When I first set out to do this blog, my goal was to make it about all things faith, family, food and fun. I got so excited about getting in a rhythm, building an audience and highlighting some of my favorite food and wellness tips that I have not really had a chance to capture one of my proudest parts of my life....my husband Ryan. As we approach a very special anniversary, the day he said those three special words nearly 8 years ago (wow!), I wanted to share a little bit about our love story. So before closing this screen out completely in hopes of avoiding the mooshie 'Ooooo's' and 'Awweeee's', take a peak and continue reading about the lucky lady that I truly am. How we met This is a question that we are asked regularly. We both usually tag team the story and by the end we are laughing till our bellies hurt. Not to be exact (but let's face it, I have the memory of an elephant), it was May 20th, 2010. I was single, working in downtown Charlotte, NC and living at Lake Norman with all my friends. I got a call from a friend Michael who got tickets to the NASCAR All-Star race in Charlotte and was looking for a place for him and his roommate (aka Ryan) to stay. There was a group of us that was going to see Dierks Bentley at Coyote Joes the night before the race so I asked him to join us for the concert as well. That Friday, we all met up at my friend Allison's house before the concert. Not too soon after I got there did Michael and Ryan arrive. I remember all the girls in the room looking at eachother as soon as Ryan entered the room ( he was/is pretty easy on the eyes :o)). We chatted for a few minutes and headed to the concert. While at the concert, Ryan and I did not really talk much. We each did our own thing and enjoyed hearing some great country music. We joke about it now, but right at the end of the night, our taxi had pulled up to pick us up. I searched the whole venue trying to track everyone down. The last one to find was Ryan and, sure enough, I had to pull him away while he was mid-conversation with another girl, exchanging phone numbers ( I did not get pretty looks when I did that :-/). To this day we still joke about how it was like herding cats and how 'Momma Kim' had to make an appearance. Here are a few pictures of our evening at the concert: Saturday came and a few of us girls met up with the guys at the NASCAR race. This night was a game changer for Ryan and I. We sat next to eachother the whole night and chatted about work, life and everything in between. He was kind and had a great sense of humor. There was definitely a spark and I was eager to get to know him more. Here are a few more pictures from our time at the race: The First Date For the next three months, Ryan and I casually emailed and messaged back and forth. On occasion, he would call and we would spend a few hours on the phone. It was easy and enjoyable. In August 2010, I invited him to be my date to a wedding I was a bridesmaid in. He accepted and that was our official first date. We danced, we laughed and we had the best time together. Here is a picture from that first date (thanks Blair and Byron for getting hitched :o)): Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder Over the next two and a half years, Ryan and I embarked on a long distance relationship. He was in Aiken, SC and I was in Charlotte, NC. Every other weekend, one of us would make the two and a half hour drive to visit the other person. Songs like 'This I gotta See' and 'Right Where I need to Be' became our go-to road music as we traveled down I-77. We enjoyed doing things that all couples do. We kayaked, took road trips, went to church together, visited eachother's families, cheered on the App State Mountaineers....the list goes on. Sure we missed eachother, but it made our visits that much sweeter. Eventually, he started his own business which allowed him to move to Huntersville, NC and rent a house a few minutes away from mine. It was SO nice to be able to do 'normal' couple things together. We went on walks with Georgia (our sweet black lab), cooked dinner together, enjoyed random date nights....it was pretty swell. Here are a few pictures of our time as a long-distance couple: The Engagement It was January 14, 2013. At this point Ryan and I had already been ring shopping and picked out a setting that I liked so we both know an engagement and soon to be marriage was in our future. It was a Monday and I was riding the bus home from work around 5:30pm. He called me about every 5 minutes asking ' Are you close? When will you be at your condo? How much longer?' It was becoming a little odd with how concerned he was about when I would be home. As I walked up the stairs to my condo, the door was cracked a little. When I opened it, there were tea light candles spread all throughout the floor of my condo and our favorite song ' It Did' by Brad Paisley was playing in the background. In that moment, he led me to my back deck that