The "Tom and Cristy" Story
Tom and I have been through a lot together over the last few years. We had our 5-year wedding anniversary in June, and we both hit important birthdays this year (if you don't know, I'm not telling!). Marrying him was the best decision I've made in my life to date. Such a crazy series of events had to happen just right for us to even meet, and I'm forever grateful that God saw fit to make it possible. I'm so happy with Tom, and my life is so much better because he's been a part of it. I hope we grow old and goofy together. "Round and happy," we always say. It was quite a ride down memory lane to put this post together. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did creating it. Have a great day, Everyone! Enjoy!
*Edit: Tom and I wrote these stories while we were engaged. We had a website with info about the wedding for our families and thought it'd be neat for them to know how we got together. I was surprised that we still had them. Tom had to do some digging and formatting for me to be able to use them. And, I had so much fun reading them again and choosing pics to share here. Enjoy!
His Story
The first time I saw her was at work. She was replacing the previous (and rather plain) girl that had been the receptionist for the last several months. I knew right away that I would be creating reasons to pass that way as often as I could. Of course being the shy type that's all I did, walk through and smile. It wasn't long before the company found a permanent replacement for the position (Cristy had come in as a temp) and Cristy was gone. I was sad to see that she was gone but since I never even got up the courage to ask her her name I didn't give it much more thought. Then a few weeks later my friend and co-worker John Thompson told me she was back and working in the sales department and he had started making those inroads with her that only he can make. You see, John is a very talented photographer who has an unnatural gift for getting women to pose for him.
I had been going out to lunch with John and his wife Stacy for quite a while and one day we were going to go to El Fenix with some other people from work. John told me she was going to be there. My heart skipped a beat. Everyone got there before she did and I made sure that the only empty place at the table was across from me. I don't think she noticed me much that day but I took notice of her.
I took every opportunity I could to be around her after that. Of course most of the time I was just smiling and trying to sound cool. Then John asked me to help him do some computer work for her at her sisters' apartment. They had two computers and only one internet connection. I jumped at the chance to be around her outside of work. Up to this point I had been fighting off the desire to try to get to know her better. She was a bright beautiful woman and fifteen years younger than me. I imagined the best I could hope for was someone that I could dream about. While I was there working on their computers I noticed her books. They were mostly science fiction and fantasy…wait a second, that's what I read. And there were games on her computer. Real computer games, not just solitaire! Inside me there began to grow a kernel of hope. I began to think she may be a real person, not just some Dallasite whose whole purpose for going somewhere is to be seen there. Oh my, I was getting very interested indeed.
Of course asking a girl out is a bit of a challenge for me because you see I'm a little…well, shy. I kept asking John what she thought about me and he kept telling me she was at least a little interested. I tried and tried to get up the courage to ask her out. This drug on for weeks, bless her for her patience. Then one day while John and I were talking about her (We did that a lot) he said "Dude, if you ask her she'll say yes, trust me." So after another week or so I did. Thank goodness for email as I never could have done it face to face. I decided on something I was familiar with. The Amon Carter museum was having a photography exhibit and I wanted to make sure this was not just another dinner and a movie trip. I found out that she had never seen the Mustangs in Las Colinas so I wanted to make a stop by there on the way to Ft. Worth. This proved to be a fortuitous decision. She was blown away by the mustangs and I was blown away by her reactions. I think this was really when I really started to fall in love with her. I had enjoyed talking with her and hearing her laugh. I thought she was very intelligent and fun to be around. But I saw something in her that day that I don't think I can put into words. I just felt a connection. After the mustangs we had to drive all the way to Ft. Worth to get to the museum. It was a long ride but she was the easiest person to talk to I had ever been around. I felt right away like we had known each other for years. It was amazing. I was enchanted by her.
The rest is history. A little rough in places. We almost didn't stay together a couple of times but I think the decision had already been made for us. Sometimes a person is lucky enough to find the person that they were meant to be with. And if they are even luckier they recognize it and do something about making it permanent. I will never forget the way she danced and cried when I asked her.
We have a long life ahead of us. I have no idea where it will lead (even though she tries very hard to plan for every possibility). I am looking forward to every minute of it.
