February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day! 5 Year Anniversary & Our Story

I can't believe that Whit and I have been together for five years!! Actually, I think I can...it definitely feels like we've been together awhile, and five years is a long time! I don't think I've ever shared our story on here, so now seems like a good time.

Whit and I grew up in the same town so we went to church and high school together. He was a year older than me and hung out with the cool kids at church and school. Of course I thought he was great. I especially loved his involvement in church - he was at EVERYTHING (literally - the only major church function he missed was a homeless ministry trip to DC that he forgot to ask off work for). The first time I remember ever seeing him was in a little skit in front of youth group where he was playing God. I remember Dwight, our youth pastor, joked about how Whit always got that role.

Once we got older and Whit's church friends started dwindling down, our groups merged and we hung out a lot and became good friends. We talked online a lot of course, since we were in high school during the main AIM years. I kind of liked him on and off, but he started taking more serious interest in me when he went off to college at Tech. He realized that he wanted to start taking dating more seriously, and only date a girl who was really great. So through all my journey of trying to figure out where to go to college, Whit tried to sway me to come to Tech. (It almost didn't work out!! I started sending in my money to JMU and while my mom was trying to pay I decided I wanted to go to Tech instead! She almost didn't let me out of it, because of how much of hassle I had made the whole process, but when JMU didn't accept VISA credit cards - weird, right?? - we took it as a sign!)
On a college visit road trip we stopped by to see Whit and Jerry (their freshman year at VT)

I was on vacation in the Bahamas for my graduation present when I got a message from one of my bffs that Whit liked me!! She told me he was going to ask me out when I got back and I was sooooooo nervous! I had never been on a date before! He was such a gentleman - I was impressed when he opened the car door for me. (Hey, he's never stopped doing that!) We went to Ruby Tuesday at the mall; I only ate like half my burger and remember telling him about the scar I got from the water slide and how I flipped a jet ski. It was the beginning of the summer and Whit wanted to start seriously dating, but I told him I had to think about it. I went overseas two more times that summer, moved to Maryland, and got ready to go to college! I had a lot going on - too much to start dating someone at the time.

We reconvened at West End the first week of classes. I had thought and prayed a lot about dating him, but just really didn't think it was the right time, especially with JUST starting college. While we were sipping our smoothies I remember telling him that I didn't want to start dating him then, but inside I liked him SOOO much! I told him that MAAAAYBE in the future (like, senior year!) we could date if it was in God's will.

Over the next few months we still hung out some at Cru. I loved the conversations I had with him! He was such a good friend. We ended up riding to our youth group's fall retreat together, which was 3 hours away. We got majorly lost and it took us 3 extra hours to get there!! We had such a good time riding together (in the Twilight Zone, as we called it since it was dark and foggy, and Brad Bradley kept telling us we were on the right road but we could never find the entrance.) I even put in my Phish CD for Whit. :) We decided to make the most of our lost-ness and get out of the car for a few adventures. I loved how fun he was!! 


After that trip, I started realizing how much I talked about Whit all. the. time. He was just so interesting! My friends started a Whit for Boyfriend campaign. I realized that I still really liked him!! The problem was that I had told him I didn't want to date...and being the girl, I didn't want to bring that up. He should be the one. At that point, he knew he liked me too, but wasn't QUITE sure if the feeling was mutual. 
some Whit for Boyfriend campaigners

Over winter break we both went to Radiate with Cru and then Passion with our youth group. We rode together from Christmas conference to our church at 2am to make it in time to catch the van to Atlanta! Another great road trip together. :) We hung out endlessly at Passion and it was obvious that we both liked each other. Once we got back to Richmond we started hanging out more and both knew it was headed somewhere.
horrible picture, but you can tell that we were sitting together

We planned Valentine's Day to be our first official date as boyfriend and girlfriend. Whit met me for lunch at Hokie Grill with a dozen white roses. After our classes were over that afternoon he picked me up, wearing the Jake Hollister cologne he knew my friends and I had an obsession with, and we ate dinner at Outback. However, that was just the beginning of the night! I had to go to a jazz concert for one of my classes, which was the perfect romantic date setting! I loved leaning back in Whit's arms listening to Cyrus Pace. We made an appearance at Froshmore prayer, and then probably made a poor decision by going caving at 11:00 at night. We had been caving a few times before (with a group) and thought it would be really fun to go just the two of us. Looking back I would probably not do that again, cause that was just a dumb idea! It was really fun though, to be the only ones in the cave (I hope!).
one of our caving trips with other people

Throughout that first year of figuring out if we should be together or not, it ended up being so clear that that was what the Lord wanted. We prayed for our relationship all the time and really took our time in making the right decision. I love how adventurous our first few dates together were; we have continued to be (almost) just as adventurous! I am SO blessed and thankful that the first guy I ever dated I ended up marrying! That had been my prayer in high school when I didn't think I would EVER get asked out. I love Whit so much and can't wait to celebrate 5 years of being in a relationship with him tonight! Praise the Lord! :) (Also, a million thanks to all my girls who helped me along the way!!)
one of our first pictures together
about a month after we had started dating
my favorite early picture of us

1 comment:

  1. yay you guys have such a cute story! And then remember Melanie made you that cute Jack Johnson card to say congrats on having a boyfriend? :)

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