but point it out to him (even going as far as zipping them myself) and he couldn't help but leave them unzipped just to get my attention.  I can't tell you who won the football game, but I can tell you that we sat and talked until my mom dragged me away.  When we hugged goodbye he asked me for my phone number, but neither of us had a pen.  He had no choice but to memorize my number (I thought the chances of him calling me were SLIM).  Turns out, he was smarter than I gave him credit for.  Not more than thirty minutes after I arrived home, he called.  We talked for a couple of hours or more; learning about each other's families, favorite foods and colors, etc.  When I hung up the phone, I was enamored.  I later found out that when he hung up the phone, he told his friend, Thomas that I was "the one".  And even though Thomas thought he was crazy, Jonathan was right.  The next 8 years were a whirlwind of new love, short term break ups, him moving to Valdosta for college, me moving to Athens, very hard times, and very happy times.  But we survived.  The break-ups never lasted long and the happy times always outweighed the bad.  

In 2008, we decided we needed to change our lives for the better.  We began going to church regularly and realized that our lives were empty, meaningless and we needed to improve our situation.  That July we purchased our first home together and in September we got engaged.  June 30, 2009 we were baptized together at the beach where we got married the next day.  May 1, 2009, I married my soul mate on the beautiful white sands of Panama City Beach.  We got married at the very end of the beach (where there were no more hotels) and we completed our photos right at sunset.  It was the perfect wedding for us.  We were blessed to have our Pastor travel to Florida to marry us and all of our closest friends and family celebrated with us.  

And here we are now, 13 years later.  I can still remember the very first time I saw him, our first kiss, when we said "I love you."  And while we were just kids when we met, we got to grow up together and experience the ups and downs of life together.  We were never together because we felt like we had to be, we tested our relationship and put it through the ringer.  In the end, we only came out stronger.  God has blessed us beyond anything I ever thought possible.  We owe who we are and where we are to Him.  I couldn't imagine it any other way.