I was a sophomore in high school when I first met Brandon. He was in my 4th hour English class and I remember asking him what he thought of the girls at our school –  because I thought he was cute and he was new I was hoping for a good response, but- he replied, “the girls here are cute but not like the ones from my last school.” And then I felt silly of course. I continued on thinking he was cute but went about my business.

A few weeks later we were out of school for a “hurricane” (which ended up being just a ton of rain and no wind) and guess who shows up on a dirt bike wanting to ride through the flooded roads? Brandon of course! Just as I started to say no thanks my mom basically kicked me out the door and told me to go with him! And this is when I became smitten!

I had interest in Brandon moving forward, watched him play baseball and football and I sure did love the way his baseball pants fit! By time senior year rolled around, I was pretty certain I liked him a bit! So what does a high school girl do when she likes a boy? Ask a friend to tell him of course! It was homecoming time so he got the news that I was in to him and he asked me to homecoming… and to be his girlfriend all at once? This was strange though, I answered yes to both but definitely didn’t want to be his girlfriend yet!! So later that day I broke the news to him! Only after he heard in the football locker room that I was going to do that! Clearly after this I wasn’t his favorite person!

We had a great time at homecoming, even though he could barely walk due to an ACL injury that was pending surgery!

In January of 2005 I went to his hunting camp and under the stars, sitting by a fire he mustered the guts to ask the same girl that denied him before, if she would be his girlfriend! After two more “no’s” for silly reasons, I finally said “yes!” And the next day he killed the biggest deer of his life thus far and he knew from that moment I must be it! Hahahahaha! But seriously! This was the beginning to a life that in many ways I fully expected with some very surprising turns I couldn’t have ever envisioned, but God would remain on my side through it all and I would learn that it was my life just as He had planned it, I just had to wait for each piece to unravel.