Chapter One
Our love story started long before Matthew and I
ever actually met.
And when you think about it, most love stories
start that way. Every moment leading up to the
one in which you meet your future husband or
wife somehow shapes you and prepares you for
that person you were fated for. Any previous
heartbreaks or dark days or lonely nights can be
crucially important in the grand scheme of things
—sometimes we need to know what something
feels like when it’s wrong before we can ever
really know it when another thing is RIGHT.
So that’s why I need to start the story with a little
bit of background. The whole “girl meets boy,
boy and girl fall in love, boy and girl get married”
model is a little too simplistic for my needs. You
people want details, don't you? Of course you do.
When I was 18 years old and working as a
waitress at a little family restaurant, I met a guy
who was 10 years older than me. He was the one
who came before Matthew. We dated for three
and half years, and even lived together during the
last year and half of that relationship. We moved
into a tiny little house and owned Gracie and
Cooper together and our relationship was never a
terrible one. He was a good guy, I was a good
girl, and we really did love each other.
But for every moment of those three and a half
years, I had a nagging, itching, aching feeling that
he would never be the right one for me. Despite
his great heart, he lacked ambition and drive and
handled his finances very poorly and, at the heart
of it all, was very insecure despite being a bright
and attractive guy. I understood him, though. I
understood that his family had never prepared
him for LIFE, and the poor decisions he had made
as a younger man had him caught in a sticky
web and a hole he just couldn’t seem to dig
himself out of.
As the years went by, he could give me less and
less of what I needed. Things became strained
between us. I was a terrible nag, and I see that
now. But the problem was that there were just
too many things about him that I wanted to
change. And as I began to realize that I could
never change him and shouldn’t have to, I
struggled SO much with what the right thing to
do was. It ate away at me day and night, because
I honestly couldn’t imagine my life without him.
And being alone TERRIFIED me.
Somewhere during all this, I read the book The
Secret which is all about the law of attraction. I
really, really believed in what it said. It inspired
me. I realized that I had not arranged my life in a
way that allowed for all the things I so desired. I
hate to skim over this because it’s so important,
but let’s just say that I KNEW I had to decide what
I wanted my future to look like and start taking
active steps towards attracting that future. And
staying in my current relationship at the time was
a major roadblock. I knew in my heart that if I
stayed where I was, life would always be a
struggle.

Oya nw.....dnt stop dia

So one day the breakup finally happened. We
talked and cried for hours and finally decided that
we could never truly work. He decided to move
out and let me stay in the house and keep the
dogs because, on his income alone, he couldn’t
afford to live there (I made enough waiting tables
to cover the bills if pennies were tightly pinched).
I can honestly say that the 48 hours after that
break up were the toughest of all my life. I ugly-
cried those kind of tears that come from
somewhere inside you didn’t even know existed
—a place of fear and sudden awareness that you
are completely alone.
And that’s the place I was in when I met
Matthew. We met a mere 48 hours after the ex
and I called it quits, which could either be
considered really terrible timing or really great
timing. I choose to believe the timing was perfect.
But let’s back up again for just a minute.
Remember how I was working at that little
restaurant? Well, for a couple of years I’d been
waiting on my future in-laws without even
knowing it. We’ll just call them Mr. and Mrs. D for
our purposes here today.
They were an odd couple. Mrs. D was a beautiful
blonde and friendly as can be, and Mr. D was
quiet, reserved, and hard to read. I really enjoyed
waiting on them, though, and I found it amusing
when Mrs. D would occasionally mention their
son in California and how perfect he and I would
be for each other. She mentioned this to me on at
least two or three occasions, but I always
laughed and just politely reminded her that I had
a boyfriend. I came to find out later that, in
actuality, Mrs. D talked a whole lot more about
Matthew and I one day meeting than I ever knew
at the time; Mr. D now says he had to hear about
it every single time they came to the restaurant,
and Matthew, when he was in town, would
always go to eat there and would hear about me
then, too. But for some reason, I was never
working when Matthew happened to stop in with
his parents, and our paths never crossed.
But then one day, on January 19, 2009, our paths
DID cross. And to make it all the more strange, I
wasn’t even working that day—the encounter
was, TRULY, by chance.
Little did I know when I woke up that morning,
Martin Luther King Day and a university holiday,
that my life was about to be turned upside down.

lol. im sorry heskay. i have to type all these.

