Monday, January 24, 2011
Our Story
It all began in Atlanta, GA. John was playing bass with the same band as Therese's good friend Andrea. Andrea had no way to get home to Wilmington, NC and asked Therese if she would want to come to Atlanta and spend a few days there while they finished up playing for a youth conference, and then drive back to Wilmington together. Therese gladly loved any opportunity to leave the Charlotte city limits for any reason and gladly agreed. Therese hopped in her faithful blue Corolla with her good friend Kaitlin and spent the weekend with the band in Atlanta. After the first night of worship there, everyone was loading gear in the parking lot as a mysterious red Volvo station wagon approached Therese and Kaitlin. The words "Hey, do you know anyone that needs to buy a car?" came humming out the window of the volvo. Therese immediately replied "YES"!!! Her good friend Mandy had been looking for a car to no avail, and Therese was thrilled at the idea of a potential seller. They spent the next 20 minutes or so talking about the specs of the car, while Therese secretly wanted to buy the car for herself and trash the Corolla. After a few more moments of awkward parking lot conversation, Therese was informed that she would be following the red volvo to the Waffle House for a fun filled night of hash browns. I would love to tickle your fancy and say that they sat in the Waffle House booth together and gazed in to eachother's eyes while eating their hash browns covered and smothered, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, they were both distracted by other love interests in other cities and didn't even have the batteries installed in their love meters. So the whole band plus Therese and Kaitlin spent the next day shopping at Atlantic Station and awkwardly ended their excursion in the abandoned parking lot across from a local prison after they spent an hour and a half trying to locate the Coca Cola Factory. Therese was actually greatly annoyed having been lost in about 15 sketchy neighborhoods in Atlanta and just wanted to get on I-85 and head back to Charlotte for the night. So after a long drawn out goodbye, the girls all got in Therese's car and went back to Charlotte.
THE END....
Besides the fact that John requested Therese and Kaitlin's friendship on Facebook, I'm sad to inform you that it was the bitter end of the story my friends. That is, until about one year later.
Now let me just preface you with the fact that John and Therese had hardly any communication throughout that year. They were both distracted with other things, and weren't even a blip on eachother's radars. One day Therese noticed that John had commented on one of her status updates on Facebook. She responded back and didn't think anything of it. Then it happened again. This time she said something to him. And then it began to go back and forth and back and forth. Before they knew it, they were having "full blown conversations" pretty much every 2 hours. Therese began to find herself in a constant state of laughter because of this mystery man who understood her sense of humor as they would interact. He was just as weird as she was. This was a rare find! So it all started to go downhill on a fateful Monday night as Therese found herself stranded in her town home due to Tropical Storm Nicole. She was very frustrated being stuck at home while the winds of change violently blew rain at her window pane. As she sought for a remedy to cure her cabin fever, she began playing old episodes of Rescue 911 on Youtube and then posting them on Facebook. As soon as she posted an episode about a man being bit by his pet Asian Albino Cobra, John Romero came to the rescue. He began instantly talking about snakes and jelly fish, and commented about how this video clip was "such a touching reenactment with such neatly trimmed facial hair." This sent Therese rolling right off her memory foam in laughter. And she didn't get up for 3 days. Yes, the storm continued for days and days. And with every passing night of rain and wind, the mysterious man from Texas sent the corn fed girl from southwest Ohio in to a lovesick frenzy. Okay, so maybe that's jumping the gun a little bit- but not by much.
And so the interaction continued. By this time, Therese (being a girl) was reading in to things. (All girls read in to things, guys!) Every time Therese would say something on Facebook, John would either reply with an opinion or a solution. In fact Therese began to catch on to this, which meant that she found herself posting more status updates than in her entire Facebook career.
John, (being a man) was not reading in to things yet. After this continued on for several weeks, Therese (being a girl) wanted to know if she was crazy for reading in to things, and was beginning to wonder if John might be interested in her. After this had been going on for about a month, Therese found herself in Knoxville, TN in a car with her good friend Andrea. Andrea then informed her that she had been "noticing" that her and John had been talking all the time and that she thought that it was basically "the greatest idea ever." This caused Therese a great deal of relief, and affirmed that she was not indeed insane. Then Andrea and her soon to be fiance Will stepped in to full matchmaking mode. Andrea and the rest of the band were getting ready to fly to Portland, for several gigs in Oregon and Washington. She didn't know that this was actually a surprise engagement trip for her that would end in Seattle with all of her family flying in to surprise her after Will proposed. All she knew was that John was going to be on that trip, and immediately tried to get me to come on the trip with them.
