How We Met, according to HIM!

With Valentine's Day approaching,  I was going to do a post on our love story.  I quickly realized that there were lots of details that I wanted to include and that would make for a super long post so I thought I would split it up into the different parts, starting with how we met! 


Now, I could bore you to death and tell you that I barely remembered any details from that night that was just a few years ago  (even just a week after it happened I didn't remember... I didn't think anything special happened that night ha) or... I could let Karl tell the super fun story according to him! Lets go with K's side of the story-- its way juicer ;) 

On December 24, 2008, I was house-sitting for a friend from scouts.  Traditionally, Christmas Eve at the P* house (K's family) is a come-and-go as you please event.  Mom fixes enough food to feed and army and guests drop-in whenever they can and depart whenever they need.  Given this annual routine, I found it odd that my mom was calling for my brother and I to come home.  Odd as it seemed, I did as she asked and headed to the house.  Little did I know at the time, but that night would change my life.  When my younger brother "Fat" (that's what he prefers to be called, don't ask) arrived home, we walked in the backdoor and saw through the window into the kitchen.  This is when I first laid eyes the most beautiful girl I've ever seen!  I turned to Fat and asked, "Dude, who is THAT???"  His response was, "heck if I know, I just got here when you did."  I knew Sonja (Allie's stepmom) and Charlie (her brother) from scouts, but had no clue who the mysterious bombshell was they brought with them.  

So we walked into the kitchen, Sonja got up and gave us hugs and Charlie did the usual high-five/hug combo, then Sonja said "this is Charlie's sister Allison."  I was completely awestruck.  For the next fifteen minutes, I just stood in the corner listening to her talk to my parents and play with my niece.  This was probably the first time in my life that I have ever found myself at a loss for words.  Then, about as quickly as I met her, she left.  Sonja said they had to be heading to church, so I think I may have said "it was nice to meet you," but that's about all I could get out.  

As soon as they got out of the door, I turned to my dad and asked "OK, level with me, where did that girl come from?"  He replied, "well when a man and a woman love each other..."  I knew where people "came from", so I cut him off in the middle of his sarcastic answer and said, "seriously, since when did Charlie have a sister?"  "All his life I suppose," Dad responded.  At that point I knew he wasn't going to stop joking with me, so I said to him, "you may laugh now, but I think I just met my wife!"  

Now came the tough part.  I knew who my wife was supposed to be, but no idea how to contact her.  So I asked Dad to talk to Sonja and get some info for me, meanwhile I looked her up on Facebook.  When Dad got word back from Sonja that Allison was "very available", I sent her a message asking how the rest of her stay in North Carolina was and how the trip back to Texas went.  When Sonja called Allison on New Year's Eve, she was staying with her family in a hotel in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Sonja said, "Some guy in North Carolina is in love with you!"  After going back in forth trying to explain who I was, Allison came up with nothing.  When she got home to Texas, she had a message waiting in her inbox.  She clicked on my profile and saw we had thirty-six friends in common, but didn't know where she would have met me.  They were all childhood friends of hers, she didn't hang out with any of them over her visit, and she didn't go out while she was in North Carolina, either.  So reluctantly Allison replied, "Hey it was great, it went by really fast so everything is kind of a blur.  I'm sorry but could you remind me how I met you?"  Talk about a serious blow.  How was I gonna make this girl my wife if she didn't even remember who I was?  So I sent a response saying she met me in my kitchen on Christmas eve.  That is when it clicked who I was and you can bet her face was a little red when she realized it.  This led to back and forth messages that blossomed into online chats.

In February Allison had found really cheap airfare to Charlotte and being the "good friend" that I was, I offered to pick her up from the airport to surprise Sonja and Charlie.  After spending a hour in the car with her on the way back to Monroe, I knew for a fact that I had found my soulmate.  We spent the entire week together.  Dinner and a movie on Thursday, climbing on Friday, she even went camping with us Saturday and Sunday.  I was distressed when she had to leave me Tuesday morning.  While I was at work that afternoon, she sent me a text from what I thought was her layover in DC.  When I arrived at scouts that night, Sonja rolled up and guess who got out of the car...ALLISON!  She moved her flight one day so she could see Charlie get inducted as Senior Patrol Leader.  After scouts, Charlie proposed that he and I stay and clean up and Sonja and Allie go home, then I could take him home and we could all play games together.  (Even her little brother was trying to set this marriage up)  I was so completely head over heels for this girl, that by the time her plane landed in Dallas, I had already purchased a ticket to come out and visit her.  From that moment on, I was completely hers!

K and I -hiking to the top of a mountain when I was back in town, he let me borrow his hat and glasses... flirting?
 (this was one of the only pics we have of the two of us because we were still "just friends" ... or at least that is what I thought ha!)

And that is only the start of Our Love Story!! :)