"Breno and I went to the same church and we had the same group of
friends because of our youth group. All of us always hung out together,
movies, camping, Friendly's... you name it. So we were always around
each other. Honestly though, at first we didn't look at each other as
being more than acqua
intances. Since the
group was so large and both he and I were more towards the shy side we
didn't talk much. Actually my little sister talked more to him than I
did, haha!
At some point I
did have a crush on him and I'd even try and dress a bit more "rocker"
looking since he liked rock music and skateboarding and all that. It
didn't go far though. (Side note: I later on found out he did sort of
have a thing for me around the same time. That's what happens with shy
people though, we don't act upon our feelings much!)
Months later
he and a friend of ours ended up going to the gym together early
mornings. He worked really early those days so getting up even earlier
to work out was tough but says he only went to see me. It was clear we
were interested in each other but super difficult because we both were
still to shy to just let loose and talk a lot! One of those mornings
though he waited for me outside of the gym to ask me out to dinner.
Being the girl that I am, I took my sweet time in the showers getting
ready for work and he ended up having to leave. So on my way to work he
called me instead and told me about how he wanted to ask me in person.
It was my first real date ever! So I got a new dress, my nails done
and everything. We went to Red Lobster for dinner and it was such an
awkward little date! In the end, though, we were both happy with it and
continued to date. The rest of our dating time we were mostly surrounded
by others though so it wasn't all quiet and awkward! Haha!
We
dated for a couple months and he had even spoken to my parents about
dating me and all like a gentleman. Then we broke up though... We
were apart for about a month or so and during that time we would talk
on the phone a few times. We actually talked about what went wrong with
the relationship, we talked about our assumptions and about what he held
back during our dating time. We talked about a lot of things. That's
when our relationship finally started to make sense. That's when there
was a true relationship forming, where true communication was going on
between us.
After that we
never really had a "back to dating" moment it just sort of flowed
together. We were seen around together and his aunts asked me at his
cousins birthday if we were dating and that's when we thought we might
as well make it official. He didn't want to be dating just to date so he
has asked me early on if marriage was something I could see in our
future. I freaked, because that's a pretty big thing and just asked for
more time to process that. Little by little, I was learning about him
and learning about what love really was and I became to be interested in
marrying him as well.
We weren't the couple to be together for many years and be
passionately head over heels for each other with a fairy tale story. We
were more the couple that understood God's way of love, the
understanding and compassionate kind of love, the kind that forgives and
embraces differences, the kind that was seeking marriage not because we
felt we knew each other so well and felt we could live together. No, we
wanted to get married because we wanted to learn more about each other.
We wanted to learn more about each other each day and love each other
each day and understood the kind of commitment that was. We knew God's
way of love was an every day choice and not just the fairy tale
"feeling" many confuse it with. We wanted the commitment to each other,
we knew enough of each other's values and of who we truly are on the
inside to say "I do" to each other.
After some hinting to him that I was ready for that it became a regular
topic of conversation so it was no surprise. I spoke to my parents
about it and we chose a ring. So the ring was no surprise, although I
didn't know when he was actually going to ask, so I'd paint my nails
differently every day to be sure my nails were ready for it! Haha!
Thanksgiving of 2013 he had gotten sick and didn't even dress up much
for Thanksgiving dinner so I thought it wouldn't be that day; I just
slapped some clear nail polish that day since I didn't expect it. He put
together a whole big thing with his cousin and my parents to take me to
white city park that night. I thought we were going to help a friend
out because I was with his cousin at the moment and she got a call to go
there. Walking to the spot I saw my sister run so that's when I got
suspicious and put some lipstick on! A candle lit aisle and him all
dressed in a vest, tie, dress shoes and all, one of our pastors playing
guitar, Breno singing "Stand By Me" and my parents and close family
friends all around... He asked and I said yes!
With money scarce
he moved to Delaware during the beginning of our engagement to save up
so I did most of the wedding stuff without him. But with the months of
being apart and him visiting and me visiting him up there our
relationship kept somehow growing stronger.
Marriage has been my favorite part of it all though. I can say that I
love him more and more each day than I did the day before. We aren't the
awkward two that sat in front of each other at Red Lobster for their
first date just smiling at each other because we didn't know what to
say. We are alike in so many ways and completely different in others.
There's so much to learn from each other. He encourages me with what I
do and I help him out with his things and together we're now working on
our future careers and it's amazing where we are now looking back at
where we were just a few years ago."
If you are interested in sharing your love story with us, please email me at Mandy@TimelessWeddingDesigns.com with the subject, "Love Is Timeless."