This would have been a wonderful idea if Therese wasn't already scheduled to watch Andrea's little sisters while her parents secretly flew out to Seattle for the proposal. So Therese had to make up a story about how she couldn't fly out there because of work. So by this point, John and Therese had switched from Facebook to email. They emailed eachother basically every 2 hours, and talked about their days and told childhood stories. It was awesome! Therese informed John that although she was unable to come on the Portland trip, that she would be in Springfield, Il on the next trip that she knew they would be on. Now John was not originally scheduled to be on this trip.. but with Will and Andrea in full matchmaking mode, Will quickly convinced everyone putting on the conference that they desperately needed a bass player. And not just any bass player... only John Romero would be acceptable.
Now John, being a man has not read in to things up until this point. He had come to realize that he enjoyed talking to Therese all day long, but not much more than that. But as the days passed, he started noticing that he didn't even pay attention to potential prospects anymore. As another week passed by, John was in his shop filling a work order late one night. He found himself leaving his press about every 5 minutes to check his phone to see if Therese had sent him an email. He realized he had been doing this for days now. And then, he had a moment. He said to himself that "if I don't marry this girl, I'm crazy."
One week later they both headed to Springfield Illinois for their first meeting since Atlanta. They met at baggage claim in the St. Louis airport in a state of awkward, blissful insomnia. They got in the Tahoe with Will and Andrea talked the whole car ride to Illinois.
The rest is pretty much history. As soon as they got in the same room together they realized they had passed their chemistry exam with flying colors. Within 48 hours they decided that there was "nobody else in the world" besides eachother.
Their friends tried to send them off on their first date to a fancy italian restaurant. They got lost, split a burrito bowl at Chipotle and decided on that date that they were going to get married. They immediately started assessing the sum of the household items that each of them owned.
The one thing that both of them were so amazed by was the "easy yoke" of all of this. Neither of them had ever had this kind of peace, this kind of incredible assurance. Even knowing that trials are sure to come in their lives, there was a sweet knowing, and a still small voice that silenced every other one that had always previously come in with doubt and fear and insecurity. This is good news. And its just the beginning of a story that God is writing with our lives. He is ridiculously good to us, and loves to give good gifts to His children!
So fast forward 2 months later. John drove from Texas to Wilmington the day after Christmas to help move Therese to Ohio so that she could prepare for their wedding that they wanted to have in April. They made the snowy trek up the east coast to New York where John proposed to Therese in Washington Square on January 3rd :)
So this is beginning of our journey! We would love for you to join with us on April 30th celebrate our marriage. Each one of you is dear to us, and we would love for you to be a part of this day.
THE END....
Besides the fact that John requested Therese and Kaitlin's friendship on Facebook, I'm sad to inform you that it was the bitter end of the story my friends. That is, until about one year later.
Now let me just preface you with the fact that John and Therese had hardly any communication throughout that year. They were both distracted with other things, and weren't even a blip on eachother's radars. One day Therese noticed that John had commented on one of her status updates on Facebook. She responded back and didn't think anything of it. Then it happened again. This time she said something to him. And then it began to go back and forth and back and forth. Before they knew it, they were having "full blown conversations" pretty much every 2 hours. Therese began to find herself in a constant state of laughter because of this mystery man who understood her sense of humor as they would interact. He was just as weird as she was. This was a rare find! So it all started to go downhill on a fateful Monday night as Therese found herself stranded in her town home due to Tropical Storm Nicole. She was very frustrated being stuck at home while the winds of change violently blew rain at her window pane. As she sought for a remedy to cure her cabin fever, she began playing old episodes of Rescue 911 on Youtube and then posting them on Facebook. As soon as she posted an episode about a man being bit by his pet Asian Albino Cobra, John Romero came to the rescue. He began instantly talking about snakes and jelly fish, and commented about how this video clip was "such a touching reenactment with such neatly trimmed facial hair." This sent Therese rolling right off her memory foam in laughter. And she didn't get up for 3 days. Yes, the storm continued for days and days. And with every passing night of rain and wind, the mysterious man from Texas sent the corn fed girl from southwest Ohio in to a lovesick frenzy. Okay, so maybe that's jumping the gun a little bit- but not by much.
