I Heart January 4th

Today, January 4th, is an anniversary for Josh and me.  In fact, January 4th is always easier for me to remember than our wedding date.  January 4th, 2002, is the day we got engaged and I love the story of how it came together.  So I thought it would be fun to record (briefly) some of the details of when we met, dated, and got engaged. 

• The summer after graduating college, I moved to the Atlanta area by myself, not knowing a soul.  I started my first teaching position at Jackson Elementary teaching 3rd grade. I had a great mentor/partner teacher - Hey, Krissie!
• I met Josh in late July 2001 at a new teacher in-service work day before school started. He was giving a little welcome speech to all the new teachers. He was also a 3rd grade teacher.  True fact: The first time I saw him I thought to myself that he looked like the kind of guy I could marry. 
• Not long after we met, in August, he called to invite me to a cookout with friends. I didn't answer the phone because I was so nervous - imagine that - me with a phone phobia. A few weeks after that, he invited me to church with him on a Wednesday night where I met all his little girlie friends that must have hated me right away. 
• Come September, we went on our first real date - hiking at Elachee Nature Center in Oakwood. 
• We dated for 4 months. We hung out a lot and talked even more on the phone since he lived 45 minutes away.
• I met his family in FL that October.  We and his brothers and their wives all went camping, too.  Josh met my family that November.
• That December, he bought an engagement ring while I was out of town to be in a friend's wedding.  True fact:  After I got back, Josh brought up the idea of us getting some pictures made together and I sort of freaked out saying that I thought it was a little too soon for that.  NOT what he expected to hear with a diamond ring in his pocket. He panicked a little, but Peggy, his teaching mentor/partner, was able to calm him down.  That Christmas was when he approached my dad to ask for his blessing to propose to me.  After a stern but fair conversation, my dad gave the go-ahead.  My mom, I hear, ran to him with open arms when she heard the news, she was so relieved.  Turns out she thought I would never marry.  Sheesh!  They kept their cool over the next few weeks though and never let on that anything was up, though it must have been killing them every time I called with news that was not what they were waiting to hear.  :) 
• He kept the ring in his glove box for the next few weeks waiting for the right time to ask. 
• On January 2nd, on a snow day that cancelled the first day back to school,  Josh wanted to go back to Elachee Nature Center (our first date), but I poo-pooed that idea not wanting to get out in the cold.  As luck would have it, that weekend he tried again and I agreed to go.  We wandered around in the snow and everything seemed normal.  I had no idea what was coming. 
• Josh got this idea for us to pick out a rock that reminded us of each other and I was all game - I totally dig symbolic/association things like that.  I skipped off to the water's edge to find the perfect Josh rock.  He'd brought tissue for us to wrap them in and then present them to each other when we were done looking.  So I went first, I can't remember what I picked or said, and then it was Josh's turn.  He hands me the tissue to open and I start unwrapping it to find my "rock," thinking to myself that it sure was a light rock.  I STILL had no idea what was coming.  So you can imagine my surprise when I finally discovered a diamond ring, a rock indeed!  I just starting saying over and over again, Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh!  Josh grinned big and said "Will you marry me?" and I said, Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh.  I finally got around to saying yes and put it on. It was all so surreal.  And it was freezing so we got the heck out of there.  In the car, I was still, Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh! 
• After I gathered my wits, I gave him a hard time for not getting down on one knee. ;)  He said something about it being too wet and muddy.  
• That night I started calling friends and family and we drove straight down to my parents for the weekend because my mom was so excited to see a ring on my finger. 
• It was so fun going back to school on Monday and sharing the news with our coworkers and students.  Everyone was in shock when I'd walk up and flash the ring.  As it turned out, most didn't even know we were dating! So you can imagine the hullabaloo created about two teachers dating and getting engaged on the sly.  So funny. Really, we weren't trying to keep our dating a secret, but yeah, we didn't announce it in the halls either.  :) True Fact: My teaching partner had just gotten engaged that Christmas as well.  And as luck would have it, our weddings ended up being only a week apart.
• The ring, oh, the ring.  It sparkled so beautifully!  It was (and is) gorgeous and I love it.  He picked well, with the help of Peggy and Shane Co.  :)  It's a one carat solitaire set in a band of littler diamonds.  So pretty.  It was and still is too pretty for my hand, but I've made my peace with that. :)
• Six months later, we got married.  True fact: Our wedding got done on a $5000 budget - Not easy. 
• Start to finish, we still had not known each other a full year by the time we got married in July.  
• We honeymooned in the Bahamas and got back just in time to start school.  I moved into Josh's place in Gainesville - a charming little one-room cottage/cabin right on Lake Lanier. 3539 Old Ducket Mill Rd.
• That first year of marriage was the hardest.  Learning to live together, getting a puppy, my second and hardest year of teaching, and the long commute to and from work really did not help.  We moved closer to work that following spring.  That second house is the one I think of when I think of our first years together. 1025 Tab Roberts Rd. in Lawrenceville

Awwwww, that was a fun walk down memory lane.  :)  Yay for engagement stories.  My favorite part is how I had no idea it was coming or that he was even thinking of that so soon.  I do so love surprises.  :) Much like I will always love January 4th.