Story of Us

As mentioned before, I had intended to do a wedding day tribute post for our 3rd anniversary in June. But as usual, my thoughts outlived my time, and my ideas were pushed to the wayside. So now, over a few posts, I give you our story.

Where did you and your husband meet?

Apparently this question is up for some debate... when I'm asked, I reply with the time when I actually met Jeff. I used to go play basketball with a group of guys a couple of nights a week, and Jeff just so happened to be one of the regulars. That's where we met.

Jeff on the other hand says we met at a basketball tournament that he and some of my friends were playing in. I went to the tournament, and afterwards our mutual friends called him over to hang out. Jeff thinks that since this is when we first hung out and were kind of "setup," this is how we met. Whatever.

All I know is our first time hanging out was a little awkward. We watched a movie at our mutual friends house. Jeff and I sat on the floor in close proximity, slightly awkward with one another, and the entire movie my friend sitting above me kept kicking me so that my body would throw itself towards Jeff. I looked like I was having a seizure the entire night. Thanks Sean.

I also remember being instantly attracted to Jeff that night. It was the first time I'd seen him in non-basketball clothes, and let's just say the boy had some style. The image of him when he came through the door is still engraved in my mind. I can tell you everything he was wearing down to the smallest detail. HOT. I am still so in love with that image of him.

Anyway... Jeff and I didn't talk too much that night, and didn't actually see each other until basketball a week or two later. After getting home at 11 p.m. after basketball one night, I got this random phone call on my cell phone. I didn't recognize the number, so I let it go to voicemail. It was Jeff. Apparently he got my number from Sean after basketball. His voicemail made me laugh. It started out [obviously a little nervous], "Hey...this is Jeff Hoffmann. From basketball. You know....the guy with the sweet 2003 Toyota Corolla...." We had the same car, so I guess he thought that was a good talking point. The voicemail ended with, "so, you should give me a call. Anytime. Tonight would be fine. Don't worry about the time." Desperate much? Can I just tell you that I was in love with his voice from the start? Yes his voice. His raspy, smooth voice. In LOVE.

My stomach was in knots. There was no denying I thought Jeff was attractive and friendly. I'd been watching him at basketball for months, but just never thought anything further since I had gotten the impression he had a girlfriend, or was possibly even married. I am such a wuss when it comes to boys and phone conversations. I didn't dare to call him back that night. I knew I'd see him at basketball the next night, so I figured I'd just talk to him then.

The next night at basketball, Jeff and I didn't even talk. It was so weird. The phone call never came up, and I began to think I was in the twilight zone. Had I imagined it all? The night came and went, and I found myself going home, so confused. Of course I still had the voicemail saved, so I listened to it, and got the courage to call him. I sat in my car in the driveway and called. And we talked. And talked. And talked. The next thing I knew, it was 5 a.m., and I was still in my car, wishing Jeff a good night since we both had to be to work at 8.

And so began our courtship. Jeff and I were either on the phone, or sitting together in my driveway nearly every night until 4 or 5 a.m. We just could not get enough of each other. I don't know how we did it. There was a span of a couple of months where I don't think either of us got more than a couple of hours of sleep each night. I found Jeff and his history so fascinating. He was just so different from any guy I had met. Mature. Sincere. Spiritual. Determined. In fact, after our first phone conversation, I called my best friend the next morning. She asked how everything went, and whether I was "into" him. I remember telling her that I already knew that Jeff was the guy I was going to marry. And I meant it. I just knew we would be married. Creepy? Maybe. Obsessed? No. Overwhelmed with how taken I was with this one person? Definitely.

I look back on our courtship, and I miss those days. The newness. The craziness. The making out. Wait. Did I just say that? Our dating experience was the best. From the first phone conversation we were inseparable. And it was great.

We dated for over two years before we were actually married. However, we were going to get married after one year. As we started looking into it all, there were some roadblocks in our way. We had some close friends getting married the same summer, so we didn't want to step on anyone's toes or have our wedding to turn into a competition or anything. We decided to postpone until the following summer, and I'm glad we did. It just allowed our fun courtship to continue.

It also allowed us a year to prepare. Before we were married we combined finances, built a house together, and just began living as if were were married [only in separate households].

When people asked us if the first year of marriage was as hard as people say it is, we kind of laugh. Our first year of marriage was really no big deal because we'd kind of dealt with all the "first year of marriage things" in the year prior to being married. Believe me. If an relationship can survive building a home together [don't even get me started about the argument during the building process when Jeff just up and decided we needed to move our deck to the side of the house. It. Was. Not. Fun.], it can definitely survive the first year of marriage.

Buying your first home is a scary process. Building your first home is stressful. Doing both all with someone who could technically walk away from you and the process at any moment is a lot to handle. But I'd highly recommend it. We not only built a house from the ground up, we built a foundation for our marriage.