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Parenthood, Young Married Mom

April 14, 2010

Let’s Start at the Very Beginning . . .

For as much as I dreamed about falling in love as a little girl, I don’t think I could have imagined a story as sweet, as natural, as blessed as that of how John and I found one another.

We grew up in essentially the same town. But because I went to public school and he went to private school, we didn’t really meet until we were sixteen. We were both involved in our church’s youth group, also known as The Best Middle School/High School Youth Group of All Time. We both played on the music team during Sunday evening Mass—he the violin (very well) and I the guitar (just enough to get the job done).

Junior year I needed a date for the prom. I’d been considering asking another guy I was maybe kind of interested in, but had covertly (and accidentally) learned he wouldn’t be in town before I had a chance to make my move. There were a bunch of us friends who were getting closer at the end of junior year, and I was beginning to get to know John. So about a week and a half before prom, I went to talk to him while we set up for one of our youth group meetings.

Me: Hi.

John: Hi.

Me: So are you doing anything not this Friday but the next one?

John: I think I might have a track meet. Why?

Me: Well, I was wondering if you wanted to go to my prom with me. But if you’re busy, that’s okay. How long does the meet go?

John: I should be home by 6:30, so I think it could work. . . . How many people have you asked already?

[Note how specific his phrasing is: not how many people have you considered going with, but how many have you asked.]

Me: No one.

So we went to the prom, we had a great time, but we didn’t hang out again very much until the start of senior year. It was then, when we were applying to colleges, when we went on our youth group’s fall retreat, that we became friends, and our friendship remains the beautiful, happily organic foundation of our relationship.

The story goes on to an awkward “will you be my girlfriend?” conversation—in which I don’t say anything for twenty minutes, four years of growing as individuals and as a couple, an amazing proposal during the Boston Marathon—see John tell the story here, and a beautiful wedding with a ceremony that focused on the role faith plays in our relationship and a party that rocked the entire state of New Jersey.

This is the story most people know, and the story of which so many amazing people have been a part. But there’s more than meets the eye. Stay tuned!

  1. […] started out this blog with a brief history of how John and I found one another and some of the important events and revelations that led to […]

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  3. Karl Schlegel says:

    . . . How many people have you asked already?

    I’m surprised you didn’t punch John….I would have!

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