I once heard a very wise man named Andy Bernard say this regarding the importance of first dates and why they need to be perfect-

“Why? Because according to How I Met Your Mother, that’s the story your kids are going to be waiting years to hear about, and you better have a good story for them.”

Amen, Andy. Amen. Now pardon me while I slip down Memory Lane…

It began in the fall of 2008. Matt came down to Radford to see a bunch of friends from a summer missions trip and I just happened to be at the house when he got there. He remembers noticing me, and I barely remember meeting him. Fast forward to Thanksgiving, and we both ended up at a mutual friends house for hang time. I remembered his smile, which lit up his entire face. He remembers trying extra hard to get me to notice him during a game of Signs.

I’d occasionally see him at Frontline, a church service I attended whenever I was home. He’d IM me over Facebook whenever he saw me online, which was usually during my long nights on duty as an RA.

In the spring of 2009, I felt led to go on a missions trip to Hampton Beach in New Hampshire. Matt later told me he was really excited to learn that I was going, and I was relieved that I’d know someone before arriving at the house.

You have to understand one thing about Matt- he’s timid. But in the best way possible. Never that annoying loud guy, but he’s constantly coming out with these unexpected hilarious bits. He’s secretly funny. So because of this quiet nature, I had to work REALLY hard to get him to talk to me. I eventually turned to my journal. I flipped to the back and started a fresh page with a question about childhood sports and such.

It worked! We sat in the main lobby of the White Gull (the hotel-turned-missions-house) “talking” for hours on that old, forest green corduroy couch. I have 23 pages full of my loopy and his tiny handwriting. It’s like a document of the beginning of a relationship. Like a printout of an IM conversation, if our relationship was a series of conversations.

He asked me on a date two weeks into project after a night of hanging out at the local laundromat (trust me, it was actually really fun). He refused to tell me what the date would include but gave me instructions to meet him on Sunday evening at 8:00 in the kitchen downstairs.

See? Doesn’t the laundromat look like fun? This image (courtesy of my friend Hannah via Facebook, hence the terrible resolution) is from the night Matt asked me on a date (cue: AWW)

When I arrived in the kitchen, he wasn’t there. So I waited for a few minutes, and our friend Jen approached me. She asked me if I knew what time it was, and when I said yes, that it was just after 8, she handed me a note. It was a riddle, a rhyming riddle, and I had to decode the riddle in order to find out where I was supposed to go.

I finally worked out the first riddle, and arrive at the location expecting to find Matt. Much to my surprise, though, our friend Jared greeted me, and handed me a small white piece of paper. Another riddle! The second one took me to the laundromat, where I found Hannah and John. They handed me the third riddle, which took me to the boardwalk where I met Kay and Jason (who are also now married, by the way).

Jason handed me the final clue, and it took me down to the beach where I found Matt waiting for me with a picnic on the chilly beach, complete with all of my favorite foods that he had been careful to remember throughout the past three weeks. Mac and Cheese, salad with Italian dressing, orange juice (not from concentrate) with extra pulp, and key lime pie yogurt by Yoplait.

Best. First date. Ever.

This photo is from the $5 Prom we had while on Project. One of the many amazing events planned by the Community Team!

If you’ve made it this far, I’m pretty sure we should be friends, if we aren’t already.

Happy Thursday!

 

This is our story.

July 28, 2011

  1. Maria says:

    Cute! I love “how we met” stories!

  2. LOVE this post & your “How We Met” story — definitely one your kiddies will adore someday. 🙂

  3. BAH! This is SO stinkin’ adorable! What a great story:-)

  4. Jean Hensley says:

    Love it!

  5. Karen Field says:

    I’ve never seen this picture! So funny! Also, very touching.

  6. i’m starting my own photography business and i recently started following your blog because it’s adorable and i think you’re inspiring… slightly creepy, but i’m ok with it. happy friday 🙂

  7. AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW this was adorbs to the tenth degree. Thank you for sharing 🙂 And yes, a laundromat looks like an EXCELLENT place to hang 🙂

  8. Nicolette Cositore says:

    I still remember a phone call you and I had and you were telling me all about Matt. It was right before I left for Botswana. You were all excited, which was awesome. Can’t believe how far y’all have come since then!

  9. robyn L says:

    I used to attend Frontline, back when I was a student at a law school in DC. Those services are huge! It’s amazing you would just happen to see each other there. 😉

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