Thursday, February 26, 2015

Our Love Story


Most people dream of this lovey-dovey story that will make hearts swoon and tears flow. This, people, is not our story.

Once upon a time, Chris and I were both emotional college students. Both of us fresh off broken relationships, and the last thing either of us were looking for was a boyfriend or girlfriend.

Chris and my best guy friend, Cole.
It was January 2010 and our college had a ski trip that a bunch of us signed up for. Most of the students going were athletes, so we all were great friends already. I had my girls that I was rooming with and some of my best guy friends were going as well. It was bound to be the best ski trip ever.

Right off the bat Chris came on strong. I knew him as the guy being in the "crazy" relationship. I wanted nothing to do with him and was still confused with my own love life.

We hadn't been on the bus to Colorado for 10 minutes when the empty seat next to me soon got sniped up by him. We had an 18 hour trip ahead of us and I was less than thrilled that my once empty seat was now occupied by a boy I hardly knew.

Chris and his creeper-azzi taking pictures of me.
Throughout the ski trip Chris hit on me non-stop. He hung out with one of my best guy friends which forced me to be around him. He was constantly wanting to chit-chat and be all friendly and I was totally not into it. He gave me one of his walkie-talkies so that we could find each other on the mountain. He was not holding back and it was very obvious.

We arrived back to school and Chris invited me to church with him. I figure why not? Church is a great place to hangout with someone you have no interest in, so I might as well show him we are not compatible and move on with my life.

Over the next five months our relationship was something out of an awful movie. We were both the rebound for one another and both of our exes wouldn't get out of the picture. We were extremely immature and I finally broke it off once and for all. According to him, he was fine. According to his sister and his friends, he was heartbroken.

Me, on the other hand, never responded to his texts, calls, anything, and went about my life. For once in a really long time I was single and happy.

After a couple months of no contact (on my end), I was sitting in the first day of my summer finance class and who walks in? Chris Tucker. You've got to be kidding me. He was an engineering major and had no business in MY building, let alone a class that was required for MY major!

That first day he tried to talk to me, I completely blew him off. I remember him saying something about if I needed help studying, he could help me. I laughed in his face because I was not one who needed help studying. I was graduating college in three years and the last thing I needed was him to distract me from that.

Then came the second day of class when he stalked me in the parking lot and we ended up talking for a couple hours.

Fast forward to the third day of class and we went to lunch together. It was a very therapeutic lunch. We both talked about how crazy we were the months before. I assured him that after I graduated I was going to NYC. He assured me I was controlling and too uptight. I reminded him that he was trying to have his cake and eat it too and I was the first girl to not put up with that. He reminded me that I needed to let loose a little and learn to forgive.

That four hour lunch lead to a complete 180 in our relationship. All the insecurities we had in 'Round 1' of our relationship were no longer there. The exes had faded away and there were no intense emotions of jealousy and hatred. We were both in a better place and it was like dating a completely new person.

Me in the middle with my ex-best friends.
Once we started officially dating in July of 2010, things were tough. My very best friends (and roommates!) decided they did not like Chris or approved of our relationship, so they broke our lease and moved out. Them moving out obviously ended our relationship and I haven't spoke to them since. It was unfair to me because my awful relationship the first go-around was no different than any relationship any of them had seen or been in, but yet it was enough to make them up and leave me. Mind you, I was not a party girl, drinker, bad student, or anything like that. I was on track to graduate early with an accounting degree, a student athlete, and good friend. I was so blindsided. I had never done anything personal to them and they were truly my very best friends all throughout college.

I was left to pay for a three-bedroom duplex all by myself (thanks mom and dad!) until I found new roommates. I was left with no best friends except Chris and my friend Amanda. I remember crying in the bathroom. I was bawling and Chris was holding me. He told me that we could break up if that meant I would get my friends back. I told him that wasn't a good idea because if I lost him, then I would literally have no one!


As the months went on, things got better. Chris and I were stronger than ever. We spent a lot of time with his roommates and stayed active. We always ran into my old roommates and there was never an exchange of any conversation. If there was, Chris provoked it, only to be shot down by the cold shoulder.

