Love Story {Part VII} You + Me = 3

Love Story {Part VI} Then Comes Marriage

You can bet that the next six months were spent very impatiently awaiting Martin's arrival to Denver. But finally, after two years, he made the journey to the big city that would now be his home. But this time instead of tears there were smiles that couldn't be stopped.

We felt complete again. This was the way it was supposed to be. We didn't have to plan days in advance of when we would get to see each other. I could eat dinner with him on a Tuesday night if I wanted to!  

Martin arrived in Denver just in time to help me put the finishing touches on our wedding plans.  Our wedding day would take place in a small Colorado town, overlooking the mountains with our closest family and friends. 

When I look back on our wedding, it makes me smile. It was a beautiful summer morning and as I got dressed I nervously waited for the moment when I would get to see my groom for the first time. 

When it was time, my dad walked me down the stone staircase reminding me to breathe. He held onto my shaking hand and as I finally looked up all I could see was Martin waiting for me.

 We made our vows to each other, exchanged rings, and sealed our love with a kiss all while the birds chirped happily around us. 

We had started our life together as husband and wife. After seven years we were finally married. It was, is, the best feeling in the world to know that you get to spend the rest of your life with your best friend. 

It's been two and half years since our wedding day and I am more in love with my husband than ever. I still sometimes can't believe that he chose me to be his wife.  We have been through so much these past two years that have made us stronger and more thankful that we have had each other to grow side by side with. 


 And now with the start of a brand new year we are about to begin our newest and greatest adventure together yet...

Love Story {Part I}

Love Story {Part 11} A Mild Lapse in Judgment

Love Story {Part III} Fate is in Charge

Love Story {Part IV} Survival Mode

Love Story {Part V} Promise

Love Story {Part V} Promise

Thanks for reading along with me as I've been documenting our Love Story.  I wanted to have a place where it was all together...from the beginning to today :)

* * *

I was a college graduate.  It was the summer of 2007 and I was headed for the real world--the real workforce. Joining hundreds of thousands of other young folks just like me. I was living on my own for the first time in my whole life. My own apartment, my own rules, my own little space in the big city of Denver. I finally felt like an adult, making my own decisions, supporting myself.

I began my summer with my continued job search and summer nanny job. In June, I got the call I'd been praying and hoping for since I had started college four years earlier.  I had been offered a fourth grade teaching position!  I called Martin immediately and told him my good news. He was so happy for me and in my state of bliss I didn't or rather couldn't dwell too much on the fact that my new job was in Aurora and Martin was still in Greeley. 

We both knew I had to take the job.  We talked about how the next year was going to look. We knew it would be at least another year of long distance, lots of driving, lots of phone conversations. But there was no hesitation that this was the right thing to do. So we decided that the minute Martin graduated he would join me in Denver.  

I spent that next year being what I had always wanted to be, a teacher. All those years of playing pretend classroom in the basement with my sister had payed off.  I didn't have to pretend anymore and I got payed for it. 

I loved it.

When summer came I was ecstatic to be able to spend my summer vacation with Martin. One particular summer day Martin planned out a day in the mountains for us.  We would drive to Rocky Mountain National Park, find a quiet picnic spot, and enjoy the beautiful summer weather.  I didn't think anything of our day trip because Martin planned things like this all the time for us to do. So we packed up our lunch, hopped in the car and made the drive up the winding mountain roads.  We pulled off to a picnic spot that nestled right up alongside the river...it was peaceful and the wind rustled the pine trees.  As Martin set up our lunch I wandered around taking pictures oblivious to the magical moment that was about to occur. 

A few minutes later Martin called me over and took my hands in his. He began telling me sweet things that I truly wish I could remember :) But I do remember him telling me how much he loved me and that he promised to spend the rest of his life with me. Then he asked me to marry him. This was the greatest promise of love. 

I don't think I had ever felt as happy as I did at that moment. We soaked in our good news, just the two of us, for a long time before we headed back on the road.

We had known for a very long time that we wanted to be by each others sides for the rest of our lives, but now the pieces were finally falling into place. Martin only had a semester left of school, I had a job I enjoyed, and soon he would be with me in Denver.

Love Story {Part I}

Love Story {Part 11} A Mild Lapse in Judgment

Love Story {Part III} Fate is in Charge

Love Story {Part IV} Survival Mode

Love Story {Part IV} Survival Mode

In the late fall of 2006, I opened my placement letter for student teaching. I had been placed in a city I had never wanted to go to and I was devastated. Those who know me well know that I am a homebody. Home is where I feel the safest. Looking back now though, I can see that maybe I needed to be pushed to expand my wings and try something new. I would never have left on my own accord.

