11 Years Ago

It was this week, 11 years ago, that I first met my sweet James. We were both about to start our freshman year at the University of Arizona. I got a call from my uncle, telling me that there was someone he thought I should meet. You see, my uncle is a pastor, and at one point, he had been the pastor at the church that James and his family had attended when James was in elementary school. Over the years, my uncle had made his way to Tucson, the whole time, remaining in contact with James' parents. So, he tells me there's this guy I should meet, and that I should come to the early service on Sunday.

So, the day before James and I started our freshman year, we were awkwardly introduced. His whole family was there, seeing their first born son and older brother off to college for the first time. For whatever reason, my parents attended the 1st service at church that day. After church, my uncle introduced James and I with both sets of parents watching. I think we said about 7 words to one another. AWKWARD.

I, of course, thought he was cute. The next day I did my best to contact him, but the boy had no phone. It hadn't been set up yet. So I just hoped that someday I would come across this cute boy once again.

Finally, that October, I saw him again! His parents were in town for the weekend, and brought James (who was car-less) to church with them. Afterwards my uncle set up lunch for his family, my family and my uncle. It probably should have been awkward, but I was smiling from ear to ear, cause I finally got to see cute James again. During lunch he asked for my phone number, and asked if I would be willing to drive him to church. I gave him my number and told him to call me, and I would for sure give him a ride. Did he call? Nope.

But then, one day, among the 20,000+ students at the U of A, our paths crossed again. He told me he would call me, and he did. I started giving him rides to church, and one day he called and asked me if I wanted to go to a volleyball game with him and some of his friends. Somehow it ended up being just James and I at the game, no one else was available. Or maybe they just didn't know that we were going, cause James never told them. Either way, it was one of our very first dates.

And here we are, 11 years later. We're married, with a house, a dog, and the sweetest 1 year old ever. And more in love than we were yesterday.