Chapter Two
It was a Saturday that the ex and I had broken
up, and by Monday morning, though I was by
NO means “over” the breakup, I was feeling ever
so slightly hopeful; or at least looking forward to a
fun breakfast with a friend.
One of my male coworkers was (is) like a brother
to me; we were hired on at the restaurant around
the same time, and over the six and a half years
until this point in the story, he and I had become
close and occasionally planned a breakfast outing
to catch up on the events of each other’s lives. A
week prior to this aforementioned Monday, he
and I had planned to meet for breakfast at the
restaurant where we worked – only I got called
into work when another waitress went home
sick. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was a
game-changing move. One of those moments
where the Universe intervenes because that
particular event wasn’t in keeping with the greater
plan.
Truth be told, if I had met my friend for breakfast
on that previously planned date, or if I had
shown up to the restaurant even a single
moment later on the day we DID end up
meeting, Matthew and I would have never met.
My life would be drastically different right now.
Funny how the smallest little decisions and
changes of course can alter the entire plot of your
life.
So on that Monday morning, January 19 of 2009,
I woke up, got showered and dressed, and
headed out to a 9:00 AM breakfast with my
friend. Like usual, I was running a couple minutes
late.
Once I arrived, I parked my car and walked
across the lot and into the little diner where my
friend Chris was already waiting in the line to be
seated. We chatted for maybe thirty seconds
before the outside door of the restaurant swung
open and, to my surprise, there was Mrs. D! She
seemed excited to see me and exclaimed, “Jenni! I
know this might seem strange, and I know you
have a boyfriend, but my son is here in town—
we were just leaving, and I saw you walking up
—I’d love for you to come out and meet him!”

phayvoursky: lol. im sorry heskay. i have to type all these.

Aiiite no shit bro, tk ur tym

I gave her a hug and laughed, saying, “Well,
actually, me and my boyfriend just broke up, so
it’s ok.”
I thought I’d humor her. Many proud mamas
had bragged on their sons to me before, and if or
when I ever did end up meeting these
“handsome” princes, things were usually
awkward and anything but a match made in
heaven.
Mrs. D led me just outside the little foyer where
we’d been waiting. Her car was a few feet away,
and the driver’s side door was still open where
she had gotten out. I peered into the car and
there he was: the infamous son.
I’d be lying if I said I heard a choir of angels
singing, or if I said a bright light shone upon him
like some supernatural vision from God, but there
truly was instant attraction. He reached over from
the passenger side seat to shake my hand and
said, “Hey! Nice to finally meet you!”
He had the bluest eyes I’d ever seen, and from
then on I was in somewhat of a stupor, which is
not unusual for me when faced with awkward
social situations (especially involving shockingly
attractive members of the opposite sex).
I said something along the lines of, “It’s really nice
to meet you too! I’ve heard a lot of good things
about you, and I just love your Mom!”
Mrs. D mentioned then that Matthew was going
home to California the next morning but would
be back in a couple weeks. I replied saying
maybe we would see each other again when he
returned, and the conversation wrapped up.
But in typical Jenni fashion, I had to say at least
one ridiculous thing before going along my
merry way, so just as I turned around to walk
back into the diner, I decided to poke my head in
the car one more time and say, “oh, excuse me
SIR? What did you say your name was again? I
already forgot!” Yes, I called him SIR. And as
soon as that word flew off my tongue I was
mortified with myself. Why the !@#$ did I just
call him “sir?” What an idiot!
He just laughed and said “Matthew.”
“Ok, thanks!” I replied. “Maybe I’ll see you again
soon!”
They left, and I went back into the restaurant
where my friend was waiting.
And just a couple moments later we were inside
and seated at our table near the back of the little
one room diner.
We ordered our breakfast and, after a few more
minutes, the hostess walked up to our table and
slipped me a little note. “That guy just came back
in and told me to give this to you. He saw you
sitting with Chris and didn’t want to be rude and
interrupt,” she told me.