And so the interaction continued. By this time, Therese (being a girl) was reading in to things. (All girls read in to things, guys!) Every time Therese would say something on Facebook, John would either reply with an opinion or a solution. In fact Therese began to catch on to this, which meant that she found herself posting more status updates than in her entire Facebook career.
John, (being a man) was not reading in to things yet. After this continued on for several weeks, Therese (being a girl) wanted to know if she was crazy for reading in to things, and was beginning to wonder if John might be interested in her. After this had been going on for about a month, Therese found herself in Knoxville, TN in a car with her good friend Andrea. Andrea then informed her that she had been "noticing" that her and John had been talking all the time and that she thought that it was basically "the greatest idea ever." This caused Therese a great deal of relief, and affirmed that she was not indeed insane. Then Andrea and her soon to be fiance Will stepped in to full matchmaking mode. Andrea and the rest of the band were getting ready to fly to Portland, for several gigs in Oregon and Washington. She didn't know that this was actually a surprise engagement trip for her that would end in Seattle with all of her family flying in to surprise her after Will proposed. All she knew was that John was going to be on that trip, and immediately tried to get me to come on the trip with them.
This would have been a wonderful idea if Therese wasn't already scheduled to watch Andrea's little sisters while her parents secretly flew out to Seattle for the proposal. So Therese had to make up a story about how she couldn't fly out there because of work. So by this point, John and Therese had switched from Facebook to email. They emailed eachother basically every 2 hours, and talked about their days and told childhood stories. It was awesome! Therese informed John that although she was unable to come on the Portland trip, that she would be in Springfield, Il on the next trip that she knew they would be on. Now John was not originally scheduled to be on this trip.. but with Will and Andrea in full matchmaking mode, Will quickly convinced everyone putting on the conference that they desperately needed a bass player. And not just any bass player... only John Romero would be acceptable.
Now John, being a man has not read in to things up until this point. He had come to realize that he enjoyed talking to Therese all day long, but not much more than that. But as the days passed, he started noticing that he didn't even pay attention to potential prospects anymore. As another week passed by, John was in his shop filling a work order late one night. He found himself leaving his press about every 5 minutes to check his phone to see if Therese had sent him an email. He realized he had been doing this for days now. And then, he had a moment. He said to himself that "if I don't marry this girl, I'm crazy."
One week later they both headed to Springfield Illinois for their first meeting since Atlanta. They met at baggage claim in the St. Louis airport in a state of awkward, blissful insomnia. They got in the Tahoe with Will and Andrea talked the whole car ride to Illinois.
The rest is pretty much history. As soon as they got in the same room together they realized they had passed their chemistry exam with flying colors. Within 48 hours they decided that there was "nobody else in the world" besides eachother.
Their friends tried to send them off on their first date to a fancy italian restaurant. They got lost, split a burrito bowl at Chipotle and decided on that date that they were going to get married. They immediately started assessing the sum of the household items that each of them owned.
The one thing that both of them were so amazed by was the "easy yoke" of all of this. Neither of them had ever had this kind of peace, this kind of incredible assurance. Even knowing that trials are sure to come in their lives, there was a sweet knowing, and a still small voice that silenced every other one that had always previously come in with doubt and fear and insecurity. This is good news. And its just the beginning of a story that God is writing with our lives. He is ridiculously good to us, and loves to give good gifts to His children!
So fast forward 2 months later. John drove from Texas to Wilmington the day after Christmas to help move Therese to Ohio so that she could prepare for their wedding that they wanted to have in April. They made the snowy trek up the east coast to New York where John proposed to Therese in Washington Square on January 3rd :)
So this is beginning of our journey! We would love for you to join with us on April 30th celebrate our marriage. Each one of you is dear to us, and we would love for you to be a part of this day.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Quite the Update
I think it is about time that I wrote an entry in here and updated you all on my crazy life. Yes, my crazy, beautiful, currently extremely wonderful life. To say that life has changed since my last entry is a complete understatement. I think if you had told me 6 months ago that I would be in love by November and getting married by next April, I would have told you to up the dosage. But here I am, telling you that I was indeed in love by November and am most definitely getting married April 30th! I am working on a blog right now trying to tell the full version of John and Therese, but its not quite complete yet.
