How did he ask you out?
How was your first date?
How did you first kiss?
How did you meet "the fam?"
How did he/she say "I love you?"
How did he propose?
Give me alllll the love stories, and I'll be one happy girl this Valentines day. Because I love "How did you meet" stories, I thought I'd share Josh and I's. However, I'm way too much of a story teller to just keep it to the story of "how we met." So I decided, why the heck not share our whole love story. That's more fun anyway. Please, read as much as you want, as little as you want, or skip around to the "how did he/you" stories you find most interesting. I promise there's a good amount of pictures to enlighten those visual readers out there. But maybe grab a glass of wine + some chocolates and settle on in for the story of "R plus J."
How we met:
September 2010, I was a freshman studying Elementary Education at Martin Luther College. Josh was a Senior, studying to be a pastor. If you ask Josh, we "met" before the picture taken below. Apparently we exchanged a few words in the Library after his friend helped me edit my English paper. I literally have ZERO recollection of this. Our "official" meeting is a little bit more fun of a story anyways :)
I played volleyball at MLC, and Josh played football. A tradition was started that sports teams would go on "team group dates." For example: the volleyball team had "volleyball date night" the soccer team had "soccer date night." It was custom that the seniors on the team would pair up freshman with other seniors in their class. Josh told me later on that he specifically told the senior girls that he did not want to go on a date with a random freshman girl. Well, let's just say he caught a good long look at me one day on campus, and he changed his mind ;)
The fun part about this whole story...I was still dating my high school boyfriend at the time. I wasn't even thinking about Josh being "a possibility." Josh however thought, "Game on. How can I get this girl to be mine?!" (Okay, he probably didn't really think that way, and will probably shake his head when reading this, but I like to think that's what he thought...because he totally did)
How we started dating:
A couple days after the volleyball date I was sitting in Computer Apps with my girl, Linda (I was just in her wedding this past summer!) and a Facebook message popped up on my screen. I leaned over to Linda and said, "Oh my goodness, Josh, the guy I went on the volleyball date with totally just messaged me!" For some reason my Facebook message archives don't have the first "official message" but it sounds like we chatted for a bit, and then he sent me this:
"Wow, you're really making enemies fast up here! Just loggin out in the middle of a great f-book conversation. Ha ha jk, im sure you had a legitimate excuse for it, like the dorm was on fire or you have narcolepsy and you fell asleep in the middle of it. It was nice talking to you for the second and possibly last time (if you dont change your attitude) . Hope you have a nice night and ttyl
The best date ever,
Josh"
(Oh my goodness I'm dying right now...who uses the acronym "ttyl" anymore?! We've come a long way baby)
So basically it went like this:
He intrigued me. I was curious.
I broke up with my boyfriend.
Josh found out, and invited me to go for "a walk"
I think that's when you could say we were "dating" but not "official" yet.
Our First Kiss
I'm a lover, not a fighter. I wear my heart on my sleeve, and if I feel an emotion I will probably express it. I can also be a bit impatient. Our first kiss was no different. I was growing impatient. I wanted Josh to take action. We had been "hanging out" for a couple of weeks and I was completely falling for him. I swear I already knew he was "the one." I had it in my mind that I was just going to be the first one to kiss him, I didn't care that it wasn't the "right way" to do things. So one night we were studying in the library together in a separate room (don't worry...we did really study!). After a while I ended up leaving to go back to my dorm, and Josh decided to stay. I found my friend Linda (she was very much a part of the Josh + Rachel early days!) and my roommate. I remember venting to them about how I "just wanted to kiss him already!" And then the thought dawned on me...I'm going to go kiss him right NOW! Encouraged by my two giddy + excited friends, and overcome with with unusual boldness...I walked back to the room that we had been studying in together. He looked up from his computer, surprised to see me again, and I think I said something along the lines of, "I couldn't leave until I did this..." and I proceeded to kiss him. And he kissed me back.
(photo: Sawyer Creek Photography)
It was a pretty "classic" MLC date, but one I still remember loving every minute of. It was early fall, I think sometime in October. Josh took me about 20 miles outside of town to Minneopa Falls, a state park right outside of Mankato, MN. We took a little romantic hike to the waterfall + then had dinner in Mankato at Pub 500. It was simple, but super sweet. I remember feeling all kinds of giddy excitement. I knew this guy was something special.
It was November 4th, 2010, about a month and a half of "hanging out" had been going on. Josh and I were spending time with one another in his dorm room, probably watching some type of TV show + keeping a "shoe in the door" (Literally. Dorm rules!) His parents were coming into town for his last home football game that weekend, and being the casual + smooth guy that he was, he turned to me and asked, "So I was wondering if you would like to go to dinner with my parents and I tomorrow night?" Me: "Of oourse! I would love to!" Josh: "Good. Because I told them I was bringing my girlfriend."
How I said, "I love you"
Much like the first kiss, I was growing impatient. It was the end of April, over 6 months of being "official" had come and gone. Josh had been saying phrases like, "I love when you do this" and "I just love that about you." And I was all..."Sooooo do you actually love me?!"
If you know Josh, you'd know he is a very analytical person. He doesn't jump the gun or go off of emotion. He's the realist, I'm a dreamer. I've most certainly learned this over the years, but after 6 months, I didn't quite understand it yet. So, per usual, I just said it! We were in my dorm room, and I started rambling on about how I was feeling more than just liking him, and how impatient I was getting, and how I thought I knew how he felt but I wasn't sure. All the while, Josh was crawling out of his skin, knowing what I was getting at. I'm pretty sure he even told me, "Rachel, just don't say it, I know what you're going to say." He told me later he was a little upset that I was about to "beat him to the punch" once again! Despite his pleading I just blurted it out, "I love you, okay? I just love you, and you don't have to say it back, but I just have to say it. I love you. I've loved you since November!"
He then told me the same 3 words the next day.
About 2 years after we started dating, Josh proposed to me on September 22nd, 2012.
I can't lie, it definitely wasn't a surprise proposal. I knew it would happen some weekend that fall, and we had talked extensively about the timeline of our engagement + eventual wedding. What can I say...I'm a planner. I had a home volleyball game that Saturday at MLC, and that night Josh had a pretty fancy date planned. We were dressed to the nines. Josh in a suit, myself in a LBD number. Part of me new that it had to be the night, but I didn't want to overthink it and not actually enjoy the date. He really out did himself. We relished in a 5 course meal complete with wine pairings at the Nicollet Island Inn, in Minneapolis, MN. The restaurant was right on the river that cut through downtown. After dinner, Josh suggested taking "a walk." I should have been excited because I had a feeling "this was it." But I was anything but excited because it was FREEZING outside, and all I had brought was a fake leather bomber jacket. As we turned the corner to start our walk, there was a horse + carriage there. Josh had actually arranged for us to snuggle under a blanket and take a carriage ride over the stone arch bridge and through downtown Minneapolis. As we started our carriage ride I thought, okay this IS it...but how will he do it. As we were on the stone arch bridge, Josh suggested that we get out to take a picture with the lights of downtown in the background. As the carriage driver was taking the pictures, Josh got down on one knee and proposed.
About 15 months after our proposal, on January 4th 2014, we became man + wife. Boy am I glad you decided to go on that volleyball date with a "random freshman girl" over 5 years ago, baby. Cheers to many more years of our love story continuing to unfold. I love you Joshua Schultz.
