We are getting married!

August 2018. A new school year is starting. As teachers, we attend in-service days to prepare for students, and as we are sitting through the training in the school's cafeteria, my computer dies. I find a plug, but they are both taken. Just as I look up to figure out who has the plugs, Coach V is walking towards me to allow me to have a turn (coincidence?). That's the moment we are both smitten and head over heels. Well.. not quite. That moment wasn't uncomfortable enough. Fast forward to November. I am at Kroger shopping for dinner, and speaking out loud to myself as is commonplace at the grocery store I'm sure, and I nearly bump carts with Coach V (the way any RomCom starts off). In the most awkward encounter of my life, he calls me "Lauren." He has a very reasonable explanation for doing so. But because there is really nothing else to say to someone you don't know at the grocery store, nonetheless to someone who doesn't know your name, we part ways. I leave absolutely mortified by how embarrassing this situation was, but find great relief later when I have a Facebook message from him apologizing. We discover our mutual love for "The Office", laugh it off, and plan to have dinner together. We quickly realize how special this thing was and continue going to dinner, church, out painting, and subtle nods to each other in the hallway. His athletes sure needed a lot of my help that year. We dated in secret, mostly, for almost the whole school year. We unveiled our secret in May and turns out no one was surprised. I feel so blessed to have found such a truly good man and I can hardly wait to become Mrs. Verstuyft.

First time seeing this new teacher at Lakeview I was struck. So of course I came up with a plan to talk to her... 3 months later by chance in a grocery store. In the meantime I would use my athletes to talk to her as often as I could. I did a LOT of math tutorials and checking in with my football and basketball players that fall. Finally I got my chance walking through Kroger one Sunday afternoon. Before leaving my apartment my cousin mentioned that her sister “Lauren” was pregnant and it was a secret. As I approached Ashleigh between the aisles I knew I had my chance to talk to her. As I started to spit my game and say “Hey” I panicked and forgot her name. All I could think of is she shares the same name as my cousin. Unfortunately I could only think of the wrong cousin, Lauren. Turns out calling her the wrong name was the best thing to happen to me. As a typical millennial I reached out through Facebook to apologize and the romance sprung from there. Within a month I knew I wanted to marry this girl and began saving every dollar I could to buy her a ring. November 21, 2019 I finally got the chance I had been waiting for and luckily enough she said “YES”.