Our Story: Part VII

If you'd like to catch up on our story, click here and scroll to the bottom.

The Words I Love You
Nate has a way of emphatically jumping into things he is excited about, and our relationship was no exception. Over Christmas break we met each others' families and went to a few get-togethers--one included most of my family friends, another included dinner with three married (or soon-to-be married) couples. Christmas break was full of awkward excitement that propelled us into the next semester and moved us closer to our first Valentine's Day.

We established early in our friendship that he was a staunch Michigan fan, I was a born and raised Hawkeye, and there was little either of us could do to change that. Once we realized Michigan and Iowa played in Iowa City on Valentine's Day, Nate's plan was set in motion.

We left after class on Thursday, skipped Friday classes and headed down to Iowa City for the game. Nate had a friend who was an Iowa student, lived close to Carver Arena, and was willing let us stay with him for the night. Neither of us thought about the disaster potential of an 11-hour, overnight road trip for a couple who had been dating for two months, that is, until we packed up the car.

As we started heading south, I was armed with my pillow and nerves. Nate was prepared with an audio book. Soon the conversation was easily flowing, and I shared my first of many cheesy poems with him, a nice change of pace from helping others write to their boys. We arrived in just enough time to drop off our stuff and make it to the game.

Valentine's Day 2008...just a little excited.

The game did not go my way, but we did get to hear the Iowa fight song many times over, which was a beautiful thing. 

We meandered our way back to Austin's and soon they showed me where I would be staying. I found myself sleeping in another man's bed, hearing Nate and Austin catch up downstairs, running through the day's events, wondering how I ended up here, hoping for where we would go.

I woke up early and survived the first "you-weren't-supposed-to-see-me-before-I-showered" moment. (Thankfully it was a good morning!) We headed back to Orange City, finished listening to Prince Caspian, and played the random question game for hours.

We traded questions and answers and many laughs in between. The last question of the day was Nate's: "What do you think about words I love you?"

My heart skipped, and my brain went into overdrive. "I love you? Is that his attempt at telling me? Because that's absurd. Does he expect me to say it back? Whaaat?"
"Um...I like them?" I said.
Nate smirked. "I like them, too. But I've used those words too much, and the next time I say that to a girl, I want to proposing to my wife."
[Queue huge wave of relief]
"Are you ok with that?"
[Queue huge wave of gratitude and appreciation]
"Absolutely."

We made a bet years ago that if one of our teams won a national championship or was ranked #1, the other would wear that team's apparel. I will now be much more careful with my bets!

*               *               *

"That's the miracle love lets you say: I am chosen."

Ann Voskamp

 

Happy Valentine's Day to the one man I have ever loved! 

Thank you for choosing the girl who will always be a bit of a tomboy. 

Thank you for choosing me still. I am thankful to be yours, and 

I never tire of saying those words. I love you, babe!

Our Story: Part VI

If you'd like to catch up on our story, click here and scroll to the bottom.

Anticipation

Early December was filled with little steps toward becoming a couple, including this gem of an evening.

Northwestern Winter Formal 2007...all with our future spouses.

Krystal and Emily...the best picture posers I know

We shared our first slow dance to the song "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing." We laughed. We kept talking. The following weekend we went ice skating with a group of friends, and I glared at him as he paid for my skates. (This dependence/submission thing does not come easily for me. :-) I looked at other couples in the rink holding hands while they skated and wondered about our path. Though it was well into a Friday evening, he asked me to be sure to not check my mailbox until the following day. My mind kicked into high gear at his odd request, but I tried not to push the matter any further.

The Search
My excitement, however, didn't stop me from sleeping late into the morning and walking to the cafeteria unshowered and dressed in sweats with my roommate. We ate quickly and dashed over to the RSC to see what Nate was hinting at the night before.

I opened the envelope with the block handwriting I was growing to love and found a scavenger hunt clue.

