Our love story started long before I met Clay.
If you really think about it, most love stories start that
way. Every dark day, every lonely night, defines the way we appreciate the
moments of happiness. Trust me, I had a lot of dark days and enough Mr. Wrong's to know realize when I found Mr. Right. When I met Clay it was that moment people say you wait
for. The moment when you suddenly know that he is what you had been waiting for. I had heard about him before, his best friend was dating mine, but we had
never been face to face until our friends got married. I was the maid of honor,
he was the best man, and literally walking down the aisle together was the
beginning of us. I spent my evening shamelessly flirting and maybe even doing a
little bit of staring. He is seriously handsome. It was that night that led to
the start of a friendship and a first date.
Our first date consisted of going nowhere we had planned to
instead spend hours in parking lot playing twenty questions and learning about
one another. There are so many things I will never forget about that night, but
the most important of those is that I knew. I knew he was mine. He was the man
God had intended for my heart to love.
Three years later, Clay proposed. He did everything right.
He asked my Daddy for permission, he custom designed my ring, and he dropped to
one knee in the middle of twinkle light covered trees on New Year’s Eve. He
said that, “he wanted to spend forever with me and didn’t want to wait another
day for our forever to start.” Of
course, I said yes. Our wedding is set for 12-31-13 and this is bound to be the best day ever.
Is our relationship perfect? No. In fact, it never will be.
Clay is a firefighter and I am a teacher and with our careers come a lot of
sacrifices all of which are worth dealing with to be together. I am in love
with a man who makes me laugh uncontrollably, who loves me unconditionally, and
whose flaws never outweigh the parts of his character that make him a genuinely
good person. God knew even before I did, that when he put Clay in my life, he
would be there to stay. I wouldn’t trade this perfectly imperfect love of ours
for anything.