I would be moving to our state's capitol, somewhere I had only been with my family for special occasions...when we visited the museum or the zoo. I had never in a million years pictured myself living amongst the hustle and bustle of big city life. I was scared to death and didn't know what these next six months were going to look like. 

But there was one bright light amongst all these gloomy thoughts.  My big sister, Elizabeth, was already living in Denver working towards her PhD, and without hesitation she had asked me to live with her. I was beyond relieved.

I remember saying goodbye to Martin. We stood outside his rundown apartment across from campus and he held me in his arms for what didn't seem like long enough.  The cold wind whipped around us and I thought it was fitting that everything around us was dead and covered in dirty snow. Through my tears he told me it wouldn't be so bad. He would come visit me as often as he could and I would do the same. I nodded and gave an unconvincing smile. I got in my overpacked car and couldn't look back as I drove away. 

As I made my first drive to Denver...to my new home...I cried even more tears. It was almost a two our drive to see the love of my life and I knew we would both be very busy with school.

I slowly began to unpack my new life. I started my placement at a school in Aurora, a suburb of Denver.  The school was rough and I had been assigned to a 5th grade class of kids who were much taller than me, where the boys were already growing mustaches, and where I was told by the students that they didn't like me. I worked hard, proving myself to those around me that I could do this. I began to fit into a community where I was the minority and I began to earn the respect of my new class. 

When my school days were over I longed for the moment when I could see Martin. We made the two hour journey more times than we could count, through blizzards and rush hour traffic. Our two weekend days together would fly by too quickly. It wasn't enough time to catch up on what we were missing. Some weekends we couldn't see each other at all.  Some weekends we spent arguing about things that didn't matter. But we continued to talk daily and continued to make the best of what we had.

When Spring came I felt like I had literally survived a battle and I was waking up with the sun. Somehow I made it through my placement with only a few emotional scars and much thicker skin. I was more ready than ever to take on my own classroom.  I was excited about my future. I applied to hundreds of jobs...mostly back home where I desperately wanted to return to. 

Martin still had a year and half of school left after switching majors and my number one goal was to move closer to where he was.

Love Story {Part I}

Love Story {Part 11} A Mild Lapse in Judgment

Love Story {Part III} Fate is in Charge

Love Story {Part III} Fate is in Charge

Do you believe in fate?

I do. I absolutely do...looking back at all the events in my life that have brought me to where I am today, there's not even a question about it. 

When I started my freshman year at the University of Northern Colorado I was ready to be bold, brave, and meet new friends. But before I did any of that I went and found my best friend in the dorm next door. 

I walked up the creaky wooden staircase and down the narrow hallway and knocked softly on the door that had "Wolfe" written on it in R.A. handwriting.  Martin opened the door and his face lit up. My face lit up. I was so happy to see him.

We were inseparable.  It was like nothing had come between us. He didn't act like I had broken his heart a few months earlier, and for that I was so thankful. 

Our freshman year we did everything together. We ate every dinner together at 4:30 sharp.  Martin knew that being in a crowded dining hall made me anxious, so he made sure to meet me for dinner right when the doors opened...e v e r y day. We walked across campus and found quiet study corners in the library. We went for late night runs. We spent hours in the practice rooms.  I listened to him practice the violin, he listened to me play the piano.  On warm days we found trees with lots of shade and laid out our textbooks underneath. We talked instead of studied. We laughed until we couldn't breathe. We had connected again. We were falling in love again, but for some reason I couldn't recognize that.

I remember talking with my roommate during a late night get to know you session. We sat across from each other on our tiny beds. She asked me if Martin was my boyfriend. I immediately said, "No! We're just friends." She smiled at me and said, "Well you never know. Sometimes those are the ones we end up with." 

"Uh, huh, yeah..." I said. She wasn't the first to ask me the status of Martin and my relationship. Couldn't people tell we were just friends? "Just because you spend every moment with someone doesn't make them your boyfriend!" I thought defensively to myself.

Everybody could see it but me. It was so clear to those around us. My family and friends. Even to Martin. 

.  .  .  .  .

It was spring and we had been at school for almost a year. 

We were hanging out in Martin's dorm room listening to Van Morrison when he looked at me and told me he loved me. I remember exactly where we were sitting, the way his voice sounded. I remember looking at him for a long time, then I put my head down and quietly said with a smile, "I love you too."  He wrapped his arms around me and I sunk into his hug. It felt right...it felt perfect.  This was who I was supposed to be with. I didn't know why I hadn't admitted it earlier.

