tying the knot

Some may call us high school sweethearts, but that just isn't really the truth. Jake and I met during my senior year of high school, his junior year. I was sitting in Mr. Powell's economics class when "Jacob" walked in. Powell made him sit right next to me. Who knew that 9 years later, those students would be getting married. He was definitely an odd duck, wearing all black, with hair that almost covered his eyes completely, and he spoke only when asked a question. I remember we were studying something exceptionally hard in econ, and Mr. Powell asked Jake a question that, I almost guarantee, no one was able to answer. Jake got the answer right off the bat. I remember my jaw dropping in awe that he knew such a thing. Later, I found out that he took economics his freshman year. To this day, I am still blown away Every. Single. Day, by how much information his brain can hold. He is one of the smartest men I know, hands down. One humorous story occurred my senior year when I job shadowed at a local resort in our area for my senior project. Little did I know that his (at the time) father's girlfriend was a person I would be working with every day. I got quite the inside scoop on Jake, like his plan to ask me to prom. I was so looking forward to it because it would be the first (and last) prom I would have ever been asked to. The "supposed" day that he was to ask me was the same day a classmate came up to me and told me that "Jacob is taking me to prom!" Yup. I was sad. I found out later that she actually asked him to go to prom, and he just has a very hard time saying no... Not much has changed. I went to prom with my girlfriends, but I ended up hanging out with him all night long, on the lake, by the campfire. So, even though he technically went with another girl, he still hung out with me. We went out on one date that summer before I left for college, and then it was pretty quiet for the next two years. He had his senior year, and I spent all my time focused on my studies and what I wanted to do with my life. Then, one snowy day (Dec 22nd), I was going through some old papers in my filing box, and I came across a letter I wrote for Jake a few years prior, sharing my feelings for him, knowing that I never gave it to him. I must have been feeling extremely confident that night because I got my phone out and sent him a message right away. I asked him how he was doing and what was going on in his life. He replied back quickly and told me he was moving back to Idaho the next day from Arizona. Talk about God's timing. In January 2019, he asked me to grab lunch with him and some of his extended family. We went to Applebee's. I know- classic. But then he asked me on a real date, just us... We went to Texas Roadhouse, where I ended up drinking 11 waters because I was so dang nervous. Then, we took a drive up around Hayden Lake Drive. We had wonderful conversations about our favorite things - it was simply great. A couple weeks later, he invited me over for a movie day and BBQ up at his family's property. We watched American Graffiti and Faster (his favorite and my favorite). Then we celebrated a family member's birthday with a BBQ. The next time we had a date, he officially asked me to be his girlfriend, and well, the rest is history. People sometimes ask me, "How do you know he is the one?" My answer is this: Jake is the type of person who challenges me in ways I haven't been challenged before. He makes me think and learn and want to know more. He pushes me to be a better me every single day of our lives. I am at the point (six years later) where I couldn't imagine a future without him. I really couldn't. We spent six months apart while I was with my mom in the hospital in Wisconsin and Illinois. He supported me through it from 1500 miles away. Was it hard? Extremely. But it made it clear that he was the one for me. I thank God every single day for Jake. xoxo, Winona