Happily Ever After!

So thankful that everyone reading this will be able to join us in the next amazing adventure God has planned for us beginning June 2020. I hope our perfectly imperfect story will, above all else, remind us all of how Christ unconditionally loves His church and how we are called to love Him with all we have in return! So ya'll have to mark your calendars for June 27th, when we'll be celebrating a love so much more perfect and complete than just 2 people could possibly share on their own! Until then, please keep Brennan and I in your prayers as God continues to grow and strengthen us individually and together in our relationship as He prepares us for the wonderful gift of marriage! Ephesians 4:2-3: “With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

. . . I was listening to one of the best playlists I had ever heard on a sunny Saturday afternoon in mid April of 2017. With finals just around the corner, I was laying out at the Oasis catching some early summer sun rays and studying for my anatomy finals. Completely distracted by the beautiful day, the water, and that great playlist, I decided to give up on the studying and lounge in the pool. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a few glances my direction and laughter from the other side of the pool but shrugged it off after I made sure my bathing suite wasn't on inside out or anything foolish. Later, I would find out that it was all of Brennan's friends teasing him to walk over and make a move. He did, and so began the story of us! Now, what comes next might surprise you.. Picture this: Brennan comes walking over barefoot and shirtless, hair in every direction, wearing a pair of blue Costas and bird-dogs. Yes folks, somethings never change. "Hey, do you guys live here?" Now, don't judge me by my response, you have to understand that I did not live up there and I was shamelessly breaking the rules to go lay out by the pool. So when this golden tanned guy comes walking over and asks if I live there I said what any normal girl would in that situation so I didn't get kicked out of the pool.. "What's it matter to you?" After this, my memory gets a little fuzzy with embarrassment over my sassy response. As I watched him fumble in shock at my response, I realized he was not trying to kick me out, he was trying to pick me up! Eventually, I explained myself and it kindve broke the ice with a little laughter. We talked for probably 30 minutes then about our families, majors, sports, ya know.. whatever came up. Needless to say, we hit it off from the get-go.

That is, until he kept looking down at his phone when we were talking. I was so confused, this guy is definitely keeping this conversation going but he's clearly texting somebody when I'm talking! Not wanting to push my luck with showing too much of my sassy side, I let it slide until halfway through our conversation when I realized every time he looked back up the song would change on the loud speakers. He was the one playing that amazing playlist all afternoon! As they say, the rest is history. He continuously kept winning me over with his kind gestures, purely honest personality, and unmistakably genuine heart. Oh, and of course hints of Eugene's classic humor... He actually made me laugh so hard I cried on our first date! A highlight from those first first two weeks of dating was our first date when he picked me up for brunch at the very bottom of the descending stairwell at the JFL. In my mind, that memory still replays in slow motion. Brennan leaning back on his S-10 watching me walk down the stairwell, grabbing my backpack and opening the door for me, trying to convince me that he invented the idea of putting velcro on the back of his phone to hold it to his dashboard. Which was absurd because I was convinced my dad invented that technique. Then dropping me off an hour late to practice because we ended up getting lost in conversation for 3 hours at Millies Cafe! Pretty soon we were helping each other study for finals, bonding over mini wheats, showing up late to practices, and so the story goes. 2 hours, and I was texting my mom telling her I met a very special man. 2 days, and I found myself thinking about him more hours than not. 2 weeks and I was learning what real love felt like. 2 years, and here I am engaged to be married to that same genuine, kind hearted, God fearing man that I had been praying for!

“Yo Brennan, I’m going to start talking about how you just put 33s on your s10! That way when she overhears me she’ll know you drive a lifted truck…” One of my friends blurt out conveniently after I tell the group that I think the blonde hair beauty a couple chairs over is absolutely stunning. It was a blissful sunny April day at the Oasis pool, finals were right around the corner, textbooks were nowhere to be found, what could be better? The only thing capturing our focus was the glimpse of what the next three months will feel like as the heat index was at an all year high. At least, maybe that’s what was capturing everyone else’s focus; However, my attention was more directed toward the young lady in the tastefully-conservative blue bikini appearing to not be in any sort of committed relationship. Hoping my inconspicuous glances weren’t completely obvious I confronted the group a second time about my evident attraction to the blonde hair beauty. “Brennan! If you don’t go and talk to her, I’m going to bring her over here for you!!” Another friend yelled at an extremely high decibel considering our circumstances. At this point, I knew the time had come… I had to walk up to this girl and introduce myself and pray to God that I don’t completely ruin my chances by doing something dumb, like be myself. “Hey, do you live here” I ask gently, “Why?? Is there a problem? Do I need to leave??” Now don’t take this the wrong way, the poor girl was confused, see… Well… it’s a long story, to keep it short she thought I worked at the pool and figured I was kicking her out for being there without a wrist band. But being the fourth quarter player I am, I brought the ball back into play… “No! no! not at all, I just wanted to introduce myself… I happen to think you’re really pretty!” “(Feverishly blushing) … Oh, Ok!) We begin exchanging a little bit about each other, a little about the fam, a little about where we came from. . .

I was alllll ears, eyes too! Don’t let her tell you I had my sunglasses on, I had those things down around my neck! Now my favorite part of the entire afternoon was right before she had to leave, (trust me, it’s a good thing!) Because this is the time when she asked for MY number, yes… You heard that right folks, the pretty girl in the blue bikini, the one I was eyeing all day asked for my number! We exchange contact information and off she went! Fast forward 3 years later and that girl in the blue bikini is becoming my wife! I look back at our journey and I can’t help but thank God for guiding our paths to meet, and allowing us to grow as individuals, and to learn what it means to put God first. I am truly blessed, and thankful to call the pretty girl in the blue bikini my future wife, my best friend, Gabriella Delbo.