My roommate wished me well and returned to our room, while my friend Krystal and I ran across campus. We quickly found the clues at the at the Bultman's Center's potted plant, the library, and my RD's apartment. The last clue directed me to call his best friend Michael, an intimidating feat to say the least.

I bolstered my courage and made the call at about 2 in the afternoon and heard the following message: "Hey, this is Mike. Leave a message." I attempted to leave a sensible message, waited what I thought was an appropriate amount of time, and called again only to hear the same message. I learned later that I went through the clues faster than Nate had anticipated, so he asked me to wait.

Snowing and Swooning
I spent the afternoon and evening trying to accomplish something, as it was the Saturday before finals week. I kept checking my phone, hoping I had missed a call. Finally at 7:30 pm, Michael called.
"Hi Anne. This is Michael."
"Hi."
"So...do you have plans for tonight?"
"Uh...no." What else would I have planned?
"Ok, good. Keep that way, and I'll call you back soon."

To pass the time I dug through my closet trying to figure out what to wear. I settled on a plain black t-shirt thinking it would look nice enough without trying too hard and would keep me cool enough to counter my nervousness. Finally at 8:30 pm, Michael called again and said he was coming by to pick me up.

As focused as I had been on what Nate would do next, I was completely distracted as Michael and I left my dorm and headed toward their beloved Colenbrander Hall. There was no wind to speak of, a true oddity for northwest Iowa, and the silent snow was breath-taking.

As we made it to the green, Michael's tone turned slightly more serious.
"Anne, you may know that Nate and I are in a relationship...it's complicated."
"Yes, I know." Their facebook friendship is something else...
"But I think it's time to end it."
"Oh really?" Is this going where I think it is?
"Yep, it's time for him to move on."
"Oh...I see."

I smirked as we kept walking, wondering how our little campus suddenly seemed so big. After Michael almost fell on the ice, we finally made it to the back of Coly. And there stood Nate, alone in the parking lot as the snow gently drifted down. Michael stopped and said something, but I didn't hear. I just kept walking straight to him. After a swooping hug, he said, "Anne, I've really enjoyed getting to know you, and I wanted to know if you would honor me by being my girlfriend."
"Yes, of course!"
"Look behind you."

As I turned back toward the building, I say the phrase "Will you?" spelled out in Christmas lights, one letter per dorm room window. I laughed and hugged him tighter. "Do you mind waving at the window between the words?" he asked. As I waved, the blinds of the window went up revealing a group of faces, those who had helped with Nate's plan.

Ending the Night
Despite the impending finals, we extended our night together by watching The Lake House, Nate's favorite chick flick, and trying to read each other's body language to figure out if holding hands was ok. (Nate decided we weren't there yet... ;-) He walked me home, we prayed in the lobby, and I went upstairs replaying the perfect day.

Pulling two all-nighters during the following finals week was totally worth it.

*               *               *

Nate, it may not have snowed last night, but waking up to the snow 

this morning reminds me again of God's goodness in giving me you. 

Happy five years, sweet man!

Our Story: Part V

If you'd like to catch up on our story, click here and scroll to the bottom.

Going Public

We followed our first date with walks from Spanish to Chapel, a quieter game night with my roommate, and walks around town, the night making honesty a bit easier. A few weeks later, Nate invited me to go to NC/DC (think American Idol between Northwestern and Dordt) with some of his friends. While I quickly said yes, this one made me nervous.

First there was the issue of going to a campus event. Whether warranted or not, many assumptions are made when a girl and guy are seen together at Northwestern. I was concerned that others would wonder why in the world Nate was wasting his time with me. Such a rational moment! Then there were his friends...let's just say I was quite intimidated and knew if I messed up with these guys, I wouldn't last very long. (I'm quite a professional pressure creator.)

Nate and I walked over to the Bultman Center with the canned goods we needed to get into the event, and I tried my best to act much cooler/put together than I felt. Nate's friend was running behind, so Nate put Michael's canned good in a potted plant for safe keeping while we went in to get seats, laughing at the quirky things we could get away with at a small school.