My heart skipped a beat. I unfolded the little note.
Matthew had written his name and phone
number and the message: Be back in two weeks.
Would be great to hear from you!
I was shaking. I can’t explain it, but I felt like I was
dreaming. My mind was racing with thoughts of
how completely serendipitous this encounter
was, but how completely awful it felt to be
entertaining thoughts of another relationship so
soon after my last one ended.
One of the waitresses at the restaurant, a good
friend and mother-type figure to me, stopped by
our table and read the note. She had seen the
whole thing unfold, and the way Matthew had
come back in and stared back at me as I chatted
obliviously with my friend. With a knowing look
on her face, she said “Jenni, it’s a God thing.”
And she turned out to be very, very right.
Mrs. D and Matthew both corroborate the story
that, when they had left the restaurant after our
initial meeting, Matthew matter of factly told his
mother that I was the one. That he knew it. And
she said she had always known it. She told him
what I said about my boyfriend and I breaking
up, and Matthew demanded she turn around.
They came back, he scribbled his note on that
little piece of paper, and he went back in to find
me.
And I COULD just say “the rest is history,” but
that really wouldn’t be doing the story justice.
The part that comes next is half the fun! I suppose
that sometimes fate might whisper, but in our
case, it screamed.

Chapter Three
Three full days passed after that fateful encounter,
and the little note Matthew had left for me
remained tucked away inside my wallet. I
certainly wasn’t following any rule on how many
days to wait before calling a guy; rather, I was
feeling pretty terrible about calling him at ALL,
given my still VERY freshly single status. My ex-
boyfriend hadn’t even moved out of our house
yet, and although I remained fully aware of that
note and secretly wanted to call the number on it,
I refrained. It just seemed so wrong to be having
thoughts about another guy so soon.
Then, on the afternoon of the fourth day, I went
to work and, as I clocked in on the register, I
noticed a bright blue, folded sticky note with my
name on it taped to the window beside me. I
pulled it off and opened it, and there was
Matthew’s name and number again, but this time
in the handwriting of one the hostesses who
answers the phone.
I turned to my manager and asked what it was all
about. “This guy already gave me his number!” I
said, confused. “What is it doing here again?”
My manager gravely told me that Matthew had
called the restaurant and asked for me the day
before, but since I wasn’t there, he simply left his
name and number with the hostess. “Is this guy
stalking you? Do you want me to call him?” he
asked with concern.
I laughed and said I didn’t think so. But secretly, I
was impressed with Matthew’s tenacity. He was
interested, and he wasn’t beating around the
bush about it. I liked that.
I texted him that afternoon and apologized for not
calling. I told him that I’d wanted to, but it had
only been several days since my ex and I had
broken up and it felt a little irreverent to be calling
another guy so soon. I said that I’d call him when
I got off work that night.
The reply I received went something like this: Ok,
little miss four days later! Good thing I remain
optimistic, ‘cause it was beginning to look like I
wasn’t going to hear from you!
Matthew later told me that those were the most
torturous four days of his life. He kept his phone
within an arm’s reach and pondered whether or
not I was playing hard to get or something.
When he didn’t hear from me right away, he had
called the restaurant (from California!) in case I
had “lost his number.” Patience is not this man’s
greatest virtue; I can definitely attest to that now!
I don’t want to skim over anything, but I also
don’t want to drag this out for weeks. So let’s just
say that I called Matthew that evening, and by the
end of about a one hour conversation, I knew I
had just met the man who would one day be my
husband. I called my best friend the next day and
told her so, which, naturally, was met with a
somewhat apprehensive “umm… ok?”

