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Bethany: It all started at the end of our senior year in high school. We grew up about a mile apart but were at different schools. Though we'd probably crossed paths many times (I'm sure it'd gone through his line at Krogers!), we didn't meet until my friends from youth group (who he went to school with) brought him to our senior farewell dinner. My friends had teased many times about me meeting this Brandon kid and I kept asking them when they were going to bring him around, but I never fathomed they really would. As I walked up to the restaurant and saw a new (cute) face in the crowd, I was introduced to "Brandon." I don't turn red over embarrassment too often, but I'm sure I was red, and I was sure he already knew of me as this stalker, crazy girl who was demanding to meet him. I looked around for the largest tree to hide behind.
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Brandon: So Bethany got most of the beginning right, minus a few details. When we first met, I was pretty excited to meet this girl Bethany, who my friends kept telling me they were going to introduce me to. The day finally came and we were at a local restaurant and my friends pointed her out to me. I was instantly smitten with her overwhelming hottness. I walked up to her because the seat next to her was open and the first thing I ever said to her was, "Do you mind if I sit here?" She responded by saying, "Yeah whatever." I tell her that the song, "You had me from Hello" needs to be changed to, "You had me from Whatever". :) We hung out that night at a mutual friend's house, and after she left, I told the friend who set the evening up that I was going to marry her. About 4 years, later my prophetic pronouncement came true, but not without some fun in the middle. During the time that we met, I had the wonderful high school job running a register at Krogers. Bethany would sometimes come in to buy things for herself or her mom and I would pray she would come through my line. She would usually find any other line to go through out of embarrasment, but once in a while my register was the only one open, and she was forced through my line. The rest of the summer allowed me to dream about how great it would be if she was my girlfriend. It would be more than another whole year before my plans would come to fruition.
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Bethany: Ok, so I did not say, "Yeah, whatever." I said, "Sure," which is not quite as rude-sounding, though also not at all smooth. Because of course in my head I was thinking, Yes please!! So yeah, we hung out that summer very casually with friends and one date to Kings Island (on which Bran got his first speeding ticket- awkward!), but we knew come August we'd be heading two different ways. B was going to school in Florida and I was heading to Taylor U in Indiana. Though I really liked this Brandon boy, it didn't seem like anything would come of it- and I couldn't believe he'd ever be interested in someone like me anyways. We left, without any "defining of the relationship" and just the exchange of e-mail addresses, so as far as I was concerned, whatever had been going on was over.
And it kind of played out that way. A few e-mails here and there, seeing each other over Christmas break maybe once, and just hearing random details through mutual friends. I was loving college and making good friends, but as far as boys, I was still stuck on B. Then, he told me that I was going to be really close to his school while in Florida with friends over Spring Break. I considered driving over to meet up ...and then someone back home mentioned his girlfriend. Yeah, big frowny face. Sooo.... no visit, no e-mails, and no future plans for Brandon.
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Brandon: So I only sorta had a girlfriend. Never planned on it going anywhere, never went anywhere, pretty much a waste of time. I was pretty bummed Bethany wasn't coming to visit, and after I found out she wasn't coming I was done with girls at school. I knew Bethany was the one. The summer after freshman year didn't really take things anywhere. I ended up being a camp counselor for all but two weeks of the summer, so I worked at a camp in Florida and a camp in California. After I got home, I heard from people who told me Bethany had a boyfriend ( so I wasn't the only one who wasted some time). After finishing the summer as a camp counselor, I transferred to Cedarville which was only two hours from where Bethany was. I knew I had my work cut out for me and almost immediately from the beginning of the school year, I began to work my magic. :)
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Bethany: Your magic, huh? :)
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Brandon: It worked, didn't it?
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Bethany: I'm just laughing, picturing you actually saying it that way. Don't let him fool you, there were 2 semi-girlfriends that year and a summer of not hearing from him, so yes I decided to move on. My choice... not so great, so it didn't last too long. Brandon would like to say that it was all due to him; that he broke us up (ha! I'm going to bring it up before he does this time!). That's not the case. This guy self-destructed all on his own and it didn't matter if that was my last date. ...That being said, I did happen to start "chatting" on the computer with Brandon again around that time. I was pretty skeptical at first and may or may not have taken part in the chats to show him I was doing just fine without him. But, since you know the end of this story, you'll know that he won. He won me over for sure... apparently with some "magic." :) Actually, I think it was with a fun visit to Taylor, when we spent the day in Indy (maybe that's part of why I LOVE that city!) and I realized that the timing and boy were both right.
