How Pretty Met Awesome

So yesterday was my dress fitting :) Unfortunately my mother and sister/Matron of Honor were both working so they couldn't come. Though I was able to share the experience with both of my amazing grandmothers and Jenny/maid of honor/best friend.

Anyway, you're prolly thinking "what does this have to do with how you and Mike met?". I'm getting to that. So when we were leaving, my gramma (I know it's spelled wrong. that's just how I spell it.) and my granny were talking about this blog and how they knew about it because of facebook (oh trendy grammas). Then my granny said "So I know how you two got engaged but how did the two of you meet?" And I just kinda laughed and said I'd post the story in my blog. Only just now, I'm realizing that I never told my granny how I met her future grandson-in-law! And we've been together over a year!! So Granny. This is for you.

How Pretty Met Awesome. In as much detail as I can remember at twelve o clock in the morning.

Once upon a time...

In the fall of 2008 this coffee shop called Intermission started putting on open mic nights every friday night. This was where local musicians could go and play two or three of their very own songs (or covers of songs they like) for the customers. It had such a great atmosphere (not to mention great coffee) and there were so many wonderful and talented musicians. I started going there I think with a couple friends from youth group and after going a couple times and seeing how supportive and open-minded the audience was, I decided to give it a shot. The first time I played at open mic was with Tasha (then Ouellette now Dahlke). We played On Fire by Switchfoot and then she helped me by playing keyboard while I played guitar and sang a song that I had written myself for the man I was someday going to marry. I got a pretty good response :) Unbeknown to me was the fact that while playing this very song, my future husband was in the room watching me and wondering to himself if I was the girl he was going to marry (I just got chills teehee)

Anyway, I'm not going to lie, I was pretty hyped up on adrenaline and to involved in the moment to really notice anyone that I didn't already know. So, unfortunately, this was not the night that Mike and I first met. Neither was the second friday or the third for that matter. I'm not sure exactly how many open mic nights it took for me to realize what a treasure this place was holding for me.

Somewhere in the middle of November, I got a friend request on Myspace of all places from a cute boy named Mike who I vaguely recognized from Intermission. So I added him. We talked a bit. I found out that he really enjoyed my sets, though I had never heard any of his. One day he posted a bulletin on myspace asking anyone who had US cellular if they could lend him an old cellphone because his was broken. I was the first and apparently only person to respond. So the two of us agreed to meet up at Fred Meyer and I would give him the phone, and he would give me a cd of his :) I dragged along my, then, soon-to-be-brother-in-law (no wait...they weren't engaged yet) my soon-to-be-soon-to-be-brother-in-law, so that I wouldn't be meeting up with an almost stranger by myself.

When we got there, I found Mike and his brother (my soon-to-be-soon-to-be-brother-in-law) Danny. It's funny cuz now that I think about it, as soon as Mike and I locked eyes this giant shining smile lit up his whole face :) and my stomach started doing all kinds of crazy winged-insecty things, even more so than it normally would, because on the way to Fred Meyer I had put my phone number in the contacts and labeled it "text shay :)".

That Friday night, I remember it was December 19th (because that was the day our winter break was supposed to start but it had started two days earlier due to snow) I went to open mic night, found Mike and plopped down in a chair right next to him. And we actually started talking. Mostly about the phone. Just to get things started.

I'm not exactly sure how He did it, but God managed to take that little conversation starter and turn it into a snowball fight behind Intermission (Elle Ouellette and I vs. Mike and his friend Brian), sledding up at Columbia Heights church (where I squeezed Mike around the middle as tightly as I could and we managed to be the only two that could stay on the sled all the way down the hill) sledding for the whole couple weeks following that night, texting Mike almost every waking minute of the day, and finally me realizing that this guy was so absolutely incredible and perfect that if he wasn't the one for me, I was going to give up entirely and go join a convent.

I will never forget the night that he told me he liked me. to my face. hear that? TO MY FACE! Mike, you get bonus points for that.

He was house sitting for some friends of his from church and it was the last night there. I offered to help him clean the house up before they got home the next day. So, we were sitting at the table, not cleaning, TOTALLY flirting with each other and suddenly Mike just blurts out "I like you." and I just stared. This so completely caught me off guard. Partly because I had just got done telling my brother the night before that this boy was OUT OF MY LEAGUE and partly because when you're flirting with someone to the point where the only thing you're missing is the little notes with the check yes or no, you don't just blurt it out. but THANK GOD he did. It just shows how much of a man he is :) So anyway, of course, I said I like you too, turned as red as the train on Sam's wedding dress and carried on whilst dancing around the room like a kid in Disneyland (okay I exaggerated a bit)

That was the first night I ever hugged Mike and let me tell you, even though you may not think that a hug is a big deal, to me, it was like taking the hugest and most satisfying sigh of relief.

Soon thereafter, we left the house in Kalama and slowly made our way back to my house. First we stopped at the lake and walked around the middle sections, stopping once to climb a tree. Then we went to Starbucks until they kicked us out around eleven. Then on to Safeway where we sat in his Jeep and talked until about two in the morning. Best thing he said to me that night was in the Jeep. He just kinda shook his head, leaned back in his chair and said "to think I would fall in lo....ike with a seventeen year old" haha. We still talk about that.

And then he dropped me off at home where my brother, still awake at three in the morning, got to hear my run around the house yelling "HE LIKES ME!!!"


I can't even begin to explain how euphoric and happy I felt. Knowing that something was going to happen. This boy was going to be permanently written in my future. At this time I didn't know how. Whether he was going to be just a friend, just a boyfriend, or maybe even a fiance and then a husband. I didn't know. And that's where I had to tell myself to stand back. And just let God do what he does best. Writing our story. :)