Our Love Story Part II

My friend Ashley @ The Nostalgic World of Newlyweds tagged me a while ago. (Sorry Ashley!) This little meme is all about my honey and I, so I thought I'd use it for Maria's monthly marriage challenge-A Year Of Romance, to continue our love story. Enjoy!

How long did you date? SIX YEARS! If you count both the time we dated and were engaged. We started dating in September of 1995. We met on the very first day of classes our freshman year in college, (8/22/95.) It was a Tuesday morning and we had English 101 together, with Dr. McQuaig. He was sitting right there, as I walked into class. And we exchanged a moment between us that I don't think either one of us will ever forget. He was writing, and glanced up as I was coming in the door (you know to see who was coming...) but then he immediately looked up again and smiled and we locked eyes. WoW! I don't know if you'd say love at first sight, but my heart fluttered and my stomach was doing summer-salts. I took a deep breath and went to sit in the front row, which was two rows in front of him. He still teases me because there was a seat open right next to him. Well, I had to play a little hard to get. (I mean any respectable southern lady knows that. hee-hee!) And anyway, my first thought was well aren't we a little forward. Well, actually my very first thought was Gorgeous! and yes a tad bit forward.

We spent the next 2 weeks stealing glimpses of each other from across the room. I was the one who officially made the next move. He wore a Centerfuge t-shirt one day to class and I struck up a conversation with him about it b/c I had gone to the same camp summer before last. He asked me if he could walk me back to my dorm, and he carried my books. Quite the gentleman I must say-( being from the south we'd say-his momma raised him right!) Little did I know that his next class was in the same building we were already in, just a couple doors down. When we reached my dorm, we said good bye and as I watched him walk away, I said, "I'm going to marry him someday."-Right out loud! Then I was like, "What am I saying. I don't even know him." Yes, I realize I was talking to myself. I was more than a little startled, to be perfectly honest. Now, I realize that some of you may be sitting there saying -Yeah, right. But honestly folks, it really happened that way. I remember telling Hugh's mom about this story when we were teasing each other about who knew it was "the real thing," first. And she told me she knew about a month after we started dating, when Hugh was home one weekend and said, "Mom, what would you say if I told you Tiffany and I were going to get married?" She told him, "I think that's great, just finish school and graduate first." - My heart melted! I'm so lucky!

Back to dating...Our first official date was a couple weeks later on (9/19/95.) Hugh actually asked me out 3 times before I said yes. Although I knew that I was really attracted to him, I was coming out of a long term relationship with my high school sweetheart, and I had sworn off men. The third time he asked I already had a prior engagement, but I could also tell by the look on his face that he wasn't going to ask again. Suddenly I wasn't ready to let him get away so fast. Soooo, I asked him if he'd like to go with me to my sorority's Fall Fling. And he said, Yes!

How old is he? Does age really matter? We're both in our 30's.

Who eats more? He does, but I've been known to have quite an appetite, as well. Food and I have a love/hate relationship. I am working on my habits in this area of my life. Because, I want to set a healthy example for my children, especially my daughter. It's hard enough for girls in today's world. I refuse to have her develop a complex because of me. I don't want her to grow up insecure and learn to obsess over every little flaw, real or imaginary, because she watched mommy criticize herself in front of a mirror or overheard her comparing with girlfriends about how much she didn't eat at lunch because of the ten pounds she's currently trying to lose. When she was born I claimed the verses of Psalm 139:13-14, especially for her. If I am to teach her to "praise the Lord, because she is fearfully and wonderfully made," then in good confidence, I must teach her to honor and respectfully care for the body/temple that God has given her.

Who said “I love you” first? Me.

Who is taller? He is, by almost a foot. But, I really like that about us. -He's my tall, dark, strong, handsome man.

Who sings better? Well, I'm officially the singer in our pair. Hugh doesn't consider himself a singer. But, I can get him to sing for me. I love his voice. I especially love when we sing really loud together in the car with the music blaring. We can be really silly together.

Who is smarter? I think he is. Don't get me wrong, I'm an intelligent young lady, knowledgeable in many areas, and I can hold my own in a good conversation, but I still think he's smarter, and I admire that about him.

Whose temper is worse? Hugh- definitely!