Now I look back and think how it was all worth it. I still feel like I did nothing wrong in the situation. Everyone has a crazy moment in college, but mine is far less exciting than most. I had one failed relationship with the guy I went on to marry, lost all my friends, made new friends, and am now living my happily ever after.

In this case, love won out and I couldn't be more blessed to know that God knew all along that my happy ending was with Chris. I knew all that trouble was worth something!


What was your love story like? Crazy like mine??

13 comments:

  1. Y'all are the best. Those girls are a mess...such are some college friendships though. haha I love getting to see where The Tuckers came from. :) Have a great day friend.

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  2. Oh how I live a good crazy love story! You guys are adorable and obviously meant to be.

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  3. OH my gosh, your story is crazy and I love it. I can't believe your friends, that is just plain crazy! My husband and I met at a bar in Hollywood, so cliche. LOL. My mom used to tell me, don't tell people you met in a bar, lol!

    Have you told us how you got engaged? That should be next :)

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  4. My husband and I met at work - we were both rebounds for each other, too. The beginning of a relationship is always difficult to navigate and adding crazy exes to the picture doesn't make things easier, that's for sure!

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  5. I love that it all worked out! Sometimes crazy is the best!

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  6. It is crazy, but I love it! I actually lost one of my best friends shortly after Mic and I started dating. She didn't like that he had his own thoughts and opionions, and wasn't kissing the ground I walked on (I dated a guy for 4 years that turned out to be a jerk and she didn't want to see me get hurt again). I wasn't looking for that at all! We didn't speak for quite a few years, but then came social media and we reconnected. While I am so, so happy to have her back in my life, I am sad that she missed out on a lot of the good times of Mic and I dating, getting engaged, married, etc. But at the end of the day I know I made the best decision for me. He drives me crazy, but I sure do love that guy :)

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  7. I LOVE that you shared this story..and it's a great one...obstacles are always put in the way of the ones that are worth it in my opinion...That being said, I didn't want to have anything to do with Aaron and actually tried setting him up with my friend haha...then when that didn't work, him and I were strictly just friends for months before we realized we were each other's BEST friends...and it just grew from there. :)

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  8. That is so not cool that your friends just ditched you like that. Friends stay friends no matter what and they are supportive no matter what. I know it's been years past, but you're better off without them. :) I'm glad that you went on to have a happy and healthy relationship. :)

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  9. I'm so glad you posted this! I'm going through a confusing sort of relationship now with a guy who is amazingly good to me but is getting over an ex and isn't ready for more right now. A few of my friends think that if it isn't all sunshine, roses, easy as pie and head over heels in love at the beginning it isn't worth it, while I still feel like we have the potential to be awesome together if we give it time. Glad to know your story wasn't initially "perfect" but it worked out! Gives me hope.

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  10. What a great story! I love that you're completely real and saying "our relationship was a mess when it first started", because many are, but love won! Sorry about your friends, and sorry to sound so cliche, but they clearly weren't your friends to begin with!

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  11. Wow, what a good love story. I'm so glad you stuck with your gut and kept your spirit alive with your soon-to-be hubby during that time. I couldn't imagine having "friends" that didn't support me, no matter what the situation. It's not for anyone to judge, but always be there for your friends, no matter what. I guess it's just the way it was supposed to be, and as long you're happy and at peace, there's nothing more to ask for. Mine is completely not like a Hollywood movie style at all either. In fact, the first time we met and worked together, we HATED each other. Maybe hate is a strong word, but we definitely did not get along and thought the other was ridiculous. Boy leaves shortly after a few months after I had started working there, jump to one year later, he comes back. This time we desperately needed help and my manager had no choice, but make me train him on the supervisor items. I dreaded it and tried to be as much of a B as I could be, but Josh thought it was cute and funny. I realized something had changed in him since I had last seen him, and I had also changed and finally was getting the ex off my mind and heart. We ended up working together a lot, hung out when not working doing nothing but talking and getting to know each other on a personal and deep level. Level's that most folks in their 20's are too embarrassed to go talk about, but naturally found each other in that space. After a few months, I was his girlfriend. :) From then on, we haven't separated from each other and still celebrate that date for how long we've been together. It will be 9 years later this month. ;) You've inspired me to write about it, maybe I’ll do that closer to our anniversary date.

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