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Brandon: So after I started pursuing her, she magically broke up with her boyfriend pretty quickly and then we started dating like 2 weeks later. : ) She was exactly what I needed and wanted in a wife. One issue that we had was the whole long-distance thing. We would usually see each other every other weekend and talk every day at least via instant messenger. I wouldn’t recommend long-distance unless you are totally convinced the person is the one for you. And since I was totally convinced, it was totally worth it. We did have a lot of fun weekends together since our time was precious and never wasted. Our time together was action-packed. Another issue we had was that during the summer times when we should have been able to spend a lot of time together, we both went on long missions trips. The first summer we dated, Bethany went to France for the summer. The next summer I went to Peru for the summer. I’m convinced that these trips were good for us. We both were and are very passionate about serving overseas. These trips gave us some great experience in overseas ministry.
I still remember having our first conversation about marriage. We went out to eat with a great couple from church, who were Bethany’s parents’ friends. They proceeded to grill me with questions to see if I was really worthy of the amazing woman. After dinner we had our first conversation about marriage. I was nervous to bring it up and I think she was nervous to talk about it. It was the most exciting conversation I had ever had up to that point. I’m glad we had it.
Bethany: Ew, Brandon, my parents read this blog. TMI.
And by the way, this post is about dating, not marriage- getting a little ahead of yourself. :) hehe. But, for real, let's save that story for next year's anniversary (which will be here by the time we finish this) because your romantic plan deserves a post of its own.
Ok, so to wrap this novel up, we had a really fun weekend in Indy, followed by a super sweet date a couple weeks later when I came home for Thanksgiving.--such a good memory of that little coffee shop downtown, reading about ...gnomes? :) -- wish it was still there. I knew this was a feeling I'd never had before and I very excitedly said yes to making the relationship official. If the world of facebook were around back then, I would have quickly hopped on to change my status to "in a relationship with Brandon Nutter." hehe. I know my friends weren't as convinced because of my little blurp with the previously mentioned other boy, but I didn't care. I was in it wholeheartedly, long-distance and all. That part did stink, but then again, without that we wouldn't have memories of spur-of-the-moment trips to the Richmond Steak & Shake (half-way point), and of course my typing skills wouldn't be nearly as good without all that instant messaging. :) -And I feel like sticking to calls and typing let us really get to know each other in a different but deeper way, though I know it annoyed everyone around me. I miss your adorable stories you'd type me while I was bored at work or burnt out on writing a paper- your sweetness and creativity is what I fell in love with.
And, while I have to admit I don't remember that dinner with my parents' friends very well, I do remember our own conversation that led to the "L" word and in turn, the "M" word. I was constantly asking "what if" questions (very random ones included) and one time I started asking about what he would do if certain things happened to me. IE: my legs were cut off and I was forever in a wheelchair, I became paralyzed, I truly became blind (I'm very close!). His answer was, "Well, actually I'd like to talk about that next time you come home." Weird, huh? It really creeped me out-- Was he himself going to be in a wheelchair next time I saw him? Was he going to reveal something he'd been hiding all this time? Was it going to lead to a break-up because of something already true about me that he couldn't handle (plenty to pick from!)? But that conversation continued in a different way while laying on my trampoline back home and looking at stars, when he told me that it didn't matter what happened to me because he LOVED me. :) Yep, like something straight out of a teen-ish chick flick that I'd adore. According to him, after what felt like years, I told him the same thing back and I meant it. So yes I'm going to go there and say the rest is history, or maybe really that the love story goes on, though wow does it look a little different these days. That's our story (unless Brandon wants to pipe in and say anything else) and I'm so glad I can tell it.
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Brandon: It worked, didn't it?
.
