In honor of this special day, I will treat you to the story of how Luke and I came to be a couple. Ahem...let me begin.
I barely knew who Luke was until Homecoming our freshman year of high school. Luke was a "new kid" at Wes-Del that year. Wes-Del is so small, so it is very noticeable when someone new comes. However, Luke was very shy and soft-spoken. He didn't really make his presence known. I knew about him because of his older brothers and also because I had watched some of my guy friends play in a basketball league at the Muncie Boys and Girls Club once, and Luke was on their team. I remember my dad saying that he would be in my class as a freshman, but I think I was in 7th grade at the time and that really meant nothing to me.
Anyway, he was nominated for Homecoming Court freshman year, and I thought, "Who is that?" He obviously was popular enough to win the nomination, so why hadn't I seen/heard of him before now? At the time, a crew of freshman girls in my class were jockeying for position with Luke. He ran cross country, and we kept trying to get our extremely athletic friend, Heather, to date him.
It wasn't until winter that year when I really noticed Luke. He joined our GT class (gifted and talented...save the comments please) at that time, and we were a pretty tight-knit group. We obviously had to get to know each other. He was really quiet, and really, well...high on himself, I thought. He liked to talk about his grades and other things. That wasn't very cool with me. I didn't have much interest in him at that point.
Then basketball season started and he was one of two freshmen to play varsity, and me being a cheerleader, I started to pay attention. He was talented and I was drawn to that. However, I still probably out-weighed him and his ego was a little big. We began to chit-chat online (AOL Instant Messenger) and started a friendship. By that spring, Luke delivered a hand-written letter to me asking me "out." Basically, he wanted to be my boyfriend, and I allowed that, even though I barely knew him.
We spoke only at school. I was too embarrassed to tell my parents that I had a boyfriend. We didn't know each other very well, and he was too shy to hold my hand. This relationship was heading nowhere, so I broke up with him...by email...on our one month anniversary...which happened to be his birthday, too. I didn't know that, however, because that is how much we didn't know about each other.
I felt bad, but I had to see what else was out there. And it wasn't much, people. That fall, as sophomores, we started the year as friends. Luke settled in more at WD and was friendlier, easier to talk to, and he had more to comment on than just his 99% in English. We talked a lot online, and I genuinely started to like him. By that winter, we were really close to making it "official"...as official as sophomores can make it!
New Year's Eve 2000...we were at a party for a friend's birthday. We were inseparable. He presented me with a gold heart bracelet that he had shopped for with my then-best friend, Holly. That night, we decided to be boyfriend and girlfriend again!
EIGHT AND A HALF YEARS LATER... and we have been married two years! We experienced all of high school's ups and downs together. We endured four years at two separate colleges. We have gutted through two years of medical school. We dreamed our dreams together and made them come true together. He knows me better than anyone, and I thank God for him each day. I never want to live a day on this earth without him!
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