Before long Michael and a few others joined us on the bleachers in the dark gym and listened to the performers. I made a timely Office joke, Michael laughed, Nate looked and me and smiled. I counted it as a win.

After the show we went back to the boys' dorm to play games and meet up with Ryan and Julia, two more people I knew Nate deeply valued. The group conveniently chose to play Like Minds, a partner game in which you score points by listing the same answers without communicating. Thankfully Nate and I thought similarly enough to hold our own, and I refrained from throwing anything (an accomplishment, if you've read Part IV).

As Nate walked me back to my dorm that evening, more than friends yet not quite dating, I had a much greater appreciation for Nate and his two best friends. I didn't know them well, but I wanted to. And I hoped they thought the same.

*               *               *

Five years ago to the day, we were with Ryan and Julia again and missing Michael and Jenny. God continues to do something wonderful with the friendship of these men and now their wives, and I feel so blessed to be a part of it! Ryan and Julia, Michael and Jenny, tonight we're thankful for you.

Missing Michael & Jenny

Our Story: Part IV

The Call
I didn't spend enough time on the range to warrant going home, but the end of the season paired with a missed call from a fellow area code 319 number provided enough motivation to walk off the course. My heart rocked when he called again on my way to the car.

"Hello?" Ugh...you just sounded like your mom...
"Hi...is Anne there?" Great, now he thinks you sound like your mom, too!
"This is she," I said, half laughing at his question, half beating myself up for how Mom-like I continued to sound.
"Oh, yeah. Hi. This is Nate. Uh...I was thinking it might be nice to grab coffee with you sometime, get to know each other a little better. Would you want to go?
"Yeah! Uh...that would be great." I don't drink coffee, but he doesn't need to know that yet...right?
"How about Saturday? I'll pick you up at 8?"
"Perfect. See you then."

I flipped my phone shut, dropped it in the passenger seat, and began nervously laughing in an empty car. Did that really just happen?

I dashed into Stegenga Hall and thankfully found a friend in the computer lab. I burst in with a wild look on my face, which of course prompted several questions from her. I pushed my back to the wall, let myself slide to the floor, and recounted our conversation to Rachael.

"I mean, that's a date, right Rach? Like a real date?"
She rolled her eyes, smiled and said, "Sounds like it to me!"

Accidental Run-In
I spent most of Saturday afternoon fruitlessly attempting to finish something before allowing myself to start getting ready. While typical girls have a natural knack at beautifying, I do not. But I spent quite a bit of time trying to emulate them. Lindsey came by my room at supper time and suggested we go to Quizno's, to which I happily agreed. I didn't bother going beyond getting dressed and drying my hair, as I wasn't planning on seeing anyone besides Lindsey.

We chatted during the 3-minute drive and continued our conversation on the walk to the restaurant. I stopped mid-sentence in the doorway causing Lindsey to run into me. Directly ahead of me sat Nate, his back to me, his hathead revealing his afternoon activity. He sat at a table with five guys, including his boss/mentor and his best friend. I'm pretty sure I started sweating. Nate smiled but looked about as shocked/sick as I felt. Brandon and Ryan both looked giddy.

I attempted to save face by briefly stopping long enough to look each guy in the eye and say hi. I then walked briskly to the counter to order and not mess anything else up. Lindsey thought this was all hilarious but graciously sat at a table where I could keep my back to the boys' group.

The Date
A few minutes before 8 pm, there was a knock on my door. I looked at the mirror one last time, (making sure I looked sufficiently cute while looking like I hadn't tried too hard) and opened the door. He smiled shyly, wearing a button up shirt under a green-brown sweater that mimicked his hazel eyes. Enter: heart beating like a crazy person.

