Hello and Happy Monday!
A certain photographer boss of mine has been bugging me to get “more personal” with these wedding blog posts, to which I replied, “Isn’t sharing my wedding plans online personal enough already?”
So without further ado, I will share the story of how fiance and I met and fell in love (warning: after seven years there are bound to be some exaggerated details).
I was already in a relationship, to begin with. I had traversed down to Central California for college with my high school boyfriend of two and a half years; a heavy-metal loving, soccer-playing history major. We had already started growing apart, and his recent obsession with the world of online gaming had created a rift between us. While he had the freedom of an apartment, I lived in a mock dorm setting with nine other girls and had to adjust to a complete lack of privacy superfast.
A sampling of my college roommates….I can’t vouch for the chicken or the gorilla.
I made friends with most of the girls I lived with, but one in particular quickly became my bestie; we’ll call her Becky. She mixed me my first “cocktail” (Southern Comfort and Root Beer) and introduced me to Sex and the City – we watched the entirety of the show on her dorm room bed over the course of a few months. We talked about graduating and moving to New York together, and went to house parties arm in arm. Becky was also a writer on the Cuestonian – our junior college’s newspaper.
One day Becky asked if she could bum a ride after she finished doing layouts for the next edition, and I crashed the journalism room to wait for her. Hiding in a corner, face almost pressed against a monitor, was the paper’s editor. He had a mop of long gold brown hair, giant swimmer’s shoulders, and an intimidatingly serious demeanor. I watched him pore over layout design and fill in headlines, and eventually decided to bother him while he worked. From the first hello, his face split into a large grin and all seriousness dissolved – Becky introduced him as Chris, and we easily chatted about movies, video games, and his job as the editor. As Becky grabbed me to leave, he told us we were both invited to a house party he was throwing out in Atascadero – and gave me a large grin as we laughed and agreed to come.
I was wearing a similar ensemble when I picked up Becky at the Cuestonian. I still have that scarf somewhere…
I put on my favorite pair of pink patent leather heels and drove Becky and I up the grade to Atascadero from San Luis Obispo the night of the party. She gabbed about how she thought Chris probably had a crush on her, and I felt a little guilty wanting to talk to him again. We showed up to rooms full of people I didn’t know, and I clung to Becky like a lifeline, until Chris flashed me a grin and insisted on teaching me the “proper way” to take a tequila shot. The more we talked, the more we laughed, and discovered we both had a wicked sense of humor and watched far too many of the same tv shows. Eventually I had to take Becky home (she had indulged a little too heavily in the tequila shots) and gathered my things to leave. Chris stopped me as I was heading out the door, and said “Why don’t you come back? We can watch Family Guy and talk some more…” I spent the whole drive debating whether to go back, knowing that I was already in a relationship, knowing that I already liked him. And I went back. We talked about our mutual obsession with books, talked about our dreams, and laughed until we fell asleep. (Sidenote: he was the perfect gentleman).
From that night on we were inseparable. He would pick me up from class and we would drive for hours down hidden beach roads and through the country hills, I would skip projects to hang out by his work until he got off, we’d go sit on the beach swings at midnight and stare at the stars. There were beach excursions and movie nights, trips to go see the elephant seals on Highway 1 and numerous camping trips. Needless to say, this was horrible for our GPAs.
Right before heading out to a party before we’d officially started dating …. and this isn’t even close to the amount of purple I had in my hair in college.
I had the biggest stroke of luck meeting Chris when I did; being a gentleman he didn’t try to rush our relationship, and I got a lot of time to get to know him; to become the best of friends while we were falling in love. If I were to offer any piece of advice, it would be to get to know someone as a friend before dating: it makes everything easier. There is also a deeper love that comes with knowing that even if I hadn’t wanted a romantic relationship, he still would have been an important person in my life, supporting me and making each day a blast.
This was technically our first “date” – Ice skating in San Jose. It’s actually two blocks away from where we’re getting married!
On the fourth of July seven years ago, I brought him to my family’s holiday barbeque (not the first family event he’d attended) and all my nosey uncles wanted to know if he was my “boyfriend”. Even though the title seemed juvenile, I shrugged and said he was, which is why we celebrate our dating anniversary on the 4th of July every year; the day we became “a couple”.
There is a giant story in between then and now, filled with lots of adventures, a few low points, a few high points, and a lot of support and love. Most of what got us through was loyalty and patience. But I’m not writing an online novel.
It’s been eight years since I met him, and we’re still having all sorts of fun, just more the homebody, working-people kind of fun.
he’s still got that infamous grin
Thanks for being my best friend Topher.
xoxo – Morgan Elizabeth
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