Our Sacrament of Matrimony

Jenna and I first met at a work event at The Pit BBQ restaurant in Lewiston in 2020. Although Jenna does not remember meeting me there. I do. I thought she was cute, but it was a quick hello goodbye situation. Two years later, I was working on a campaign and looking to hire field staff. Lo and behold, who did I interview? None other than the same cute girl that I met at the BBQ place. I had remembered her from before and she didn’t recognize me at all, thinking that I was a man in my mid forties, because I had quite the beard at the time. A month later, I trimmed said beard. The following several months we worked together, and I did not think much of it. I was managing a gubernatorial campaign and had over 30 staff. A couple of weeks before the campaign was over, the staff was kind enough to host a birthday party for me. Jenna came in a bit later than everyone else, because she had practice. She handed me a card smiled and said, “happy birthday” then scurried away. Later I opened the card and in it was a Starbucks gift card with the note, “Happy Birthday! Enjoy your liberal coffee.” This made me chuckle. The next day, I was at headquarters and I mentioned our admin that Jenna’s note in the card made me chuckle. She told me, “watch out, she has a crush on you.” I said, “what?” She continued to tell me that at my birthday party. The senior ladies were talking about how Jenna had a crush on me and that they thought we would make a great couple. I was stunned. I had no idea. Throughout the whole time we had worked together, she had always kind of done her own thing, granted there was a layer of staff management between us. I thought she was cute, but had not thought beyond that. I started to think, could something like this work? I thought about it a lot, but I was her boss. I had to keep things professional. Although, the campaign was only a couple more weeks and it doesn’t hurt to text her from time to time. The last few weeks of the campaign, I did just that. The campaign, ended and I had committed to a new job at a public affair firm. On my first day, I had a business trip to the New Hampshire State Capitol. (This is pertinent in Jenna’s side of the story.) I stayed in contact with Jenna. The more we talked, the more I thought this could really work. I wanted to give some before I would ask her out, because I was just her boss and did not want anyone to think that we were secretly doing something unprofessional while we had worked together. Six weeks after the campaign ended, the opportune time came to ask her out on a date. I felt enough time had passed, so I popped the question so to say. And the rest was history!

The first distinctive memory I have of Aaron was when he was onboarding the staff at the Maine Republican Party Headquarters. I thought he was a lot older than he was. He was only 28 at the time, but, with the beard, I thought he was between the ages of 40-45. I first took notice after he shaved his beard later that spring, and I saw him in the office the next day. I thought to myself that he is kind of cute, and could possibly be younger than the age I thought he was. I also always thought he had such beautiful eyes. I always admired how despite how demanding his job was, he treated everyone with the dignity and respect that all humans deserve. I would watch him engage with everyone he encountered from former Govenor LePage all the way to the cute elderly couples volunteering to pass out literature and help with signs. To Aaron, it didn't matter who you were, as long as you were on board to making Maine a better place for everyone to live in. I knew the man I would marry would more than likely not be at Bates College, where I was attending at that time. I was starting to become aware of what I was looking for in a husband. I knew that having a spouce with the same shared values is a necessity to a healthy marriage. Aaron is the kind of man who "loves thy neighbor" and lives that command by the Lord naturally. He always makes an effort to support his friend's weather if it is their businesses, their big life events, or their milestones every chance he can. Months of viewing him do these acts of charity to others made me realize that this was the kind of person I would want to be with. I had a few reservations though, as I thought he would assume I was too young and maybe too immature for him because of my age (after all, I was only 21 at the time, just a baby!) I finaly told my friend at work that I liked Aaron. When she asked what I liked about him, I thought of everything that I saw. Only one answer seemed to encompass everything. His soul. His selfless soul is what attracted me to him. When I reflect back now, it was Aaron's soul that I first fell in love with before anything else. The rest naturally filled in with time. After the campaign ended, I was bumbed that I wasn't going to see him on a daily basis anymore. I figured we would still keep in touch from time to time, but I didn't have any expectations. I just wanted to graduate so that I could go out into the world and find a guy like Aaron. I knew that he had gotten a new job at a public affirms place. I didn't know where it was located so, when I saw his Instagram Story post of the New Hampshire State House my heart sank. Yes, some tears were shed in my college dorm room, lol. A week or so later, I found out that he was just going there for a busuness trip. Phew!!! There was still hope. Aaron and I continued to message back and forth after that. It was close to six weeks later and I was getting impatient (patience is a virtue that I pray to grow in - something Aaron posesses quite well, like my father). One night I almost threw my hands up thinking he was never going to ask me out. A few days later he did and the rest was history! I kid you not, Aaron has probably knocked on most doors in the state of Maine. As annoying as it sometimes is driving through a neighborhood and him pointing out all the doors he has knocked on there in the past, (it's usually all of them), he remembers something unique about most of them. We'll be driving to the store, or to a place to eat or something and he will point to a house that we drive by and tell me what the people who are living there main concern was. Some peoples stories really stick with him even if it was years ago that he chatted with them. We are all on a pilgrimage to heaven with our crosses to bear. Aaron's outlook on life is helping others carry their cross. I am blessed to be on this pilgrimage with him by my side. Aaron is my Simon of Cyrene and I pray that I am that for him as well.