How We Met

Wowzer. I came across this website recently, where you can sell jewelry given to you by ex-boyfriends. I guess that is something that I will never fully understand. Travis and I are high school sweethearts and therefore do not really have an extensive bank of exes. I had two "serious" boyfriends prior to Travis, one more so than the other. But neither of those breakups were horrible, excruciating situations. Ya sure, the first guy was not the most faithful. In the end, I realized that he was not that important to me and I had to cut my losses.

The second boyfriend was more serious. We dated for over a year. It got difficult when I was still in high school and he moved an hour away to go to college. I was sure he would find some college hottie to leave me for, but he never did. He really was a great guy and I'm sure he still is. Eventually, I just felt like we were growing apart and we didn't click anymore.

Not that long after, I met Travis. His mom introduced us, in a way. His mom was my manager at the pharmacy I worked at. Travis came into the store one afternoon to wait for a ride home after football practice. It was only my third day on the job, so when things got busy, they just set me out of the way to label vials. Travis got stuck helping me and I am so glad he did. It wasn't a hugely memorable experience, sitting in the back at a folding table, labeling vials together, but I guess I made an impression on him. The following day, he walked through the whole school until he found my locker and he passed me a note. We started off talking like this, mostly by notes, a little in person between classes. He was only a Sophomore and was still limited on what he could do outside of school. We talked on the phone a lot and hung out a few times at friends' houses, but only as friends.

I remember one day, just before I was about to walk into my biology class, he asked me if I would wear his jersey. I don't know if this is common tradition elsewhere, but it is a huge deal at my high school. I said yes and was so excited to have jersey to wear to that Friday's game! The following week, he asked me another question before that very same class - would I go out with him? Ahh! I was so excited! I told him I would think about it (just through that period, of course). Later he admitted that he was so nervous I would say no. Honestly, I would have said yes immediately, but we had a mutual friend that I thought liked Travis. I'm always worried about stepping on toes, so I had to talk it over with her first. She didn't seem happy, but what was she going to say? After that class, I told Travis yes. (And was guaranteed a jersey every Friday!)

Travis and I dated throughout the rest of the school year. I decided to go to the community college at home before transferring to Texas A&M to help save money. That gave us two more years of dating before we had a huge choice to make. Travis graduated from high school the spring before I was set to start in Texas. Was he ready, at age 17, to move away from his family and start a whole new life with me? In the beginning, he said no. We were going to try to keep it going, but after my experience with Boyfriend #2, I knew that probably would not work out. A month before I was going to make the move, Travis changed his mind and said what the hell! I quickly made arrangements at an apartment complex for us to live in together. It had two bedrooms, so that if worse came to worse, we would have our own rooms. Thankfully, it never did. I found out later that Travis' grandpa told him that I would probably find some college guy while I was away at school and then I would leave Travis. Thank goodness for Travis' grandpa, because that's when he changed his mind.

I am glad we had a chance to live together before we got married, even though it is not quite the "proper" thing to do. I'm sure it helps that we were both young and still developing daily habits and routines, so we were able to mold together. We have done a lot together and I am grateful for everyday we have with one another. I know this turned into a cheesy story pretty quick, but I'm happy with my cheesy story. =)