He opened the passenger door of his white Ford Taurus for me, and we drove to De Koffiehoek making nervous small talk. As we got in line at the coffee shop, I glanced at the menu, quickly spun around and said, "So...I don't drink coffee." So smooth.

We sat down at an out-of-the-way table, Nate with coffee, me with a smoothie. He confidently pulled out a deck of cards and explained the game he had planned.
"I thought we'd play Go Fish. Do you know how to play?" he said.
"Ok...of course I know how to play," I said, wondering where this was going.
"Great, but this game is special. Every time you have to go fish, you have to ask the other person a question. Sound good?"
"Perfect."

We started with questions like "What's your favorite color?" but soon began easily trading favorite things and the stories behind them. I think I officially stole his heart when he asked, "If you could play any golf course in the world, which would it be?" and I answered, "Hmm...probably St. Andrew's? But Augusta National is close behind."

We finally reached the end of the game of Go Fish, and I made a comment about starting another game. He smiled and said, "Sure." But he continued putting the cards back into the box. I sat there slightly confused until he launched into the speech he had obviously been rehearsing.

"Anne, I've really enjoyed spending time with you tonight. If it's ok with you, I'd like to start intentionally getting to know you better."
I tried to absorb his words and see if they meant what I thought and didn't realize he was waiting for an answer from me.
"Um, yes. That sounds good."
"Great! I thought, if things went well here, that maybe we could go back to Coly and play games with Brandon and Kelly. Has it gone well? Would you want to go?"

I didn't know Nate well, but I had seen enough on campus to know that going to play games with Brandon and Kelly was Nate's Northwestern equivalent to meeting the parents. I wasn't sure if I was up to that challenge, but I was intrigued enough to give it a try!

We made the short drive back to Coly and I entered the Coly RD apartment for the first of many times. As we walked in, Brandon and Kelly were quickly gathering blankets and tools and definitely didn't look like they were about to sit down for a game night. Nate looked panicked. Brandon and Kelly were smirking.

"It's nice to meet you, Anne," said Kelly.
"Sorry we have to run, buddy," said Brandon. "Tasha has a flat tire near Hawarden, so we need to go help her out. We'll see if we can get back in time to play a few games!"
They didn't.

I didn't mind the level playing field, but Nate took a little while to get his groove back. He showed me a few of his favorite games from their collection. We started with Pass the Pigs, which I won, then progressed to Ubongo, a tangram game sort of like Tetras. I am not spatially-minded in the least, but I am quite competitive. Let's just say, Nate won this game convincingly, and I may or may not have thrown a game card across the room.

Thankfully Nate was up for trying another game. We settled on Doodle Dice, which turned into an epic siege. After covering their coffee table with cards, I finally pulled off the win and recovered some of the dignity I lost during Ubongo.

He walked me back to my room, both of us short on words but smiling. We said goodnight without a hug or handshake, but my goodness, Nate was smiling. I closed my door, and wondered what it all meant. I had a great time, but I was fully convinced that was our first and only date. No guy that wonderful would hang around with me, right?

Nate's Addendum: That night I told my roommate Jeff, "I think I just went on my first date with my wife."

*                       *                       *   

I'll start my full gratitude posts tomorrow.

Tonight I'm thankful for our story and for a great man with whom to keep writing.

Our Story: Part III

Couples that Swing Together, Stay Together?
My roommate Andrea's smirk told me something was up. Our room phone rang, she answered, and now stood there smirking and said, "It's for you." A myriad of possible scenarios sped through my mind in the three steps it took to cross our dorm room, but I didn't dare hope to hear his voice on the other end of the phone.

"Hello?" I said.
"Hi, Anne? This is Nate. I was wondering, since our seasons are over, if you'd want to go golfing with a group of us this week."
"Um...sure. That'd be great. What day are you thinking?"
"Does Wednesday sound ok?"
"Uh...that works for me! Should I just meet you at the course?"
"Yeah. I'll see you there!"