Bethany: I'm just laughing, picturing you actually saying it that way. Don't let him fool you, there were 2 semi-girlfriends that year and a summer of not hearing from him, so yes I decided to move on. My choice... not so great, so it didn't last too long. Brandon would like to say that it was all due to him; that he broke us up (ha! I'm going to bring it up before he does this time!). That's not the case. This guy self-destructed all on his own and it didn't matter if that was my last date. ...That being said, I did happen to start "chatting" on the computer with Brandon again around that time. I was pretty skeptical at first and may or may not have taken part in the chats to show him I was doing just fine without him. But, since you know the end of this story, you'll know that he won. He won me over for sure... apparently with some "magic." :) Actually, I think it was with a fun visit to Taylor, when we spent the day in Indy (maybe that's part of why I LOVE that city!) and I realized that the timing and boy were both right.
.
Brandon: So after I started pursuing her, she magically broke up with her boyfriend pretty quickly and then we started dating like 2 weeks later. : ) She was exactly what I needed and wanted in a wife. One issue that we had was the whole long-distance thing. We would usually see each other every other weekend and talk every day at least via instant messenger. I wouldn’t recommend long-distance unless you are totally convinced the person is the one for you. And since I was totally convinced, it was totally worth it. We did have a lot of fun weekends together since our time was precious and never wasted. Our time together was action-packed. Another issue we had was that during the summer times when we should have been able to spend a lot of time together, we both went on long missions trips. The first summer we dated, Bethany went to France for the summer. The next summer I went to Peru for the summer. I’m convinced that these trips were good for us. We both were and are very passionate about serving overseas. These trips gave us some great experience in overseas ministry.
I still remember having our first conversation about marriage. We went out to eat with a great couple from church, who were Bethany’s parents’ friends. They proceeded to grill me with questions to see if I was really worthy of the amazing woman. After dinner we had our first conversation about marriage. I was nervous to bring it up and I think she was nervous to talk about it. It was the most exciting conversation I had ever had up to that point. I’m glad we had it.
p.s. I’m a little annoyed Bethany’s parents got rid of the couches in the family room. It’s the location of our first kiss.
. Bethany: Ew, Brandon, my parents read this blog. TMI.
And by the way, this post is about dating, not marriage- getting a little ahead of yourself. :) hehe. But, for real, let's save that story for next year's anniversary (which will be here by the time we finish this) because your romantic plan deserves a post of its own.
Ok, so to wrap this novel up, we had a really fun weekend in Indy, followed by a super sweet date a couple weeks later when I came home for Thanksgiving.--such a good memory of that little coffee shop downtown, reading about ...gnomes? :) -- wish it was still there. I knew this was a feeling I'd never had before and I very excitedly said yes to making the relationship official. If the world of facebook were around back then, I would have quickly hopped on to change my status to "in a relationship with Brandon Nutter." hehe. I know my friends weren't as convinced because of my little blurp with the previously mentioned other boy, but I didn't care. I was in it wholeheartedly, long-distance and all. That part did stink, but then again, without that we wouldn't have memories of spur-of-the-moment trips to the Richmond Steak & Shake (half-way point), and of course my typing skills wouldn't be nearly as good without all that instant messaging. :) -And I feel like sticking to calls and typing let us really get to know each other in a different but deeper way, though I know it annoyed everyone around me. I miss your adorable stories you'd type me while I was bored at work or burnt out on writing a paper- your sweetness and creativity is what I fell in love with.
And, while I have to admit I don't remember that dinner with my parents' friends very well, I do remember our own conversation that led to the "L" word and in turn, the "M" word. I was constantly asking "what if" questions (very random ones included) and one time I started asking about what he would do if certain things happened to me. IE: my legs were cut off and I was forever in a wheelchair, I became paralyzed, I truly became blind (I'm very close!). His answer was, "Well, actually I'd like to talk about that next time you come home." Weird, huh? It really creeped me out-- Was he himself going to be in a wheelchair next time I saw him? Was he going to reveal something he'd been hiding all this time? Was it going to lead to a break-up because of something already true about me that he couldn't handle (plenty to pick from!)? But that conversation continued in a different way while laying on my trampoline back home and looking at stars, when he told me that it didn't matter what happened to me because he LOVED me. :) Yep, like something straight out of a teen-ish chick flick that I'd adore. According to him, after what felt like years, I told him the same thing back and I meant it. So yes I'm going to go there and say the rest is history, or maybe really that the love story goes on, though wow does it look a little different these days. That's our story (unless Brandon wants to pipe in and say anything else) and I'm so glad I can tell it.
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