How We Met
This part of our story is fun because we don’t completely agree on all the details. Since, I’m the one writing it down, you get to hear my version.
During our freshmen year at Maranatha Baptist University, I remember seeing Kaelyn around campus before we actually met. I didn’t know anything about her. All I knew was that she was absolutely gorgeous. Like, literally, the most perfect woman I had ever seen in my life. Unfortunately for me, I was not the only one who thought this. There were plenty of guys on campus that had their eyes on her, too.
I didn’t think I had the slightest chance with her. She was a model and I was just a lanky nerd. My initial thought after seeing her was that she must be much older than me- maybe a Junior? Kaelyn is 5’10”, so super tall for a girl. Something about her height and how beautiful she was made me think she must be older. I also had another terribly cynical thought- if she’s that pretty, there’s no way she’s godly, too. Wow, obviously, I had a very immature view of God. (And maybe an unhealthy spiritual ego.) One way or another, God would “learn me.”
At MBU, when we went to eat at Dining Commons (DC), we put our ID card down at a table to save seats before getting our food. One day at lunch, I followed one of my soccer friends into the DC and he put his ID card down at the table and I saw Kaelyn’s ID card sitting there, too. I took this opportunity to put my ID card right next to her. Truthfully, I wasn’t best buds with this guy, but I wanted to meet Kaelyn, so it was a good enough excuse to squeeze myself in there.
When Kaelyn sat down next to me, I went into full-blown crazy person mode and she was actually laughing! What?? Good sign numero uno! But I still was going to have to fight off all those other guys who were vying for her affections. My plan was to play it cool and focus on being a good friend to her.
I remember there were lots of guys in her friend group who were not my biggest fans. I wondered if maybe they felt a bit threatened by me since Kaelyn and I were getting close. Let it be known, Kaelyn’s best friend was dating a football player at the time, so this friend group included a lot of football players. When I would hang out with Kaelyn and her friends, it was obvious that I was the odd man out. All these bulky football jocks, and me, the skinny soccer player. It was a bit intimidating, but she was worth it. I didn’t know if she liked me, but I did know we had fun together. I counted that as a win.
Kaelyn and I would message each other on FB in the evenings and hang out from time to time, but we didn’t run into each other a ton. I was a business major; she was an education major, so we didn’t have a lot of overlap in classes.
Towards the end of the Fall semester, the universities choirs would all put on a combined choir concert of Handel’s Messiah. My friends and I were talking to Kaelyn and her friends after the concert and asked them if they’d like to go bowling with us, and she said yes! We actually have pictures of this “group date,” which is so fun to look back on now!
We had a blast!! I was super into her, but I had no idea what she was thinking, so I continued to play it cool- on the outside. On the inside, I was losing my mind, because I was so crazy about this girl!
As a result of the bowling group date, Kaelyn offered me her number. That’s right, your boy had so much game that I didn’t even have to ask for her number. She offered it, willingly. I guess I should’ve gathered that maybe she liked me too at this point. But she still had a lot of options, so I wasn’t sure.
Over our Christmas break, we texted each other a lot. When we came back for the Spring semester, things really started moving. The fact that she spent a lot of her break texting me back made me feel brave enough to start asking her to hang out more.
At MBU, around Valentine’s Day we have this pretty big dating outing (required attendance of course), called Artist Series. A professional musician puts on a formal concert on campus and you are encouraged to bring a date. I really wanted to ask Kaelyn. A friend of mine pushed me to ask her as soon as I could. He kept saying, “You just have to bite the bullet and ask her, before someone else does!”
I played volleyball most nights at MBU with friends. One Friday night, I invited Kaelyn to come in hopes that I might be able to ask her then. Now, I was no dummy, I messaged her friend, Amber, first to test the waters. Because our schedules didn’t intersect a ton. I’d have to purposely run into her in order to ask. Her friend thought Kaelyn would definitely be on board and agreed to help me coordinate a time when we could be alone.
At a conservative Christian university, being alone, is pretty tricky. I mean, I wasn’t looking for a dark secluded place to make out or anything. I just wanted a moment to talk to her without the entire bustling campus listening on. Anyway, Amber and I decided that if I invited her to come play volleyball, I could ask her after. But Kaelyn was already looking forward to a movie night in the dorm, so she stayed in. Amber tried to convince her, but it didn’t work. I didn’t know this, but I guess Kaelyn caught onto Amber’s pushing and got tipped off that I wanted to ask her out.
The race was still on! The next night after having dinner with her and her two friends, we all walked out to the parking lot. Suddenly, her friends disappeared. Immediately, my mouth dried up, my palms began to sweat, and all the words I ever knew vanished from my memory. I remember my friend’s words ringing in my ear, “bite the bullet.” So, bite the bullet I did. To my shock she said yes!
I think the awko-convo went something like this:
T: “Ummm, would you like to go to Artist Series with me”
K: “Yea, I’d love to!”
T: “Okay”
K: “Yeah”
T: “Cool”
K: “Great”
T: “Alright, well, I better let you go, bye”
K: “Bye”
She walked back to her dorm and I went to a music practice room. Once there, I practiced one of my voice pieces, “Vittoria, mio core,” which is Italian for Victory, my heart! Let’s just say, this little voice nerd had never sung that song better!
Just recently, she remembered that the next day, another guy asked her if she had a date for Artist Series. She wanted to go with me, but wasn’t sure if I would ask. If I hadn’t, she probably would’ve said yes to the other dude. Shew! That was close!
Our First Date
That night was a blur. Many of the details are lost to me, but I do remember how I felt: exhilarated, ecstatic, and… awkward. The anticipation of what would be my first and last first date was intense. My heart was beating out of my chest and my palms were sweating, again (sensing a theme here, yet?). I remember how beautiful Kaelyn was in her navy dress and soft curls. She was as sweet as strawberries and as radiant as the heavens. (She still is, by the way.)
The awkwardness didn’t have anything to do with Kaelyn. She was practically perfect in every way. It was just awkward because we didn’t know what to do with ourselves. Our photos from that night are hilarious to look back on. We couldn’t put our arms around each other in a photo (Christian college probs), so we both stood there awkwardly with arms laying limply by our sides. Although we do have one photo where we stood in front of the platform and I rested my arm on the platform behind her to make it look like we were on a date. I know, sneaky.
After the event, I think we went out to eat at a restaurant called the Pine Cone. This was a mainstay for MBU students. The restaurant was inside a truck stop (not too glamourous), but it was probably the furthest you could go from campus without needing to fill out a pass. Plus, they have some pretty good sweet treats, which Kaelyn & I are allll about!
This night was the beginning of something absolutely amazing!