Our Story (Part One)

Our Story …

I always enjoy telling people how I met my husband. Typically, people have stories about meeting their significant others at social gatherings or through friends, but our story is a little different. We met at work. I’m aware it seems pretty common but trust me it’s not.  We met while working at an animal shelter, cleaning up cat poop. Yes, that’s right; I trained my husband on how to effectively and safely clean up cat poop the first time we met. Let me tell you, it was magical.

Before we met, I never wanted to get involved with someone that I worked with mainly because I had seen enough drama between coworkers. At the time, I was more interested in my education than a relationship and I simply didn’t want to worry about someone else’s baggage.  The animal shelter was a perfect hiding place; I was safe from having to care about someone else, until he found me.

Months before I laid eyes on Micah (approx. 8 to be exact) I prayed out loud to God about my future husband. In my prayer, I declared that I was not going to date anyone unless it was going to be for marriage. I then asked God to send me my husband; specifically I asked for someone who is funny, strong willed, intelligent, has goals – and is reaching them, takes responsibility for his actions, loyal, and a Christian. I asked for other traits as well. For example, I knew I could handle someone who was stubborn.  At the end of the prayer, I told God that I was willing to wait for this person, no matter how long it took. Honestly speaking, I thought it would take a long time for someone this wonderful to come along and didn’t think too much about it after that day. In the eight months before meeting Micah, I met several guys who did not meet my specific requirements. Needless to say I was amused and somewhat relieved because I was truly happy being single. It wasn’t until I met Micah that I realized what was happening.

I remember that Saturday morning, I felt there was something different about him that was impossible to ignore. I remember he talked a lot. He told me everything about himself, and then some. It was funny then, and it’s still funny now. When I say he told me everything, I’m not just talking about his favorite color or why he likes Subarus above any other car. This guy told me about past relationships, his decision to abstain from sex, why he’s known as “The King of Poop” on the internet, etc.  Sound alarming? It actually wasn’t.  I was so nervous that I didn’t speak a lot, which made him even more nervous, so he spoke more. It was quite a scene.  I remember finishing up the room we were cleaning and thinking, “This feels like the start of something, but I don’t know if I’m ready for it.”

I knew there was something different about him, and it scared me.

One night, a group of my friends and coworkers, including Micah, decided to go to a local restaurant and hang out. We were having such a good time that we decided to go to a club downtown that was popular at the time. This was the second time Micah and I had hung out together outside of work in a group setting and I was very excited to see him.  When we got to the club, Micah and I decided to go up on the roof top and talk. We were talking about all sorts of things when he randomly told me that he was making a point to take responsibility for his actions in his life. Wanna talk about goose bumps? When I heard him say verbatim one of the qualities I had prayed for, I couldn’t concentrate for the rest of the conversation. What on earth would possess him to say that? It wasn’t even relevant to the conversation.  That’s when I knew for sure that God was sending me a message. We started dating several months after that night, and to this day I still get goose bumps when I think about it.

We dated for three and a half years before we were married but nothing could have prepared me for our first year of marriage. Looking back at it now, I had no clue about what was going to hit us, and neither did anyone else….

Part Two is now available here.