Ever wonder how two 16 year olds met and fell in love?
photos by Derek Hui
March 2006. My older sister was jetting off on a missions trip to the Dominican Republic. It was the first time in my entire life that she’d miss my birthday. Bummed out that my sister was gone, I ended up being invited to a church camp type thing by my cousins. It was run by some family members, and a lot of my cousins were part of the church, so I thought I’d come along since I didn’t have Stephanie to hang out with.
We were in the middle of a lesson when I suddenly had the thought to turn my head to the left. I saw this guy talking to someone, and literally everything in the room went quiet and black and all I could see was him. I had never seen him before, what the heck was that tunnel vision for? I’d never experienced something like that before.
I remember on the last day, a few boys were teasing me because I was so quiet (story of my life) and they were trying to get me to wave and say bye to them. They were all in my face and I was just trying to get away. I remember when I finally got away, I saw that tunnel vision guy leaning against the building. We made eye contact, and he waved at me. It kinda felt like someone put my hand up for me because I don’t remember my brain telling me to do it, but I actually waved back at him. Then I just turned and walked away, still having no idea who he was.
A few weeks later, some guy added me on MSN. It was the tunnel vision guy!.We talked everyday on MSN after that, and told each other everything. He became my very best friend.
Little did I know that he came into my life when I really needed a friend. I ended up changing schools which was really, really hard on me. Everything and everyone I knew was at the old school. I didn’t know anyone at the new school and was a total outcast. I became depressed because of bullying and loneliness, yet this tunnel vision guy was there for me - even though we never met in real life.
I get v emotional every time I think about this story because it was the biggest blessing in my life meeting this guy. God knew that I was going to need a friend in the coming year with changing schools, so He planned for my sister to be away. He planned for my family members to invite me to that camp. He told me to turn my head left. He gave me that tunnel vision. He planned for us to wave at each other. He planned for us to talk on MSN. He knew this guy would be so important in my life.
Cut to February 2007. Almost an entire year since I first saw this guy that gave me tunnel vision. …He asked me to be his date to prom… Then a few weeks later, he told me that he liked me. I knew that I was interested in him, but I wasn’t sure if I like-liked him. I was really unsure about him because he was so different than what I knew; he was mysterious and let’s be honest, a bad boy.
We finally decided to meet in real life because we had still never met even though we talked for an entire year. (And so my parents could meet him to see if they should let me go to prom with him). So, in March, we met for the first time. He met my whole family because my little sister, Ally, just had back surgery and we were at Sick Kids every single day. I remember him wearing all black and thinking, ‘crap. My parents will never let me go to prom with this guy when he looks like this.’ But, for some reason they said yes, I could go to his prom.
I didn’t see him again between the hospital visit in March and prom in May, but I hopped in my family van and we all (like literally all of us) drove off to Ajax so I could go to his prom. I’m very quiet and shy, and I was too afraid to eat or even drink in front of this guy that I’d only met twice now. I was too afraid to dance with him and his friends. But, he actually got me on the dance floor, and we had our first slow dance. You guessed it: the entire room went quiet and black and he was the only thing I could see. I couldn’t even hear the song we were dancing to. It felt like I was in a daze. That was the moment that I knew I liked him.
In July, we had our first official date with us both knowing that we liked each other. He asked me to be his girlfriend in October. He told me he loved me in November. I told him I loved him later in November lol.
He helped me to grow as a person and gave me confidence that I didn’t know I had. He held me through tough times and laughed with me through great times. So many of my favourite memories are memories that I hold with him. I fell in love with him more and more each day. He’s the only guy I‘ve ever loved.
We dated for 6 years before getting engaged.
We were engaged for 8 months.
And today we celebrate 5 years of marriage.
Wow, three cheers for five years.
Jerome, I love you so, so much.
x Melissa