Andrea was still smirking when I hung up the phone. I promptly told her it was just a group thing, but she didn't look convinced. Apparently I should have paid more attention to her because Nate's "golfing with a group of us" really meant golfing with him and another couple. He splurged on carts for the four of us, and thankfully Kara, one of my golf teammates, made sure she and I were together.

We all stood on the first tee, Nate taking confident practice swings, seemingly relaxed and ready to go, me faking confident practice swings, praying I didn't make a fool out of myself. I went to take out a tee and realized I forgot to restock my bag. Nate saw me scrounging around my disheveled pockets and offered me a handful of tees. He took out a generous amount, showing me just how together he was, and promptly dropped them all over the ground while trying to hand them to me. "Perfect...I'm not the only nervous one," I thought.

He hit his drive straight and long down the first fairway. I pulled mine into the weeds. Every shot after that I tried proving to him that I knew what I was doing. (Apparently he was doing the same thing because neither of us remember much of how the other played.)

After a good amount of flirting, we ran out of course to play and headed to our separate cars. I was driving back to campus replaying the afternoon in my mind and wondering who I could find to eat dinner with once I returned. I was 3 blocks from my parking lot when I got a call from Kara: "Anne, turn around! There's a free meal at the fire station, and we're going!"

My heart rate increased while I thought about how much this felt like a date. Golf and a meal? With another couple? I couldn't push the thought out of my mind while I stood next to him eating a hamburger on a table made out of two 1x6s held up between barrels.

Heart Flutters by the Mailboxes
Midterm break had finally arrived! I was looking forward to driving down to Kansas City to visit my brother and sister-in-law. I was hoping my hours on the road would help me sort out the every-growing amount of thoughts about Nate. My friend Lindsey and I decided to check our mail one last time before leaving town. We were chatting, caught up in the excitement of leaving town, when I stopped suddenly.

"Oh no..." I said, seeing a crisply folded loose leaf paper in my mailbox.
"What's wrong? Who's that from?"
"I don't know, but we need to leave. We just...we just need to leave..."

Lindsey smiled and wrinkled her forehead at my irrational reaction, but she hurried to follow my long strides out of the building and into her Toyota 4Runner. I looked at the folded paper, taped shut with my name neatly printed in capital letters on the front.

The protection of the car combined with Lindsey's urging finally gave me the courage to open the letter. Would it be from the person I wanted? Or would it be another note I'd have to somehow politely decline? I carefully tore the tape and held my breath...

The Note

No. He. Didn't!

I freaked out while Lindsey laughed. We deciphered what each phrase could mean before we finally both got in our cars and went on our separate ways. Northwest Iowa can be a brisk, dreary place in mid-October, but thanks to a simple piece of paper, I stayed plenty warm, smiley, and mildly distracted for my entire five-hour drive.

Our Story: Part II

Setting the Stage
At the end of my freshman year of college, I was nursing a bit of a wounded heart, missing friends I hadn't left yet, and looking forward to the fall when I could come back to campus. One May afternoon I was looking at my class load for the fall semester and browsing class lists to anticipate with whom I could sit/do projects/go to lunch. As I scanned names of of my future Spanish 201 classmates on the periwinkle Synapse background, my eyes lingered on one: Nate Summers.

Facebook Flirting
On June 14, 2007, my heart skipped a beat when I checked my email and saw this subject line: Nate Summers has written on your wall. What?! He had met one of my golf coaches during his summer internship and thought he'd let me know. Because that's the kind of guy he is, right? He'd tell that to anyone, right? My silly girl heart didn't quite know what to think. I tried making witty banter online without sounding like I was trying.

When his birthday came up five days later, I stared at the screen, typed, deleted, and reconsidered whether I should write anything, then retyped my message half a dozen times. I settled on the perfectly discreet but original phrase: "Happy birthday, Nate. Have a good day." 

