The First 26 years...

A little about me:

I was born in a small town in Northwestern Illinois and lived there until I was 18 and went off to college.  I spent four amazing years at DePauw University in Greencastle.  After graduating from DePauw I started graduate school at Washington University in St. Louis to get a Master's Degree in Social Work. After graduating with my MSW I started working for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and lived in Columbia, MO.  After two years with the department I decided I was ready to move back to St. Louis and take on a new adventure!

A little about him:

*Disclaimer: He wrote this paragraph not me!
 
He was born in Decatur, Illinois. Being the Son of  Preacher Man (que the catchy tune), moved from small town to small town until graduating from NCOE High School in Southern Illinois. While at Webster University in St. Louis, he caught the political bug and has been "living the dream ever since." Check out his blog: http://www.theotherviewofido.blogspot.com/

A little about us:

Nick and I met sometime I while we were in high school.  We think it was around when we were both 16, but neither of us really remember the first time we met.  We are both preachers kids and were involved in church youth group at the conference level and we met at those meetings.  My senior year he started dating my best friend and they dated until we went off to college.  Sometime during our first semester of college they broke up.  Nick and I were just friends at this point and continued to talk.  He finished his senior year of high school and I finished my freshman year at DePauw.  My best friend and I took different paths in college and just started growing apart that year.  


Nick and I both attended the annual conference that year and as I recall Nick made it quite clear he was very he was interested.  I kept him at arms length for a while but finally gave in.  Nick started college at Webster University in St. Louis and I returned to DePauw.  We dated long distance for about a year and a half.  

Aren't we cute! Fall of 2004

The spring of my junior year we broke up.  We had very little interaction over the next year.  During this time I started applying for graduate school and almost didn't apply to Wash U; however, after a visit from their admissions rep I was impressed and thought I would give it a shot.  I was accepted and offered a scholarship package I couldn't pass up and the fall of 2006 I moved to St. Louis.  Nick and I had talked a few times once I moved but still had very little interaction it wasn't until late fall semester when we really started talking again.  Fairly quickly we became pretty good friends again.  That summer after Nick graduated from college and was looking for a job he lived in my extra room and we became even closer.  We stayed friends and he encouraged me to take a job in Jefferson City with the department so just before my 24th birthday I took on my new adventure to mid-MO.  


While I absolutely loved  my job I was not in love with mid-MO and found myself in St. Louis at least a couple times a month and finally I decided St. Louis was where I was supposed to be.  By the way if you are keeping track Nick and I were still friends at this point!  In March of 2010 I decided to apply for a job in St. Louis.  The interview process took almost 2 months and I honestly thought  more than once this just wasn't happening.  However, it did and around the same time Nick sent me an email (yes an email) making sure I knew it was official.  (in his defense we had talked about it over the 2 years I was in mid-MO but neither of us really wanted to do the long distance thing so we kept putting it off).  So in May it became official, in June I moved to St. Louis, July I commuted part time between St. Louis and Jefferson City and the rest of the story can be found in this post http://26toforever.blogspot.com/2010/08/proposal-story.html