Her Story
I really first met Tom in the summer (I want to say June) of 2002, in the El Fenix restaurant at an IT department lunch, where I was a guest of John and Stacy Thompson. After that were several lunches with the four of us. I started to get to know Tom - a really nice, really decent guy - always a gentleman, great sense of humor and interesting to talk to.
During this time, I was having a tornado of a dating life, a really messed up month of letting go of old illusions and almost getting buried in a too-fast, psychologically-challenged relationship. After that craziness, I decided serious relationships were not for me. I decided to put my neck out there and do the "real" dating thing - no marriage talk in the first four weeks, no sex (*gasp*), just normal, social dating. So, I did. I went on one very nice, very innocent, perfectly fizz-free date. Okay, good! I can do this! Time for victim #2… Here's where poor Tom came in (lucky for both of us). My *intentions* were to go on a date with someone who I knew to be a nice guy and for it to be
just that - a simple date. *laugh* I asked John (our mutual friend and Tom's cube-neighbor) if he thought Tom would be interested. His answer was a laugh and an inquiry about blindness on my part (have I not noticed him drooling?).
Well, let me tell you that convincing a man who hasn't dated in a while that a woman wants you to ask her out is about the same as moving Mt. Everest. I thought he would never get around to it! John said he was nervous - hmmm. Well, I finally convinced him (through John - thank you, John) that I would say yes if he brought the idea up. He convinced me that the Las Colinas mustangs are a sight to see, so we decide to start there. And, he finally made it official - we're going on a date!
Tom was a gentleman the entire time. We drove all over (it was a full-day date), and his driving was smooth and comforting. I had only been in Dallas for a few months, so I really didn't know where we were going, but he made it interesting. He was very easy to talk to and had a great sense of humor. Our first stop clenched it for our future together - the mustangs. This piece of art is breathtaking and magnificent. These larger-than-life horse
sculptures look as if they are running through a jagged modern landscape, fluid in their motion, water rushing at their feet. Truly beautiful. That's where Tom took me first - the perfect date starter. The rest of our day was so easy for me. We talked about all kinds of things and did everything you can do on one date - museum, movie, ice cream, dinner. At the end of the date, we sat in his truck, and I sat there wondering how I was supposed to do this part. He calmly solved my dilemma by asking me to give him my hand. I had no idea what he was going to do - shake? He kissed it. I almost melted! What a romantic thing to do!
The next few months of our relationship were not so picturesque - I actually broke things off - TWICE - before I realized my destiny was with him. The second time, I think I knew the separation wouldn't last. I had too much fun around him. He made me laugh and gave me the most amazing feelings. Sometimes I would drive home and almost cry at the strength of my emotions. And, it didn't. We kept finding excuses to stay around each other after work, all the while pretending we weren't really "seeing" each other. Yeah, right!
On April 11, 2003, the day we were moving into our new apartment together, Tom surprised me… by proposing. He had flowers on the table and a little box that made my breath catch. I could tell he was nervous, but he was very romantic.
I love him very much and discover reasons every day that we are meant to be together. He is my perfect match - in ways that amaze me and ways that I don't even know about yet. I can't wait to devote myself to him and spend our lives together. I am very happy. :) Yay!
For those interested in pictures, here are:
- Our engagement pics that John Thompson (the friend that introduced us) took for us at the Mustangs (from our first date).
- Some more websites with pics of the Mustangs: here & here
- Here's a pic of the front of our wedding invitation, with a poem that Tom wrote
- John Thompson also took my bridal portraits, which I've shared here recently
- We had a TON of pictures of our wedding from folks that brought their cameras and disposables we put on tables - the crazy thing is, we decided NOT to have a photographer because we wanted more intimate pics, and we ended up with so much better depictions of the actual event than I think we *ever* would have seen from staged photos - this is a *very* narrowed-down list
- We went to Kauai, Hawaii, for our honeymoon - we took over 400 pics while we were there - this is also a *very* narrowed-down list, though when you see the number, you'll see that it was hard to pick just a few :)
Love,
Cristy