overlooks the water and proposed. It was one of the sweetest moments of my life and I remember thanking the good Lord in that moment for bringing such a loving and Godly man into my life. It took nearly two hours to call all of our family and friends to tell them that we were engaged that when we finally got to dinner that night to celebrate, it was 10pm and only one place in town was still serving supper. This was a very precious memory that I will forever cherish. Here is a picture from the night of our engagement: The Wedding For the next seven months I was in full force wedding planning mode. Anyone who knows me knows I am an event planner by trade so this was actually really fun. BUT, you know how they say rain on your wedding day means good luck?? Well, we sure had all the luck. It did not just rain, it monsooned ALL DAY. I remember sitting in the bridal room just looking out the window at the beautiful ceremony site and watching the rain pour down on all the flowers, chairs, you name it. Thankfully, with the help of Heidi Crowder Weddings & Events (who is amazing, BTW), we were able to transition everything inside. Our family and friends were able to witness our marriage and Ryan and I were able to unite as husband and wife in a beautiful setting. Check out our wedding video that my brother put together that captures our special day: Building A Home After we returned from our honeymoon, we settled into our new home that we were renting in Cornelius, NC. It was so enjoyable getting to do day-to-day things together. I loved waking up and cooking breakfast or coming home from work on a Friday night and renting a movie. About a year into our marriage, a career change for me took us up the mountain to Boone, North Carolina where we purchased our first home together. We always knew we wanted to raise our family here and it has been such a blessing to call this little town home for the past four and a half years. Welcoming Rhett Daniel Kirby About a year and a half into being official residents of Watauga County, we learned we were expecting our first child, a baby boy. We were so thrilled and prayed feverishly for this little boy every day leading up to his arrival (and then on). Shortly after, on June 11, 2016, we welcomed Rhett Daniel Kirby, weighing 9lbs 8oz and 21inches long. He was perfect in every way. You always hear there is no love like the love of a parent for a child. Those words never rang truer than the first time Ryan and I held Rhett. In that moment, nothing else mattered except loving and caring for this precious soul that had joined our family. Now that he is almost two and a half years old, we have gotten to experience the true joy of watching him grow up. Although it is going by fast, it is such a delight to not only experience life with him, but also see life through his eyes. He has a determined personality and can go from hot to cold in about one millisecond, but he is also caring and tender-hearted. If another child falls down in his class, he is the first one to go check on them to make sure they are okay. He loves hard and in turn absorbs love from everyone else around him. Just like any parent, I could go on and on about how proud I am of my little boy. But for now, I will just share a few pictures of this precious child that I get to call mine: He is before all things and in Him all things hold together
It has been 8 years since Ryan walked through the door that Friday night at my friend Allison's house. Eight years since we had our first date. And eight years to the day that he first shared his love for me. Sure we have had some amazing times, but like any other couple, we have also had growing pains. Relationships and marriage can be hard. They take work, effort and a strong foundation to lean on. Colossians 1:17 reads 'He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.' This verse has been our prayer for our marriage and continues to be. I am so grateful for the gift of this love story and even more thankful that this love story is rooted in our faith in the Lord. In the word's of one of my favorite shows, Grey's Anatomy, I am so thankful that he is my 'person.' Food For Thought As you are reading this over, I encourage you to think about your own love story with your person. Reflect on the good, but also on the not so good because those are the moments that make you stronger. Tell that person how much they mean to you and share your heart with them so they feel loved and adored. Every love story is different, but they are all beautiful. Feel free to drop me a comment and share your own love story with me. And thanks for letting me share a little bit of ours with you :).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
I am a wife and momma to a sweet boy named Rhett. I live in the mountains of North Carolina and am saved by grace. I believe in all things family, all things food and all things fun. Archives
November 2018
Categories
All
|