Who does the laundry? Mostly me, but he's been known to do a load or two.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I'm on the right, and he's to my left. We change it up, though. Every time we move, or just rearrange the room we have switched sides.

Who pays the bills? He does.

Who cooks dinner? I do. But he is a good cook, and great on the grill. One of our favorite things to do together is try out a new recipe, and cook together.

Who drives when you are together? He does, mostly.

Who is more stubborn? We both are, depending on what you're talking about. But overall, I'd have to say he is- sorry honey!

Who kissed who first? He kissed me, on our first date. On our fist date, we road around for 2 hours telling each other our life stories. My husband will be the first to tell you that we were spilling the beans on things we hadn't even told our best friends. But we both knew there was something real happening between us. something big! So, we laid it all out on the line....this is who I am, the good, the bad, and the ugly. If you can handle it, great. If not, then we don't need to take this any farther. We talked about how we had never felt that comfortable with anyone, before, ever. By the time we thought about getting something to eat, everything was closed except the KFC drive-thru. We took our KFC back to his room and ate our chicken off of an ironing board. Yup! Very romantic, I know. But it was memorable!
When I think about special kisses we've shared, I also think about the first time Hugh took me home with for the weekend. We kissed at the intersection of highway 8 and highway 49. It's the halfway point b/w Cleveland and Grenada. He kissed me, and now it's kinda our thing to share a kiss at that intersection. And then, on 10/10/95, we had a very surreal experience at Grenada Lake. We had just parked to get out and walk along the hiking trails at the lake. We leaned over to share a kiss before getting out of the car and all of the sudden, we hear a knock on the window. We look up and see this elderly lady smiling and waving at us. Hugh rolled down the window and she said, "Way to go! It's so good to see two young people in love. Kiss her again!" Then she told us how she had met her husband at that very spot. And even though he had been gone for a couple years, she still came there where they had met, every year on their anniversary. After she walked away, we were getting out of the car laughing and talking about how sweet, but embarrassing that just was when we noticed we were completely alone. She was gone. No where in sight. It's like she had vanished into thin air. And we never passed her as we walked along the trail. We've since decided that she may have been our very own angel. (Smiles!)

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Me. But he's very apologetic if he knows he has hurt me. We try very hard to keep our communication open. It takes work. Marriage takes a lot of effort to keep it fresh. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking otherwise. There is a lot of love, but there is also a lot of swallowing of pride, a lot of forgiveness, and a lot of humble pie to go along with it.

Whose parents do you see the most? His. My parents have already passed.

Who proposed? He did, of course. If you want the details. See this post.

Who is more sensitive? He is very tender hearted and compassionate, but I am more emotional.
Who has more friends? I do. Hugh has a handful of close friends. I've been blessed to have always been surrounded by more than my share of faithful friends. I've learned that the deep, meaningful, long lasting friendships take time and effort to cultivate, just like any other relationship. You have to nurture it.

Who has more siblings? He does.

Who wears the pants in the family? He does!- But we discuss everything and make decisions together. However, if there are instances where he says no, then I respect that and defer to his judgment. An example of this would be, when our church was taking up a special offering to buy flag poles to display the American flag and the Christian flag outside our church. They set aside one Sunday and one offering for this purpose. Hugh and I had discussed it, and agreed to give aside from our regular tithe, in honor of my father, who served our country. When the day came, we forgot the money at home, and didn't have any extra cash or checks with us. The pastor reminded everyone that this would be the only time they would be taking up money for this, please help them meet their goal. Our current home church here is very small and intimate. Well, I leaned over to ask Hugh if they didn't reach the goal would he stand up and pledge the money we allotted, and maybe that would help to reach the goal.- And he said, no. Well, I could feel the tears stinging my eyes, as I tried very hard not cry. I was crushed. He knew how much this meant to me, and why. Later, in the car on the way home, he took my hand and explained that he initially had the same thought cross his mind, but he didn't want to draw attention to himself in that way. He felt that would have been wrong. I really respect that, and deferring to his judgment I learned something. If I had pushed my own agenda and pouted to get my own way, I would have wrongly brought attention to ourselves and taken the focus off of God, because I was acting out of my own emotion and not God's leading- or gentle nudging in this case. The Lord used this situation to teach me to trust my husband's leadership and to submit to his final decision.

Well, now you know a little more about us and our very own love story! Blessings!