Our Story~ Part 1

I was inspired to do this around Valentine's Day when I read lots of other couples' "stories" about how they met, dated, fell in love, got married, etc. and thought it was a really neat idea. It made me remember and reflect and smile on our own story and how much we've grown and changed and matured... and aged. Haha.

As the years go by memories do start to blur and fade just a little so I knew it would be special to at least have a summary of our love story written down. And since this is our family scrapbook, this is the place to do it. It's been several years already since our story began so I made the decision to get started... except it takes a long time to search for pictures... and find the time to search for pictures... and find the time to actually sit down and write a pretty long summary. So that's my excuse for why we're months and months away from Valentine's and I'm just now "publishing".

My original goal was the week of our anniversary (June 4). But, since that's when Terrell's back went out and life was turned upside down for a bit and I totally underestimated just how long this little summary would take, I had to scratch that plan. So the timing of this isn't anything special I just finally finished part 1. It was a long-term project that took a loooong time. But it was worth it. It's more for us and our kiddos than for anyone else but I still hope that others who read it will enjoy it and write down their stories too!

Our Story~ Part 1

Where do I begin?? Our story started sooo long ago I'm not sure where to start. Do I start with how our families went to the same church and our moms were in a Bible study group together and prayed for me together before I was born? Do I start with our parents being neighbors and friends? Do I start with us growing up in the same church and being part of the same youth group? Or do I start with being best friends to not one, but two of Terrell's previous girlfriends therefore making me the go between and middle man in young, budding romances... twice? Ha! I'm confident our story started a long, long time ago with God as the Author, but for now I'll start with how we became best friends...

Which I thinks begins with the previous girlfriends who were also 2 of my closest friends. They were actually a big part of the reason Terrell and I got to know each other really well. It's how we started hanging out and spending time together and talking on the phone and developing a friendship. I was the one who talked to my best friends about him (separately of course because he didn't go out with them at the same time!) and the one who talked to him about my best friends. That's just how it was done back in 8th and 9th grade. I was also the one who was present almost every single time they were together. I was the best friend and I was always included and invited. I was also the one who offered words of advice and wisdom and condolence after the break-ups occurred. I only thought I was wise and mature at 16. Oh my. 

I guess you could say I was just always there. And we continued to get closer and remained friends well after the break-ups. He came over occasionally. We went out occasionally. (He is 2 years older so he had a driver's license waaaay before me in itfeelslikeI'llnevergetmylicense times.) We did youth group stuff together. We talked on the phone regularly. However, we remained "just friends" through and through. I cared about him as my friend but didn't "like" him or see him as anything more than a friend. He felt the same. We may have developed a strange reputation and not dated other people during that time but we truly didn't see each other as anything more than a close friend. He walked me to class, took me to my orthodontist appointments, and even helped me baby-sit. But that was it. Just friends. Period.

Until....

The summer of '99. Chicago, Illinois. His very last youth choir trip. My very last youth choir trip with him. Sigh.

I won't say I woke up one morning and all of the sudden felt different and out of the blue developed more than friends feelings for him, but this trip sealed the deal for me. I was no longer confused or questioning or wondering or pondering. Our last youth choir trip together is when I realized and knew for a fact and admitted to myself that I actually liked him and wanted to be more than friends. I knew I didn't want him to ever have another girlfriend. I wanted to be the one. (That sounds possessive, haha.)

So after months of growing closer and giving hugs when we told each other bye and going out together and joking about how they say you marry your best friend... yada, yada, yada.... he kissed me. Finally. Yay! And then we both knew. Awwww. November 24, 1999~ our true anniversary. Whoa. Twelve and a half years. We've been together a loooong time.

He went out of town with his family for Thanksgiving later that night or the next morning and I immediately started wondering if things would be the same when he got back or if we'd both pretend like nothing had happened. We had been "just friends" for a reeeally long time and that one little kiss changed everything.  Ohh, young love. Thankfully we both felt the same way when he returned home and we both knew we loved each other and that we were going to get married one day.

*Disclaimer: I KNOW that sounds crazy coming from a 16 year old and 18 year old. I know this. I wouldn't (translation: don't) even want to hear it from my own children as teenagers. But it was true. We both knew at that point we would always be together. It was probably crazy of us to think that way as babies (cause that's what we were) but we both felt it and both knew. Promise!