Life at the moment is basically finishing up my job at the Chop House, packing up my life in Wilmington, and spending as much QT as possible with my family here. It is most certainly a bittersweet time having to leave people that I dearly love, but the sweet part is incredibly sweet, being able to spend the next several months making preparations to have a life with my amazing "borderline fiance" John :). Basically our plan for the next month is: possibly drive to Ft. Mill on the afternoon of Christmas Day to see Lora on the way to Knoxville; drive to Knoxville on the morning of the 26th to meet John; leave my car there and drive back to Ft. Mill with John so he can meet my family there; drive back to Wilmington either that night or the next morning; spend the 28-30 with the Carr's, and pack up everything and say goodbye; drive to Harrisburg, PA on the 30th until Jan.3rd for a New Year's Conference John is playing for; take the train to New York one of those days, since neither of us has ever been; drive to Ohio on the 4th for him to meet all of my family and friends; then somewhere in January we will drive to Knoxville to see the rest of our family there; then drive to Nashville to see my BFF thank the Lord in HEAVEN! Then John is driving back to Texas to do some work, and I am heading back to Ohio to plan a wedding with my mom. Crazy? Yes... Can we pull it off? I think so... More updates to come.
Especially one for when I get that ring on my finger!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
I am writing this entry tonight with a heavy heart and an extremely tired brain. I try not to take myself too seriously on such little sleep, but would most likely feel this way still on 8 hours, even though I only had 3.
I don't know exactly know where I am going with this, so I might jump all over the place.
Life right now is actually really good. I am loving Wilmington, loving the beach, loving friends, enjoying just being. I have been more at peace over the last 2 months than I can remember in years. I have been finding that there is no striving in real love, and when I started to really get this, rest and peace were the product. Since coming to this place gradually, the smell of religion has become even more potent and unappealing than ever before in my life. I have been able to look back on the last several years (that were very necessary to walk through) and get a glimpse of what I want in my life, and other things that I am absolutely sure I want nothing to do with. Much of this has to do with the very form and structure that once brought me freedom but now sickens me to even think about walking back into.
Most importantly, I have gotten another glimpse of the real thing. Its that pure and undefiled love of God that washes me over and over and over, and walks right by my side, right where I'm at, no matter what people say... This is so great to me, because thats why He says to do the things you did at first. He loves us right where we are at, and knows that we have no ability to change on our own or fix our own lives. We get to go through the ebbs and flows of the mountains and the valleys, and they are ALL good.. Not just times that feel good.
I guess the heaviness of heart tonight comes from my own human inability to understand why things happen the way they do sometimes. My friend Casey is the one on my heart tonight. Just as quickly as she found out she was pregnant, she miscarried within 3 days. My human brain doesn't comprehend this stuff. It offends my mind and hurts my heart, yet draws me further in to the heart of God who is really the one in control of our lives, not us. I become foolish the moment I begin to think that I am really in control of my life. We are not promised tomorrow. That can be a scary thought some days. We are however, promised to never be left or forsaken. When my trust and love and hope are wrapped up in that place is where the peace will begin to take over.
I don't know exactly know where I am going with this, so I might jump all over the place.
Life right now is actually really good. I am loving Wilmington, loving the beach, loving friends, enjoying just being. I have been more at peace over the last 2 months than I can remember in years. I have been finding that there is no striving in real love, and when I started to really get this, rest and peace were the product. Since coming to this place gradually, the smell of religion has become even more potent and unappealing than ever before in my life. I have been able to look back on the last several years (that were very necessary to walk through) and get a glimpse of what I want in my life, and other things that I am absolutely sure I want nothing to do with. Much of this has to do with the very form and structure that once brought me freedom but now sickens me to even think about walking back into.
Most importantly, I have gotten another glimpse of the real thing. Its that pure and undefiled love of God that washes me over and over and over, and walks right by my side, right where I'm at, no matter what people say... This is so great to me, because thats why He says to do the things you did at first. He loves us right where we are at, and knows that we have no ability to change on our own or fix our own lives. We get to go through the ebbs and flows of the mountains and the valleys, and they are ALL good.. Not just times that feel good.
I guess the heaviness of heart tonight comes from my own human inability to understand why things happen the way they do sometimes. My friend Casey is the one on my heart tonight. Just as quickly as she found out she was pregnant, she miscarried within 3 days. My human brain doesn't comprehend this stuff. It offends my mind and hurts my heart, yet draws me further in to the heart of God who is really the one in control of our lives, not us. I become foolish the moment I begin to think that I am really in control of my life. We are not promised tomorrow. That can be a scary thought some days. We are however, promised to never be left or forsaken. When my trust and love and hope are wrapped up in that place is where the peace will begin to take over.
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