Match Made In Heaven

This blog is an avenue for me to talk about whatever comes to mind.  Writing is meditating and therapeutic, and I greatly enjoy going back and reading previous posts, reliving how I had felt and absorbing the truth in my words, my thoughts and my hopes.

I'm going to write about how Aaron and I met.  There have been a few requests for me to tell the story about how we met, and since most of you don't know the story, here it is!

I had a couple awful relationships in college.  Neither of the guys treated me with respect and I basically belittled myself, putting my needs and self-respect to the side, engrossing myself in these relationships that all my friends and family told me were awful.  My second relationship ended when he started physically abusing me, and luckily, my friends helped me make the first step to wiping him clear from my life.  My grades suffered, my social life suffered (all of my free time revolved around each of them and their friends) and, worst of all, I lost who I was!

And so, there I was, half-way through my senior year at U.C.S.D., knowing that soon I would be graduating without ANY idea of where I would go!  Would I stay in San Diego?  If so, where would I live, and with who?  I hadn't really made any super close friends.  Would I move back home to Turlock?  I thought a lot about it, and then it hit me...why not move to Portland?!?  Sister was going to Concordia University up there at the time, and I remember during my visits there, I absolutely loved it!  So, I thought...what the heck?  I'll do it!  I've got nothing to lose!

So, as time progressed, I decided it would be logical to find a roommate, or two, that I could live with when I first move there until I got my feet on the ground.  Plus, I figured it'd be a good idea to know somebody, other than Sister, to help me adjust to a new city.  I started searching on-line for roommates, but everybody seemed so weird.  I started feeling discouraged and wary about the prospect of moving there.

I then felt a nudge to check out a dating website.  I don't know why I chose the website that I did (date.com), and I didn't pay for the service.  I just set up a profile and searched through guys in the Portland area.  Nobody interested me.  It felt pointless, dirty and worthless.  After scrolling through tons of lame profiles (and I mean tons), I saw Aaron's picture, and my heart started beating faster!  His smile, his eyes...oh my gosh...just writing about it makes me feel all those feelings all over again.  The fresh, beautiful certainty that this man was something special.

I clicked on his profile and it said it had been inactive for over 3 months.  I let out a long sigh of despair.  His profile didn't have any contact information...just his username ajj6123.  How am I going to get a hold of this guy??? So, what did I do next?  I googled his username (duh!) in hopes that it would lead me to some contact information, and surely enough...it did!

But, before I get ahead of myself, I should tell you about Aaron's side of this story.  His friend, Jon Freid, one day decided to post Aaron's profile on date.com.  Freid (as we call him) simply told Aaron he's doing it, and Aaron being the lax guy that he is, went along with it.  And clearly, he didn't spend much time on the site, since when I came across his profile, it had been inactive for 3+ months!

Okay, so after I googled ajj6123, I found a link to the same username, for when Aaron filed a consumer complaint about an item he purchased on E-Bay.  His name and his e-mail address were listed within this complaint.  Oh my goodness!  Once again, my heart started beating fast.  But, at the same time, was I getting my hopes up for nothing because it's not the same guy?  Some other person might've used that same username for E-Bay.  That possibility didn't stop me from at least trying, though!

So, I immediately e-mailed him, my hands cold, clammy and shaking, not knowing what to write, how much to write!  I was so excited, but also so nervous.  I didn't want to come across as some crazy woman, but how could I not when I was a complete stranger e-mailing him after essentially "stalking" him on Google for his e-mail address.

But, the very next day, March 8, 2005, he e-mailed me back, and, as they say, the rest is history.  We first chatted on-line for hours, learning every little thing about each other, growing a deep love, understanding and connection.  After a short while we gained enough courage to talk on the phone, and I got to hear his voice!  That is also a moment I won't ever forget...hearing his deep, caring voice for the first time.  He came to visit me the last week of that same month.  Was I nervous?  You bet!

I got to the airport early and was a bundle of nerves, but once I saw him, the nerves went away.  His hug, his kiss, his everything were all something God perfected for me.  What I need, Aaron provides.  What I want, Aaron gratifies.

He proposed to me on April 1, 2005, not even a month after knowing him.  As you can imagine, our parents weren't exactly assured it was a good idea, but once his parents met me and my parents met him, they saw that what we have is real.  We got married on July 3, 2005!