Our Story

I always get excited when people ask me how we met. It is such a cute, unique story that I love taking advantage of any chance I can relive it for a friend or new acquaintance. So where did we meet? The short answer is: my house!

It was a hot August day, the summer before our senior years of high school. I got home from work that night and headed to the barn to spend some time with my horses. As I walked to the barn, I saw that there was a farmer moving bales of hay into our hay loft for winter storage. The old man and the three young boys working for him had come outside to take a break and get drinks. I knew two of the young men working for the farmer. The other, however, was an interesting stranger. I briefly chatted with the farmer and boys, giving this new stranger a quick greeting before I went on to the pasture. I played with my geldings while the men finished up and went home.

It wasn’t until about a month later that anything else happened. I had nearly forgotten about that August day at my barn, so I was pleasantly surprised when I friend at school came up to me and asked for my phone number for a boy that wanted to call me. She explained that she was friends with Jacob (I didn’t know his name at the time) through a church youth group. He apparently had asked the other boys working hay about me. Then he did his homework and figured out I went to school with his youth group friend.

She left school that day with my phone number, later relaying it to him. He called me that evening and awkwardly danced around asking me out. He kept chatting and I kept waiting for him ask. Finally I asked, “So are you going to ask me out, or what?” Surprised, he stumbled through asking me to dinner the following weekend. I said yes, of course, and we decided on dinner at Ruby Tuesdays for our first date. Might I also mention, that he asked me out on September 12, 2005…my 18th birthday. I didn’t realize at the time, but now I think it was one of the better birthday presents I’ve ever gotten.


Our First Date:

On September 18th, he showed up at my house, met my parents, and we left to go to dinner. That night, he drove his 1972 Chevy pickup. Being the project of a 17 year old car-crazy boy, it had a 4 inch lift, tall meaty tires, and class pack mufflers. The truck had no air conditioning, so we had to drive with the windows down. Between the roaring noises of the truck, the wind, and my curly hair blowing all over the place, it was pretty much impossible to have a conversation in that damn truck. Not to mention the high suspension and tall tires made the truck lurch and bounce with every tiny bump in the road.

Relieved we made it to the restaurant without getting plastered against the windshield; I opened the door and practically fell out the truck down to the ground. At this point, I was relieved to have my feet on solid ground. We awkwardly chatted through dinner, with plenty of uncomfortable silences. We finished up, drove the monster truck back to my house, and spent some time chatting with my mom before he headed home.

I don’t know that I can even say I had a luke-warm feeling about Jacob after that date. For me, there was nothing there, and the date had gone horribly. We had discussed a second date, and I agreed only because I knew it could only go up from there.

The Rest of the Story:

I was still luke-warm about the relationship about month into dating. Despite that, I agreed to go exclusive, take him to Homecoming, and go to football and basketball games at school. He grew on me over the next few months. I was preparing to go to the University of Illinois (about an hour from home) that fall, and was pretty much set on leaving for college without a boyfriend. I tried so many times to break up with him over that summer before we started college, but I just couldn’t do it. I really did love him, and wanted to try to make our relationship work while I was away.

Nearly four years after leaving for college, and four years of dating, Jacob and I were still hard at work to keep our love alive. Living an hour away in Champaign-Urbana was not been easy. Lots of trips down I-72 and phone calls every day kept us going.

Over the last five years Jacob and I have been there for each other through the good times and bad. He helped me through letter after letter telling me I was rejected for college scholarships, my grandmother’s unexpected death, and the dramas of living in a sorority with 50 other young women. Jacob relied on me to make it through his diesel technician program and his parents’ divorce after over 20 years of marriage.

The bottom line is that Jacob and I made it this long without killing each other. Trust me, we’ve talked about it and had moments when we thought we were through. In the end, however, love conquers all and brings us back together. How can I not want to marry a man that let’s me push him away, let’s me chase my dreams and travel aimlessly, yet is always there at home waiting for me to come running back to his arms? We push each other’s buttons and can make the other tick, but I can’t think of anyone else I would rather pick on.

The Proposal:
Jacob proposed on Friday, March 19.  I was home on spring break and was pretty much expecting the proposal to come while I was home.  He has a very convenient habit of tattle telling on himself!  I had given him every opportunity to suggest we go to dinner or do something special, but he was acting like he had no intentions of proposing that night.  So I suggested we go to my house so I could bake cupcakes for a party I was going to the next day.  As I was standing at the stove, off in my own little world of cupcakes, he came up behind me and put the open ring box in front of my face saying, "What do you think about this?"  I promptly turned, away from the stove, to see the ring and look at him.  All he said was, "Will you?"  Simple, but perfect.  I tried to be serious and say, "Well, I don't know..." but was too excited to pull it off and really screw with him.  So I just laughed and said yes!  Then I remembered that I still had the a pan on the stove!  Since he knew I was expecting the proposal soon, he just waited for an opportunity when I was not paying attention and then took it.  It was unplanned, simple, and perfect.