Truth be told, the relationship encountered quite a
bit of trepidation from my friends and family, and
understandably so. Everything happened so fast
and so furious and so SOON after the end of my
previous relationship.
Matthew was almost seven years older than me,
had a successful career in insurance and financial
services, lived states away, and still seemed dead
set on ME. People didn’t trust him, and even I had
my moments of doubt as things moved along at
lightning speed.
During the week after our first phone call, we
talked for hours every night. I learned that he was
a huge fan of the book The Secret, just like I was,
and he told me that he, too, tried to live his life by
the principles of the law of attraction.
Coincidence? I think not.
He also told me he had moved his trip back to
Texas up a few days so he could spend more
time with me, and our first date was scheduled
for less than two weeks after our initial meeting. I
remember getting a text from him just a couple
days before he flew back down to Texas, and it
said that he “couldn’t wait to have me in his
arms.” I was a little alarmed by this, given that
we hadn’t even had our first date yet, but I sort of
loved it all at once. It was nice to feel wanted
without that veil of pretense and cautious,
“acceptable” behavior. Matthew is one of the few
people in this world who throws themselves
shamelessly and without hesitation at whatever
they desire.
So we had our first date. I wore a little black dress
with heels and a bright green sweater, and he
wore jeans and a black button up shirt. We met
at Starbucks, we hugged like old friends, he led
me to the car he’d borrowed from his dad, and
he opened my door for me like a true gentleman.
He started the car and a CD began to play – all my
favorite songs, one after another. I demanded
that he admit he’d stalked my Facebook and
made a CD from all my listed favorite artists, but
he denies it to this day. Either he’s lying, or we
just have identical taste in music. Either way, it
was perfect.
And that evening began a week of “first dates.”
We had dinner together several times, went to
the movies, visited the nearby Natural Bridge
Caverns and Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch in San
Antonio, spent his birthday with his parents and
grandparents, and then said a very bittersweet
goodbye before he headed back to California.
I think it was on the third date that week that I
really fell in love. We were deep under the
ground in the chilly caverns and listening to the
tour guide as she lectured on stalactites and
stalagmites, when Matthew wrapped his arms
around me from behind and just held me there
as we stood. I can’t explain it, but it just felt…
RIGHT.
A few days after he went home to California, on
Valentine’s Day 2009, I received a very special
delivery while I was at work – a gift that would
turn out to be one of the most amazing and
romantic things I’ve ever been given.

Chapter Four
In part three, the story left off just after our week
of first dates and Matthew’s return home from
California, and just before Valentine’s Day two
years ago. I was at work that Valentine’s Day
evening when a special delivery arrived for me
via Matthew’s mom! I was too busy to chat with
her much when she arrived, but she dropped off
my gifts along with a gorgeous dozen white and
red roses from Matthew. He had arranged all this
before he left!
I waited to open my gifts until the restaurant was
closed for the evening, but believe me, I thought
about them ALL NIGHT LONG! Once the last
customer had finally left, I sat down at a table
with my roses, a large yellow manila envelope,
and a wrapped gift. A note on the outside of a
card instructed that I open the wrapped gift first.
In order to understand the significance of what
comes next, you have to first understand my
obsession with New York City. During those few
weeks that we had know each other up until this
point, Matthew and I had discussed how much
we both loved it there, and how it is my absolute
favorite place on Earth. So I opened my gift and
found this adorable New York picture that
Matthew had hand decaled with romantic little
words:
I was tickled by that, of course, but what was in
the big manila envelope was the real kicker.
Matthew had created this full page invitation (with
a beautiful photo of a bridge in Central Park faded
in the background), and it read:
(My Name)
You are hereby cordially invited to
“The City of Lights”
On Monday, the Ninth of March,
Two Thousand and Nine
at
The Ritz Carlton New York, Central Plaza
Enchantment will start promptly at 8:00 PM,
Romance will begin at first site,
…..Falling in Love will last a lifetime
Host: Matthew (Last Name)
Price of Admission: Your Company, Your Smile,
and Your Grace
Please RSVP by February 16th, 2009
We apologize for any inconvenience,
Kisses are the only form of payment accepted at
this time
Ummm, yeah. CAN WE SAY EVERY GIRL’S
DREAM COME TRUE?!?! And Matthew had also
created a fake airline boarding pass with the
assigned seat “next to your man” and with flight
and confirmation numbers matching the days of
our first two dates. I know. Sickening! I’m here to
tell you that not every man is completely clueless
when it comes to romance!
So needless to say, I accept

