the story of us

“Whatever souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”

As I sit down to put this all into writing, I find myself struggling to remember all the details of exactly how “we” came to be. I don’t know if I’ll ever again see God working so clearly to piece together the steps of my path. Don’t get me wrong, He’s always working…it’s just not always so easy to map it out.

I can remember the first time I ever “laid eyes on him”, as they say. He was doing a half-time performance as the drum major of the Hawkeye Marching Band, so I was seeing him from halfway up Kinnick Stadium. But still he caught my eye J He was wearing a white shirt, black pants and a fedora. Pretty cute! In the coming months, I would be introduced to him on two different occasions. If I’m being honest, I really didn’t care for him much! Seems funny to think about now. The second interaction was definitely more positive than the first, though, so when I got my first teaching job and made the decision to move to Williamsburg, I asked a friend for Dameon’s phone number because I was hoping he could give me some leads on apartment potentials.

It was a hot summer day in early August of 2006, when I gave him a call and left a vague message on his voicemail. Something along the lines of, “I don’t know if you remember me, but we’ve met before. I’m moving to Williamsburg and I know you teach there. I’m hoping you can give me some input or information on some apartments. Please call me back.” The next day he did call me back. We spoke briefly and he told me why the apartments I had looked at would not be good choices. One option because it was a bad location and the other option, according to him, would be much too noisy. He then told me that he lived in the top half of a house that had been converted into two apartments, and that he was pretty sure the people who lived on the main floor were going to be evicted. We left it that he would look into it and get back to me. I waited a couple more days before hearing from him again. He gave me the phone number of his landlord and told me my best bet was to give the guy a call. Within a week, I had secured the downstairs apartment, which would be available as soon as the landlord was finished cleaning it out. In the meantime, I started really thinking about this Dameon guy. Partially because I was excited to actually have some sort of a friend in my new town, and partially because I had this very strange, very surprising, very good feeling about him. But this feeling was accompanied by a little bit of concern. What if I really ended up liking this guy and then he had a girlfriend and I would either hang out alone all the time or be the third wheel? That would be a real bummer. I remember mentioning this to my friend, Brooke. Was it weird that I felt like I already liked him? Yeah, a little bit. J

Moving day happened the Friday before school started. Dameon was unable to help because he was struggling with a neck injury, but he stopped down the next day to say “hello”. I remember trying to quickly primp in front of the mirror when I heard him coming down the stairs because I didn’t want to look like I had been unpacking all day! We talked for awhile, and before he left he invited me to go to church with him the next morning. Hmmmmm…major plus! I can’t remember how I found out that he was single…but I did.

After that, we spent most of our free time together. He was very busy with marching band and directing the fall musical, so I would wait up each night until I heard him pull into the garage and walk to my front door to chat for a little bit. It took us about a month to officially start dating, and another month after that to start talking about marriage. It’s hard to believe that nobody told us we were crazy!! I had a 15 minute commute to my school at that time and I can remember spending lots of time thinking about Dameon. It was such a giddy and exciting time. Everything in my life just seemed so incredibly clear. I even remember often looking at my left hand on the steering wheel and imagining a sparkly ring on it. Such a girly thing to do!!

Toward the end of October, I brought Dameon to Boone to introduce him to my family. He fit right in, just like I knew he would! On December 2, I traveled home to go to a friend’s wedding. I was planning to spend the night at Mom and Dad’s and go back to Williamsburg the next day. When I left the wedding reception, I called Dameon to tell him about the wedding and let him know I was on my way to Boone. He interrupted me a few minutes in, and told me his Dad was calling him and he would need to take the call and call me back later. When I got to Boone, I arrived to an empty house. That was strange, since it was about 9:00 p.m. I changed into pajamas…which happened to be about the ugliest ones you could imagine, and waited for Dameon to call me back. I called Mom to find out where everyone was at. She told me she and Dad had gone to Des Moines to do some Christmas shopping and were on their way home. That seemed legit. After about 30 minutes of waiting, I finally called Dameon back. “Did you forget to call me?” I asked. “Oh…yeah….well, I don’t like talking on the phone in front of people,” he said. “You’re with people?” I asked. And then he made up some story about how he was at a friend’s apartment waiting for other friends to arrive. But then I heard the “ding ding ding” that a car makes when you open the door with the keys in the ignition. I was flooded with dread because I knew he was lying to me and I didn’t know why. And then the doorbell rang.

I opened the door to find him standing there with a dozen roses. And I still didn’t know what was happening! I was glad to see him, but very confused at the same time. He proposed to me in the entryway of my parents’ house and I about fell over in shock. In fact, I think I did fall over a little. It was the best moment of my whole life, up to that point! As it turned out, my parents were in on the whole thing and were meeting with Dameon in Johnston while I was at the wedding! They even went with him to pick out the roses J The next hour was spent celebrating with my family, calling other family members and friends, and watching my dad bust out and single-handedly drink most of the cheap champagne!!! (Love ya, Dad)

We were married 8 months later on July 28, 2007…less than a year after I moved into that apartment.

My friend recently told me that she has heard it said that your wedding day is the best day of your life, but the day you give birth to a child is the most romantic. So true!! There was something transformational that happened in my heart as we took our vows four years ago. And being side by side with Dameon as our baby was born formed a bond between us like no other experience ever will.

Thank you, Dameon, for marrying me and accepting all the good and not-so-good that makes me who I am. Thank you for breathing confidence into me and for loving me through the highs and the lows. I love you most.