Before going "public" with our new relationship we decided to keep things on the DL for a while. Do people still say DL? Anyway, I think we were both sort of nervous that if our parents found out we were "dating" and more than friends that they wouldn't approve or would forbid us to see each other again. To this day we aren't sure why we felt that way. Anyway, after the new year we came clean to our parents, who already suspected what was going on, and they were both happy and supportive and surprisingly did not forbid us from seeing each other again.

Other than being hopelessly in love, not much changed about our relationship. Which we thought was the coolest thing ever! We were already so comfortable spending time together and hanging out and talking on the phone that everything felt totally natural and just like it should be. My favorite memories from the "early days" are how much we liked to talk. We could spend the entire day together but still talk for 2 hours on the phone that night. We had SO much to talk about. We talked about our days, school, college, part time jobs, our families, the future, our friends, our weekend plans, church, our faith, sports. You name it and we probably talked about it. We talked on the phone every single night. Who knows how we filled up hours upon hours with conversation? It was just our thing and to this day we communicate really well over the phone. Every time we argue or disagree we just need to get on the phone and talk it out!

The first picture below was taken January 2000 and the second was taken before my Junior Prom the spring of 2001. Good times.

After seeing each other 2-3 times a week plus every single weekend, not to mention talking on the phone a TON, the dreaded time approached for Terrell to move to Athens to finish his degree at UGA. Boohoohoo! I was so proud of him but knew it was going to be devestating to say goodbye... cause he'd be leaving the country for 2 years and I'd never get to see him or talk to him and even though we were still planning to get married one day he'd probably forget all about me. Okay, so that's probably an exaggeration, but I definitely knew how to be dramatic... back then... ahem.

He told me bye the morning of my first day of my senior year of high school. He came over to my house and we hugged a lot and cried a little. It was an emotional goodbye for us. He left for Athens and I left for my first day of school as a senior. Crazy. We knew we'd still talk everyday and see each other most weekends but we also knew things would change. And they did, but thankfully we survived 2 years (an eternity it felt like) of a long distance relationship. We had some trying times during that stretch but I think it made us stronger. I missed him like crazy! Absence really does make the heart grow fonder. One of my favorite memories during that stretch was him coming home for the weekend of my 18th birthday. We went to the Perry Fair, watched Georgia beat Tennessee at the last second, and saw Kenny Chesney in concert. It was the best birthday ever!

The first picture is Senior Prom spring 2002 and the second is a picture of us from Terrell's college days taken late 2002 or early 2003.

Terrell graduated from Georgia in August of 2003 and moved home. Yay! I was overjoyed and so proud of him!! And we had a whole year of living in the same town again before it would be my turn to move to Athens. Terrell got a job and worked hard to save lots of money. I worked on finishing my 2nd year at Gordon College and made plans for starting the Early Childhood Education program at UGA. And all the while we spent lots of time together. Maybe not every single day, but almost. We definitely talked on the phone every single day. That year (from August to August) was a really great year full of lots of great memories.

And the marriage talks continued and increased in frequency. When should we get engaged? When should we get married? Should we wait until I finished school? Should we plan a wedding before I finished school? Could we afford to be married while I finished my degree? The questions were endless and we were both really torn. We wanted to get married as soon as possible. Like, immediately. That part was a no brainer. But we also wanted to be realistic and make a smart decision financially cause unfortunately it's kind of hard to live on love and nothing else.

Finally, we became friends with an older lady in our church that we both came to love and respect deeply. Her and Terrell got to know each other better because of being on the prayer wall at church together. She called him every Thursday night when it was his turn to pray. They always talked about us and our relationship, her and her grown children, grandchildren, and late husband, and just shared lots of stories every week. So a special friendship formed pretty quickly. I got to know her better through her long conversations with Terrell and absolutely adored her. She was one special lady.

One night when Terrell and Mrs. Dede were talking he shared a little about our dilemma with her and how we just really weren't sure what to do about the timing of getting married and me not being done with school and us having to live on one income, etc, and she gave us shocking yet brillant advice... Go for it. She didn't believe in wasting time or waiting until you thought you had enough money or trying to make sure the timing was perfect. She believed in going for it and even told him a story about her and her husband only having a dime to their name when they got married. After that conversation with Mrs. Dede we both knew God has used her to help us make our decision. An engagement would be coming soon! Yaaaay!

