Y'all do not even want to know how long my first draft of this was. I mean, seriously, by the time that Mark and I say our vows, we will have been a couple for five and one half years. Trust me when I say that I have done my best to make a long story short.
Mark happened to be in one of my classes junior year of high school. We had a set of kind of mutual friends, but I had not really hung out with his side of the somewhat larger group of nerds with which we were both associated. Over the course of the year, I started hanging out with his group more and more. Mostly because it meant I got to spend time with him. One of the most remarkable things about him is his ability to make me laugh. He will insist all day and all night long that he possesses not a single funny bone in his body, but boy can he make me laugh.
Over the summer, I began asking about Mark's dating situation. I checked with his closest friends to see if he was pursuing someone else, because I figured that Mark just saw me as a friend. Near the end of the summer, he began buying my movie tickets and popcorn when we went out with the group. You would think that I might have gotten a clue at that point, but I didn't. So there we were, heading into our senior year not knowing that we liked each other. We joined the Academic Decathlon team, which meant that we got to see each other every single day. A month before homecoming, he mustered up the courage to ask me to the dance. We had spent the whole day together, but he waited to call me until after dinner. The conversation was a short one. It was so short, and my affirmative response to his question was apparently so surprising that he immediately called me back. I figured it was to recant his offer or to clarify that we were just going as friends. Instead, he asked, "you did say yes, right?"
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| Homecoming |
Like for many high school sweethearts, this meant starting a long-distance relationship. He went to UT Dallas, and I moved two hours south to go to Baylor. It was tough, but he devoted a significant amount of time to visiting me for important school and sorority events. The thing is that being apart, as difficult as it was, actually brought us together. We were able to grow in our own college environments and figure out who we were apart from each other. Somehow, after all of the growth and change that occurred during our time in college, I knew that he was the man with whom I wanted to spend the rest of my life. We had talked and prayed about marriage over the years, so I knew he felt the same way, and I cannot believe that we are now only a few months away from being married!
Through his eyes:
Let me begin by saying that I am not a writer and I have no delusions to the contrary, but I know that this story has two sides and my side needs to be told as well. So to begin, I met Stephanie in my junior year of high school in my least favorite class for that year. This did not deter me from noticing her, and man did I notice her. With her sense of style and smarts, I felt this girl was completely out of my league. I had to know this girl so I began to ask my friends about her since I was about as social as a stone, and it turns out that we had mutual friends and interests. I began to hang out with them, in the hope that she would notice me. All this time I was falling for her more and more.
To me she was the most beautiful girl at the school, and the smartest person I knew. I felt that she would never even look my way but I had to keep trying so over the summer I would ask her to join my friends and every time we went to the movies, since I was to much of a chicken to ask her out myself. As it turns out she was trying to catch my eye the whole time as well, but I was completely oblivious. So the summer turned into some type of bad plot line for a teen movie with two love-struck teens trying to get the other's attention while being distracted from each other's advances. Well, by the end of the summer I felt that I was no nearer to her than at the beginning. I had tried what felt like everything, except for actually asking her out--but, come on, I was a geek and she was still completely out of my league.
It came down to one last try during senior year when I had heard that she was joining AcDec. I felt that this was my last chance to get her so all through August I was trying to get her to see me as more than just a friend, but it felt like it was going nowhere. Finally, I became fed up with my cowardice and asked her to go to the State Fair of Texas with me (and a couple of our friends as well) where I was sure to get her attention. It turns out that I am more of a chicken than even I thought because even after a day full of being together I was still not able to muster up the courage to ask her out. I felt I had to ask or I would never know, so that night I called her to ask her to Homecoming and was so shocked that she did not laugh and immediately hang up that I had to call her back because I missed the answer to the question which was YES!
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| Prom |
After an amazing senior year we decided that we would try to hold the relationship together through college because we felt so strongly for each other. Now I want to be clear at this point, some people may say that long-distant relationships are hard on couples. This is an understatement to rival any other. That being said I feel that the fact that we did not go the same college helped us to grow closer and develop into our own individuals that cared for each other without needing each other to exist. And finally after all these years apart we are back together, and not just that but we are ready to get married and start our lives together which is something that I cannot wait for.
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| High School Graduation |
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| Stephanie's Baylor Graduation |
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| Graduation Celebration Dinner |
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| Mark's Graduation Dinner |
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