It was in the Summer of 2004 when Thomas and I first met. Let's see, that puts him at 24 and me at 21. The previous Spring was his first semester at Baylor and his first semester on the Crew team/ Baylor Rowing Club. I had been on the crew team since fall 2002. What's that you ask? You know those long skinny boats, mostly a Northern sport, but I guess it's moved south. (go Google "rowing") We were a group of college kids, of all shapes, sizes and strengths. 99% had never even seen one of those boats and now we were going to be rowing in one? crazy, but an adventure! If you like a good exhausting super sweaty work out, competition, and team work then you'd love rowing. During the summer if you stuck around small town Waco you were most likely attending Baylor summer school or maybe taking some courses at the community college. I can't imagine a student wanting to stick around Waco for the party scene. hah. laughable. And that's just what Thomas and I were doing that summer, school...not partying. But us crew folks can't get enough of the work outs and time on the water. So there was summer practice which had a more relaxed, casual feeling, But relaxed just meant you didn't have to sprint to the next location, you could just run. And you only have to run up Jacob's ladder 5 times in stead of 12. Oh and practices were in the mid-afternoon instead of 5am. I'm proud to say we were a tough group. We worked hard. Most people didn't make it through the first practice. And if you didn't throw up, you weren't pushing hard enough. And it is that reputation that drew Thomas (the Army dude, as I first called him) to the crew team. But sadly for this former Army Ranger we didn't live up to his expectations. Meh, we weren't looking to compete with the caliber of Rangers. So, back to the Summer of 2004. He was coaching by this time. After having his own men to lead in the Army it's hard to imagine him doing anything but leading. He was a few years older than most of us. Because he did his fours year in the army right out of high school. oh, but he's a baby face and fit right in =) My memories of crew practices include long runs in Cameron Park, stretching on the black top of the Ferrell Center, scrambling up rocky hill sides. There are really so many good memories associated with crew practices. He has told me before that what caught his attention about me that summer was that i kept up with the boys on the runs. Maybe because I was the only girl, haha. I don't think I was, but I thrive on competition and can remember not wanting some one else to pass me up on the trails. We hung out casually as friends that summer. I clearly remember after one practice he told me he wanted to take me to dinner, that he likes treating his friends to dinner, that this is a common thing for him. I totally believed him, so naive, and who would pass up a free meal?! He was an all around great guy, still is. Such a gentleman, mature, but goofy, and sensitive to other's needs. I found where I wrote in a journal from that summer that "he is a good guy friend to have" and that "I can imagine being friends with him forever". *smile* He made his intentions known to me but I was kinda hesitant. I had always been the one to crush on a guy, you know, put him on a pedestal and view from a distance. But this was different and I wasn't sure what to do! Another clear memory, we were parting ways for the night and had talked about possibly dating, again, with me still being resistant, again. And I thought " Wait! I don't want him to pass me by, I don't think I could handle it if I saw him dating another girl" Does that make sense? Oh well, it did for me at the time. A similar thought came when we later talked of marriage, I thought "No one will love him as much as I will,' that was a clue that he was the one. Well, by mid July we were officially dating. And it was a great fall semester. Somewhere along the way I thought it could last because I wasn't getting tired of him, haha! He could always make me laugh, I felt I could be myself around him. He insisted on opening doors for me, which I tried to convince him not to but that didn't work. He still opens car doors and all doors for me today. Unless he's putting baby in the car, in which case he can't get to my door before I do, haha. Love it. I love that little act of kindness, and I feel it is an outward sign of our relationship as well. okay, okay. I keep getting off track. Fast forward to February. I had a Thursday night Physics lab. He occasionally would pick me up after. So Thursday February 24th 2005 he picked me up after the lab. He was wearing his jeans and hiking boots, normal, and his grey Columbia zip up jacket, except it was zipped allll the way up, like all the way up under his chin. I just passed it off as Thomas being Thomas, he's a lil kooky sometimes. He told me his friend Will was setting up a dinner date in the boathouse for his girl friend and that Will had just called asking Thomas to stop by and help him. The boat house is just seconds away from the lab building. So we proceeded to the boat house. And there was Will's car in the parking lot. So we walked up to the boat house, inside the back door. And inside were white christmas lights strewn all about and candles on the floor and music, Frank, playing. I immediately told Thomas we should leave because we were going to interrupt their date! They weren't there but I figured were seconds away from coming in because Will's car was outside. Thomas un zipped his jacket to reveal a dress shirt and tie. Then lowered down to one knee. I. was. so . surprised. So caught off guard. He said tons of sweet things, which seems like we girls never remember, haha. And I said yes. Between the candles on the floor were recent pictures of us, and ones of little Christi and little Thomas. I guess we kissed and hugged and chatted, it's kinda a blur. We gathered up the candles and headed back to his apartment for a dinner with friends. We had a thanksgiving like dinner, yumo. I couldn't stop starring at my ring! I was so surprised and that was great. It might seem like an odd place to propose but to us the boathouse symbolized a lot in our relationship. We had talked about marriage before and he even made a ringless proposal earlier, so it wasn't completely off my radar. But I had no idea it would be so soon. I could keep reminiscing but this would be the longest post ever and you'd be caught all the way up to Sean's 6 month birthday!
I love Thomas immensely. He has taught me so much. He makes me laugh so so much. I can't say enough good things about him. I praise God for bringing us together when He did, and how He did!
I asked Thomas to write out his version of the story, so here it is:
The day I met my beautiful wife was on my first day of rowing practice at the Baylor Crew boathouse.
I still remember that day, how Christi looked and how I took notice of her. But it wasn’t until 6 months later that I started falling for her. It was summer time and I was coaching the crew team to keep them in shape for the upcoming season. I took the team on several “death runs” through Cameron Park and normally lost most of the people with me. The one that I could always rely on to keep up with me was Christi. We started dating during the summer of ’04. As we grew further in our relationship, I realized she was the one and I didn’t want her to get away, so I talked with our pastor, asked her father for her hand in marriage.
For a poor college student on a budget, I wanted to do the most I could for an engagement that had a lot of meaning behind it.
I decided to ask her to marry me in the same place that I met her, the Baylor Boat House. I prepared the scene early in the day (2/24) setting up Christmas lights hung over the hanging boat on both sides and across the middle (like a mini gazebo) at the end of the boats. I spread rose pedals all over the floor and made a path of candles to the area under the lights. I also printed pictures of us throughout our time of dating and placed them along the path.
Later that evening, I went to pick Christi up from her class. I told her I needed to stop by the boat house on the way back because I saw a friend’s car there and wanted to check up on him. Little did she know, he was there lighting the candles for me and preparing to start the Frank Sinatra I had setup (Christi loves the Frank). When we pulled up, I let her take the lead inside while I took off my jacket to expose my suit. As she walked in, I took her hand and walked her to the end of the path, got down on one knee and asked her to make me the happiest man alive.
She said Yes!
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