So needless to say, I accepted the invitation, and
that trip to New York City with my future
husband turned out to be the most fabulous few
days of my life. The Ritz Carlton ruined me for all
eternity. I will compare all hotel experiences to
that one, and nothing will ever match up.
Matthew convinced the poor fellow at the front
desk to upgrade our stay from a basic room to a
two room, two bathroom suite, at no extra
charge (the guy is a sweet-talker, what can I
say?), and from our room on the seventh floor
(my lucky number) you could sit on the window
seat and gaze down at sixth avenue and central
park below. I spent many teary moments on that
window seat, wondering when I would wake up
from this lovely dream.
Thankfully, I never did.
Matthew had brought along the movie
Serendipity for us to watch while there in New
York, and the next day after watching the movie
in our cozy room, Matthew surprised me with
lunch at Serendipity 3. Appropriate, yes? Here we
were inside the restaurant:
After that New York trip, Matthew and I continued
a long distance relationship. We would see each
other every 3-5 weeks on average, he flying
down to San Antonio where I lived at the time, or
me flying up to Huntington Beach, California
where he lived at the time.
In June of that same year, we took yet another
trip, but this time to Maui, Hawaii. Mind you, we
had only been dating four and half months at this
point, but I had a feeling a proposal was
imminent.
A couple of days into our stay, Matthew
surprised me with a limo ride to a location away
from our hotel, where we found a small table set
up near the beach, complete with white linens, a
candle, and a little vase of fresh flowers. We had
our own private chef, who was arranged about
10 yards away, cook us one of the most delicious
meals I’ve ever eaten (some type of grilled
Hawaiian fish – whatever it was, it was amazing!).
BUT. Things really did not go as Matthew had
planned for them to or at all how he had
envisioned. We laugh about it now, but our
romantic and private little dinner table was smack
dab in the middle of a grassy clearing between
another hotel and an enormous ugly apartment
complex with hundreds of balconies overlooking
our little spectacle. We were also within about 15
feet of an outdoor shower spicket which people
were coming up to from the beach to shower off
under! It was awkward to say the least, and
Matthew was pissed. At one point he went over
to the chef to “check on our meal,” but he was
really asking for the ring back – it was supposed
to be “served” to me with the dessert, but
Matthew was so displeased with the atmosphere
that he decided to postpone the proposal.
The meal wrapped up, and I was feeling anxious.
Knowing Matthew, I had a feeling he wouldn’t
propose under these imperfect circumstances,
but I wasn’t sure!

We ended up taking our limo back to our resort –
and BY THE WAY. The limo was 1980’s style
Uncle Guido GREEN, inside and out, which was
another scenario Matthew had not planned for!
The whole ordeal was definitely laughable.
So when we got back to our hotel, Matthew
suggested we take a walk before the sun set.
Mmm-hmm, “a walk.” Ok, buddy! I thought to
myself.
As we walked along beside the gorgeous floury-
soft sand beach, we suddenly reached a little
clearing where there was a patch of green grass
beside the sand, and Matthew stopped. My heart
skipped a beat, and before I knew it, he was on
one knee, saying something about loving me a
whole lot and wanting to spend the rest of
forever with me, et cetera, et cetera. Honestly,
and sadly, I might add, I don’t remember his
exact words. Even though I expected this
proposal, I was still in some sort of weird shock.
Maybe it had something to do with the gorgeous
shiny rock that was sparkling up at me as he
spoke – just sayin’!
Obviously, my answer was YES. And I believe
they usually end these little fairytales with “happily
ever after.”
man, I miss that tan.
But the truth is, things haven’t always been super
easy; living states away from each other for that
year before our wedding was really tough. Once
we DID get married and moved into our home
together, we had to learn to live as a couple – but
I can honestly say that when you are deeply and
unselfishly in love, things aren’t that hard. And I
wish each and every one of you, if you haven’t
found it already, a love story just like ours – not
because our relationship is perfect (because it isn’t
– honest), but because we have found a way to
love one another despite. Despite our
imperfections, despite our quirks and
idiosyncrasies, and despite a sometimes
uncertain future.
This first year of marriage has taught me a lot,
and I can’t wait to share our journey with all of
YOU. This life can be a beautiful thing –
sometimes sad, sometimes tragic, sometimes full
of sorrow and suffering and pain – but ALWAYS
full of love.
I’ll leave you with something I wrote on a private
blog on Valentine’s Day two years ago, just after
receiving those gifts from Matthew:
I have learned to listen to my heart. I have
learned that if you never make room for better
things and better ways to be, if you never clear
out the things in your life that stand in the way of
your happiness, then you are not aligning your
universe to allow for amazing things. In this life,
you don’t find yourself. You create yourself.
And the same goes for love: you don’t find love,
you create a road for love to travel and wait for it
to come.

THE END

Nice story....but laced with fornication, Jesus is watching

Short,precise, touching story...love it

thanks guys. happy u lov it

I learn many things from ur story, it a wonderful story.

april wise: I learn many things from ur story, it a wonderful story.

TANX MAN