Ok, you did it! Can he tell I stalk his page every once in a while? Was I too forward? He wrote back to me! Oh, he wrote back to everyone who told him happy birthday. Why am I thinking like this? Sometimes being a girl is kind of lame...

As the school year started, I had developed a full-blown crush on Nate and anxiously awaited our first interaction on campus. I didn't have to wait long, as I saw him during one of my first golf practices of the year. My hyped-up nerves translated into some epic golf that I still have yet to replicate.

While I was on the driving range, I noticed him walking behind me toward the chipping green. I gripped my new 3-wood with increased determination and cranked the ball. I slyly glanced back to see if Nate had seen my handiwork, and smirked when I saw him staring. That night I signed into Facebook and found the following post on my wall:

I was giddy. And in my giddiness, I once again responded in a way I thought seemed effortlessly cool:

Did you notice the lol and the wink? I told you I was clever! Needless to say, my friends called me out on our flirting. I tried to downplay it and rationalize that he was just a good encourager, but inside I was hoping against hope they were right.

Lost in Translation (aka The First Time We Were Husband & Wife)
While our time on the golf course was limited, I reveled in knowing I would see him every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 8:50 am. Spanish 201 with Professor Elsa Schmidt proved to be a practice in class unity as we tried to figure out what was going on. Nate sat behind me and one seat to my left, making sneaky, sideways glances relatively easy.

After a few weeks I noticed that he and I were conveniently finishing our daily quizzes at the same time. While he thought he was being smooth, I thought he was being cute and loved the excuse to walk to Chapel together.

Prof. Schmidt assigned a group project that required us to write and act out a script using a certain set of vocabulary. Since Nate and I sat near one another, we ended up in the same group. Our group of five met in the upper room of the library and I nervously tried to anticipate Nate's reaction to my...ahem...assertiveness during group projects. As usual I soon had control of the pencil and wrote out our script, which depicted several travelers checking into a hotel.

After we completed the writing, we went through the character list to pick parts. I hesitated in claiming a spot until the end. So did Nate. With all the cliché of a chick flick, the last two characters to be claimed were the husband and wife.

Foreshadowing is integral to a great story, right?
(We also earned an A for our project. :-)

*          *          *

Happy anniversary, my senior stud! Thanks for being my husband, for real.

Our Story: Part I

I'm a story person. I love hearing people's stories. I love hearing them in their own words, even the little ones they don't feel are worth sharing. Those are sometimes the best ones. I've wanted to write down our story for quite some time, especially after being inspired by others who've chronicled how their love came to be. So here's my attempt to bottle up the pile of little sparks that forged the first volume of Nate and Anne. It's not too dramatic. It's quite ordinary. But it's ours. And I wouldn't change a thing.

*          *          *

Spark at First Sight
Our story starts with whispers. With me overhearing these little comments about this guy named Nate, who was a good friend of one of my childhood friends. I'd hear little anecdotes of the adventures of Nate and his best friend Clint as my friend smiled and rolled her eyes at their antics (and prompting several future "Oh you're THAT Clint" moments). When I was preparing to go to college, my friend mentioned Nate would be among the many students I'd be joining on campus.

When I arrived at Northwestern, we had a few run-ins of no particular significance. He played golf, I played golf. We worked in the concession stand together one afternoon. I avoided him. He recognized my last name on the sweatshirt I was wearing in the cafeteria one day. He said hi. I blushed.

He was an upperclassman and an RA, and one of my first college friends had a crush on him. He was clearly out of my league, and the thought of being anything more than acquaintances never crossed my mind.

That is, it never crossed my mind until I was watching That 70's Show with another guy's arm around me. My eyes couldn't help but wander over to this guy walking down the hallway, a guy with a confident yet easy-going stride, a quick smile, truth-telling eyes. Oh those eyes...

At the time I would've said I was just applauding God's creation, but now I think of that night as the first time I truly saw Nate. The night I felt that first little wow moment. That first little spark...

Happy birthday, sweet man. Thanks for making me a part of your story.