His Story...

It all started at a wonderful place in East Texas called Sky Ranch. I grew up going to the camp as a kid and decided to spend my summers during undergrad working at a place that meant so much to me. As a senior counselor for Sky 1 kids (8-10 year olds), I had weekly 'staff meetings' on the back porch during lunch, and I remember one week this pretty blonde sat next to me since her senior counselor was busy or off for the week, i'm not sure of the reasoning. But, I remember thinking to myself, "hm, she's pretty cute." Those of us from Sky Ranch refer to this inclination as a, 'sk'rush' (short of sky crush). That is how I remember it though i'm informed that our first encounter actually happened before at a different time, but to each their own. 

We went our separate ways after Sky Ranch, becoming friends on Facebook and not really much more. Until one day, I posted a Facebook post saying I had an extra ticket to see John Mayer in Dallas at the Superpages.com amphitheater (now known as Starplex) and lo and behold Elise reached out. We ended up going to the concert together, and that was the birth of the 'concert buddy' phase of our life. It was right after the John Mayer concert I really told myself, "I think I like this girl." but never acted on it. Right before I departed for Chicago and she moved to New York, I met with some of my good friends from Sky Ranch for dinner and made the comment when asked about our friendship that, "...I'm going to marry her someday." 

When I was out in New York for an interview for a summer residency with a record label, we hung out and planned it to where we'd catch a train to Boston together, since she was meeting her mom there for Easter. I knew at that point it was a surreal possibility I might be in New York for an extended period of time, so I decided it was time to finally share those harbored feelings for her i'd withheld for so long. Wise enough, I decided to write it in a note because, if you know me, i'm not always the best with words and I tend to convey emotion better in writing and with ample time to process. As we rode the train, I was a nervous wreck to hand over the note, but finally, a few stops before she was supposed to get off, I handed her a note and acted like it was nothing special. Nerves going crazy, I watched her walk off the train and was readying myself for the response. Little did I know it'd take almost a week to get a response!

Upon her finally reading the note, she thanked me, but informed me she'd just started dating someone in New York. So, after a little sadness, I picked myself up and we continued our friendship. Though it all, we remained good friends, and when travels took me to New York with RED or her time with King's College brought her to Chicago, we would always try to connect. I began dating someone in Chicago that summer, but by the fall Elise and I both reverted back to the single life. On a whim (and apparently after a glass of wine) Elise texted and wanted to know if we could talk about something, namely the note I gave her months ago. She wanted to see where I was at, if my feelings were still the same, etc. I said 'yes' and she said she felt like she'd been falling for me. After asking for a day or two to think on the situation and pray that it was the right move for us (yeah, seriously did that. sorry babe!) we decided to venture into a dating relationship, and at that, a long distance relationship. 

Thereafter we saw Elise's return to Dallas, my move to Nashville to work with one of the premiere and most prestigious independent labels in town, my exit from said label and return back to ad agency life in Dallas, a few months of illness of my own, and Elise moving to Austin and us taking what we now consider a "needed break".

Fast forward even more through a stage we unaffectionately refer to as "DB stage", a career change back into music, and a renewed friendship after a few months of little-to-no contact, we slowly began to reconnect and bond. One night, while in Dallas, she came up to a formal event we had at my work. We hung out and as she was dropping me off at my house, I asked her to get out of the car and give me a hug. Needless to say, it was a Casablanca moment as she ran to me, I lifted her up, and we kissed. A few weeks later, I was down to Austin for Austin City Limits and we decided to try our hand at this again with a renewed vigor. And really, from there, the rest is history. Here's to many years of life, love, happiness, and continued growth. 

Her Story...

It's a classic love story, really: boy meets girl, boy and girl become "concert buddies," girl moves to New York City, boy moves to Chicago, boy declares love for girl by handing a letter to her on a train, girl gets really sick, boy and girl fall in love. And the rest is history!

I'll start from the beginning...

Mark and I first met in the summer of 2008 working at summer camp, Sky Ranch. Mark will try to convince you that we met on the back porch at a counselor training, but that training was the next summer ;). We met working on the water slides because Mark was wearing a t-shirt of a band I really love that's actually still our favorite band to this day! We became acquaintances, and that was about it for college.

Fast forward to 2011. Mark and I were both living and working in Dallas, and since Mark works in music, he was always looking for people with similar music taste to join him at concerts (I'm pretty sure I invited myself to a John Mayer concert at some point in there). From there, we became "concert buddies" and befriended bands from all over the world from Coldplay's opening acts to Walk the Moon. During these shenanigans, Mark always called me friend/buddy, etc., introduced me as a friend, and if anyone ever asked about me, he'd call me his "concert buddy." I had no idea, but Mark was developing strong feelings and even pretended to like The Bachelor so we could text during it. I. Was. Clueless.

When he told me in the summer of 2012 that he was considering moving to Chicago for graduate school, I told him my news I was considering moving to New York City! We became each other's biggest cheerleaders, and we both ended up making the move and assumed we wouldn't keep in touch. (You see where this is going.) A few months later, he was in New York interviewing for graduate internships with several labels, and on a train, as I got off before him, he handed me a letter and said, "I've been a bad friend and haven't written you lately!" I said, "thanks, Mark!" and hopped off the train where the letter sat in my backpack for three long days where it fell to the bottom (poor Mark!). As I sat on my bed cleaning out my backpack, I opened up the letter where my jaw dropped! Mark declared his feelings for me and told me he couldn't keep it to himself any more. I was shocked! I didn't know what to even think since I never let the thought of us cross my mind...ever. I thought I had been friend-zoned! 

The problem was...I had started dating someone about two weeks before that. So, I broke the news to Mark, who handled it like a champ. A few weeks later, I started getting sick, and over the span of several months, the guy I was dating and I were no longer seeing each other, and I was getting sicker and sicker. Mark and I had started talking more. 

By December of 2013, I was too sick to fly and had to return back to Texas for intense treatment for this "mystery" illness (which was later diagnosed; more on this here). Nervous about his reaction, I hadn't told Mark about any of this yet. A friend confronted me about it, so I told Mark, and his reaction couldn't have been more supportive, and he even made a Spotify mix for my Mom and I to listen to while driving the 24 hours back to Texas. When I finally got home on Christmas Eve, a package was sitting on my front door. It was from Mark. It had mixtapes, a book with a handwritten note in it, and various notes of scripture and encouragement.

Throughout treatment, Mark sent me a package almost every month with everything from books to read in waiting rooms to programs from the Grammys that he bought off the person next to him. How can you not fall in love with that?! Several months later, we *finally* got together after I visited him in Chicago, and the rest is history!  I'm convinced we would've gotten together regardless, but this season of life allowed for some quality time where we became truly the best of friends. 

Since then, we've lived what feels like a whole lifetime, from Grammys to television shows to bouts of serious illness and all the in between, and Mark has really been my best friend through it all.

So that's my novel of how we met and fell in love. Whew! I'm so excited to be marrying the man of my dreams and to have all our loved ones celebrate alongside us!