Paired Together

I have now *officially* been dating my wonderful boyfriend for a full year now. We became real "boyfriend/girlfriend" on August 10, 2011, and it's been a great year since then. Last Friday, we "celebrated" our first year anniversary of dating. Well, we didn't really get to celebrate because I was out of town and the boys were still here with him, so we just exchanged sweet, mushy texts all day, with the anticipation of getting to celebrate our anniversary later. So tonight we will be going out (a mere week late) for a little celebration of our one year anniversary. And in honor of this milestone, I thought I would share a little bit of our story.

When we first started dating, we got asked ALL THE TIME how we met. And at first, I was always a little weirded out telling people, and tried to avoid it when possible. Because guess what?! We met through an online dating website. It's not like we kept it a secret or anything. But when people asked, we would kind of smile shyly, and giggle a little when we responded. But now it seems totally normal for me, and for us...

In May 2011, I got a severe case of strep throat. I was out for a full week and a half, so I had some time on my hands. Tuesday of that week, (at the prodding of some others and the recent success of a friend), I decided to create profile for a dating site. A short four days later, I woke up Saturday morning to a cute message from "Timbuckto." He seemed genuinely interested in me and learning more about me. Plus, he had a pretty cute profile picture. :) Over the next week or so, we exchanged a lot of online messages and emails back and forth, and I was always so excited to get each new message.

And then he gave me his number, so I nervously  texted him. It was late, but he was surprisingly still awake, and we exchanged a few short, but sweet texts. Then we texted all day, every day for a few days before we finally had our first phone call. It was while I was at work (I had an issue with my laptop, and he does IT), so it was brief. But I knew already I liked him a lot and was so nervous and giggly at the first sound of his voice.

A couple of days later we happened to both be at the movie theater. My movie was ending about five minutes before his was starting, but we met really quickly for the first time in real life. I didn't know how to actually greet him, so I was surprised and relieved when he went in for a hug. I won't lie, It was an awkward first meeting, but looking back, it was also good. It took away the pressure of a our first meeting being for a "real date," and it relaxed me for our next meeting. That night after his movie got out, we had our first real phone call, and we talked for over three hours!

We continued like this for five long days over Memorial Day Weekend. Then we finally had our first lunch date only three weeks after I first signed up for the site. We went to Zaxby's together in the middle of our work day. Romantic right? Actually I was totally fine with it, because again, it took away the pressure of having such a serious first date. It was casual and felt normal, and we had a good time together. It was so easy to have a conversation with this cute, freckly man. We had three lunch dates that week! (Jeff would later tell me that he planned these casual meetings on purpose so as to ease the tension and stress. So thoughtful.) Then that next weekend I left for a week for family vacation. And that's when I realized how much I really liked him. I mean, I was seriously missing this man who I'd just barely known. I was thinking about him constantly and was excited to get to see him again after only a few days.

Throughout June and July of last summer, dating him was so fun and so easy. We did fun things like beach trips, and movie date nights, and game nights with friends. But we did the most simple things together as well, and I think that's what bonded us. (Much later on I found out that he was taking me on "simple" dates to places like book stores and Target, in order to see that we could just "live life" together. He said anyone can fall in love with the fancy dates and the excitement of a new relationship - but we fell in love in the most simple ways of just living life together.) One day, I was also able to meet his adorable little twin boys, and I instantly loved them as well.

Then one August day, I went up to his office to meet him for lunch, and he took me around his floor to meet friends and co-workers. He casually introduced me (like 3 separate times!!) as his "girlfriend," and I silently freaked out with excitement each time. We hadn't officially decided upon the titles yet, and so I was surprised and excited when it just happened so naturally. Again, our relationship was simple and easy, and becoming "official BF/GF" was done the same way.

This past year has been so amazing, and of course I could write sooo much more about everything, but I guess I'll save that for another post, for another time, because this one is already way too long, (just like I anticipated it would be though).

I'll end with this now though... I love this man with all my heart, and I am so so very thankful that God has paired us together. I really do think that God must have obviously had his hand in this, for a random online dating site to have paired us together so well. It wasn't the dating site that did that, it was most definitely our amazing God. And I'm so glad it worked out so dang well!

To Jeffrey - I love you so very much Baby! Thank you for this year and everything we have done and experienced and been through together. You are an amazing man, and I'm so glad you're in my life now! Looking forward to our date night tonight! I love you, my Cupcake :)

P.S. - I tried to edit and cut this down a little bit, and I was mildly successful. But I still ended up with a very long post. Oh well. I'm a writer and a communicator, what can I say?!