Christmastime has always been my favorite time of the year. I love it for many reasons. For one, I am a huge fan of Christmas songs, the Jackson 5 Christmas Album may just be my favorite. I also remember when I was younger I had a audio tape of Orson Wells narrating A Christmas Carol which I would begin listening to every July playing it as I feel asleep in bed. I loved that cassette…lol

This season continues to be my favorite for another reason. It was during this time of the year that I met my husband. I wanted to take time and share with you our love story.

It was the Monday before Thanksgiving when I received an email from a mutual friend of ours.  Here are a couple of excerpts:

“Hi Patricia
Hoping all is well. I am not trying to get in your business. I have someone I would like to introduce you to if you are not seeing someone.  He is a very nice , christian young man. ……… He is here visiting them and flys between here and New York quite often for his work……..College graduate, good character , has a sense of humor , family oriented and just a very, very nice person.  I have known him for quite some time now and saw him at church Sunday. I did mention to him that I would like to introduce him to someone I thought was beautiful inside and outside. “YES YOU”

He will be here for the rest of the week and will fly back here in December for the holidays and Church services New Years Eve.

If you are interested let me know. He gave me his number because I did not want to give him yours without talking to you first.”

Little did I know then that this email would change my life. After going back and forth a couple of times I took his number and allowed her to pass my number to him.

I. CALLED. FIRST….lol.  I called him the day after Thanksgiving secretly hoping he would be busy and I could just leave a message. Thankfully that is what happened.

On Sunday my phone rings and on the other end is this deep voice asking for me. It was Rick.  I can’t say either of us were blown away by the first conversation. He talked about his work (which I had a hard time following) for a good part of the conversation. If you ask him he says he felt like he was being interviewed. Even though we both felt the conversation was a little dull we somehow stayed on the phone for a couple of hours.

We emailed a couple of times through the week and he called again the next Sunday. I just remember at the end of that conversation I told him he did not have to wait a week before calling me again. And he didn’t. We emailed and talked constantly. His voice became the first and the last I heard everyday.  Having the month to communicate before meeting allowed us to truly get to know each other. I was really starting to fall in love.

So moving on…. He came back into town for Christmas. I went to pick him up from the airport. We had exchanged photos about a week or two prior so I knew who to look for. I remember standing at the gate feeling so nervous. When I saw him all the nerves left and I felt like I had known him forever. He was at his parents’ home for two weeks and we were about to see each other every day (except Christmas).  During this time we even met one each other’s parents, lol.

I know it sounds cliche` but I knew he was “the one.”

How did I know you ask? I know because it was effortless. I was not trying to be who I thought he wanted me to be. And he was not being who he thought I wanted him to be. We were just being ourselves which allowed us to fall in love naturally.

After the two weeks were up and he had to go back home we were committed to seeing where our relationship could go. I flew out to see him for a weekend. He flew back when my grandfather passed away. I was working at a school at the time and my birthday was during the Spring break which worked out great and allowed me to fly down for the whole week. It was the best week ever!  I had never felt like that before. We had already exchanged ‘I love yous’ which was a big thing for both of us.  I was head over heels! I still am!

In June he popped the question.  I will save that story for another time, but I will tell you it involved the rain, a rat, and loud rowdy kids….lol. We got married the following April. It was such a magical day. I am beyond grateful that his voice is still the first and last that I hear each day.

What is your love story? When was the last time you thought about it?  I know everyday life gets in the way and many pages in the story of your life together have been written since. But ever now and then it is important to go back to the first page and see how the book started.

~Tricia