We spent the next three years growing in our relationship...surviving the stresses of college, surviving life altering moments, growing more and more in love each day.  I never wanted to leave his side.  But I knew that in a few short months I would have no choice but to leave as I finished my student teaching. I was positive I would be placed with my first choice.  That I would get to move home to Fort Collins...a short 30 minute drive from Martin. 

As I opened my placement envelope the words Aurora, CO seemed to jump from the page. I was in utter shock.  I hadn't even chosen this city as an option. Didn't the placement committee know I had a serious boyfriend!? Didn't they care that they were separating to people destined to be together?

They didn't. 

And I began to cry.

Love Story {Part I}

Love Story {Part 11} A Mild Lapse in Judgment

Love Story {Part II} A Mild Lapse in Judgement

Our senior year of high school was coming to an end. It was coming too fast and I wasn't ready for everything I had always known to be gone forever. At least that's how I felt being a dramatic teenager. My friends, my home, my family. Everything would soon be very different.  

Change is incredibly hard for me. I become an emotional roller coaster wishing that I could hold onto the way things were for just a moment longer. I pull away from those I care about...I become consumed with my own thoughts trying to accept the changes that are occurring around me.  As the weather grew warmer and our senioritis became stronger I began to pull away from my first love.  

I remember it was the last day of our senior year, a day that should have been filled with celebrations and excitement. But inside Martin's car we sat in silence. It was late and my family was already sleeping inside as we sat awkwardly in front of the mailbox. I kept my head down as I tearfully explained that "It was me! Not you!"  This had come out of the blue. I hadn't given him any warning. He put his head down and wouldn't look at me. I apologized over and over and knew it would be best if I left him alone. I couldn't handle our relationship when my life felt like it was spiraling out of control.  I wanted my last summer at home to naively be just like it had been when I was five...no cares in the world, not packing up my life to fit in a tiny dorm room, not getting ready to say goodbye to my twin sister. 

I shut the car door quietly and walked the walk of shame up the driveway not looking back. I had hurt my best friend...I had hurt myself.  

.  .  .  .  . 

When fall arrived I started at the University of Northern Colorado as a single college freshman. I was excited that a few of my good friends were attending the same school, but the person I was secretly the most excited to see was Martin. 

just call me Mary Tyler Moore...

Coming Soon: Love Story {Part III) Fate is in Charge

Love Story {Part I}

Love Story {Part I}

I know I have shared lots of bits and pieces of my love story to my husband, but I've felt inspired by other bloggers to document our journey together in a series of posts. If anything, for me to remember, and an excuse to find really embarrassing pictures of my husband from yesteryear. 

Our story starts like so many before us and so many stories that are still to come after ours. It started with curiosity...and bugs. 

My favorite class in high school was orchestra. It was my first two classes of the day. I loved the way the light came in through the windows in the morning and I loved sharing hours with my closest friends playing beautiful music.  Seriously, what could be better? It was my junior year of high school and I had the privelage of being in a small chamber orchestra...don't ask why or how...let's just say playing the violin wasn't exactly my forte.  But I blended in well and learned how to let the more experienced players play loudly over me.  More experienced players like Martin.  He was...is...a great musician. His violin had a little carved head at the scroll with red eyes. It was awesome. He had a Sponge Bob Square Pants sticker on his violin case. He was so cool. Everyone laughed at every joke he told. He was friends with everyone. He was creative...artistic.

I had to get to know him better.

One of my first memories of this mysterious renaissance boy was during a free period at school.  We were all hanging out in the commons talking about really important high school things.  Martin was intrigued by a moth fluttering against the closed window. He walked over, wacked it with his palm, picked it up, and stuck it in his mouth. I'm sure it was some sort of male courting ritual of some sort because I was so grossed out that I felt the need to hang out with him even more.  What crazy thing would he do next?? 

There had never been a point in my life until that time where I felt more spontaneous and care free. I ate my first bug that next summer (a mealworm in a sticky green sucker). I remember dancing on picnic tables under the stars, opening confetti cans in the car while we blasted the air conditioning...finding little bits of colorful paper months later stuck to our rear-ends by static.  


We taught each other new things...we filled the empty gaps we had in our lives. I remember feeling safe and more happy then I ever had in my life.  I would listen to the mixed CD he had made me over and over and over. Every song reminded me of him, every song made me want to be near him.  Even today when I hear Coldplay's song Yellow, I get butterflies in my stomach. When I hear Norah Jones sing, I'm taken back to the folk festival we went to. Sitting in the blazing heat, just to hear her sing Come Away With Me. It was magical to say the least.


 I was only 17, but I had met someone who loved me for exactly who I was. I could be exactly who I was when I was with him.  That was the greatest feeling in the world.

Coming Soon: Love Story {Part II)