We met purely by accident. I was driving down to Mobile, AL from Indianapolis, IN where I had spent the Christmas holiday with my parents. As I pulled into Birmingham, AL to have lunch with a friend and her husband, my radiator blew-up! Thankfully, my friends helped me get my car to a repair shop and then took me in for the night. As my girlfriend and I sat on the couch that night and caught up, her husband invited his best friend to come over. When Chris showed up, I was in baggy jeans and a big sweatshirt, not planning on meeting the man I would one day marry! But we hit it off right away, staying up all night playing Shanghi (an old family card game) and talking. Everything was great… except one small detail. I lived in Mobile and Chris lived in Birmingham. We decided to keep it casual and see where the future took us. I told him to call or text sometime and before I got out of my friends neighborhood I had a text message from Chris! Little did I know but that text was the beginning of a wonderful love story.
The next six months in our lives were straight out of a romance novel, and we fell in love before we knew it. We talked on the phone everyday and traveled to see each other every weekend. We traveled to Puerto Rico together and had a wonderful time. We learned so much about each other. We were there for each other for the good times and the tough times. We truly are best friends.
Then on July 3rd, as we sat out on the dock at the Chris's family lake house, listening to a band in the distance and watching the fireworks, Chris and I dreamed about our future. I had recently been offered a job in Birmingham and was considering moving. The move would change our long distance relationship to one where we would both be in the same zip code. As I sat debating new apartment costs and pros and cons of moving, Chris asked me a question that caught me completely off guard. “I just have one question. Jenelle , will you marry me?” I was so shocked and excited that I finally got “YES!” out! We then went and shared the good news with our families. After many tears of happiness and much excitement, wedding plans began.
Now, what began as a by-chance meeting and a casual one weekend at a time relationship has become the adventure of a lifetime. In the end, my car trouble back in January ended up being a blessing in disguise. Not only did I get a new radiator that weekend, but I also found the man of my dreams, my other half!