We looked at rings together in January of 2004 but I had no idea when he would purchase the ring or propose. It was so exciting. I knew it was coming but it would still be a total surprise... perfect!

Finally, months later, the day arrived. June 12, 2004. Oh the memories.

Terrell had the whole day planned. He told me we were going to a bank function in Athens and that it was semi-formal and we would have dinner and socialize, etc. (I wasn't exactly looking forward to this little "function" but wanted to be supportive and would have felt terrible sending him by himself.) He also threw in that he needed to drop something off at the UGA real estate office so we'd have to make a stop by the campus. I never questioned or suspected a thing.
 

Here's a picture my parents made of us when he came by to pick me up. I should've known then something was up.

Getting ready to leave for Athens and this bank function was stressful. And had me in a mood. I was uptight and feeling self-conscious and nervous and uncomfortable. I was honestly regretting my decision to tag along. Then, to make matters worse, when we finally got on the road we reached a BIG detour. A waaay out of the way detour that totally stressed me out and made me worried we would be late and everyone would look at us when we walked in and would see how over or under dressed I was and we'd be so embarrassed and it would be awful. (See how dramatic I used to be? Glad I'm not like that anymore... haha) So Terrell made a phone call to a co-worker and she said that they pushed back the start time of the function because of the detour. Phew. Thank goodness.

(I would find out later that the phone call was completely fake. Wow.)

We finally got to Athens and stopped by the campus first cause we had time to spare since the start of the function got pushed back and all (can't believe I fell for that). And Terrell stopped me at our tree. A tree on North Campus that became our favorite tree because we'd had our picture taken there once upon a time and it had a wonderful fat, low branch perfect for sitting.

When he stopped me I think I might have rolled my eyes and said in a very much whiny tone, "We're in a hurry, we don't have time to stop here. I don't want to be late." He said something about his mom wanting another picture of us and how we were all dressed up and everything... blah blah blah. I was growing impatient by the second. Then he told me the spot to stand right by the tree so he could take my picture first. Cue a dramatic sigh.

Then, time stood still. Perfectly still. Because the craziest, most shocking thing happened. The thing I never suspected. The thing that didn't cross my mind even once.

My sweet boyfriend of 4 and a half years got down on one knee, flashed a gorgeous ring and said something like, "Meggie Garrison, will you marry me?" My eyes opened wide, my jaw dropped, my heart skipped a beat, and my mouth said Oh my... oh my gosh...Terrell?? And before I knew it he was slipping the ring, my ring, on my finger and all I could do was stare and feel shocked and speechless and my eyes starting to water. He snapped me out of it by saying, Meg, are you gonna say yes? How could I forget!? Yes... YES!

I think I may have floated all the way back to the car. And tripped a few times because I was staring at my beautiful ring instead of paying attention to where I was walking. I felt wonderful... and a tad guilty because of my bad attitude... so I apologized... to my finance'. After we got back to the car he spilled his whole plan and all the little fibs he'd told. I couldn't believe he'd been so sneaky and creative... and all for me! I just about melted.  

Then, he told me he had another surprise and whisked me away to a surprise restaurant. As we approached downtown Atlanta I knew he was taking me to the Sundial at the top of the Westin Hotel. (This was where we ate before my Senior Prom except we couldn't see anything because it was so foggy that night.) This time, we enjoyed our view and our dinner and the whole experience was so special. I stared at my ring most of the evening and made sure my left hand was always in sight so I could admire my always and forever favorite piece of jewelry.  

 

On the way home I called our entire families to share our big news. I was so excited! Then when we got back to my house we had to tell my parents all about it. Of course they were in on the plan, but we still filled them in on the detour and Terrell's quick thinking and fake phone call and my ridiculous moodiness. Oh my. How embarrassing! 

 

It was a wonderful night and the date was set. June 4, 2005 would be the day we said I do!! We had a wedding to plan! Squeal!!

 

**********************************

 

Part 2 coming soon....

 

Hopefully before Christmas!