Chris and Jen's Wedding

Well, this was originally going to be a biography sort of page, but I decided that the story of how we met would be more interesting.

Way back in the early '90s(I know... it was only a few years ago..) I (Jen) went to JEB Stuart High School and I graduated in 1995. The "tradition" was that the seniors would go to Ocean City, MD for a week after graduation, so I roomed with a really good friend and a girl I knew, but not too well. Needless to say, during that week, me and the girl I didn't know too well grew to know eachother really well, and we actually got along, so naturally when we went home after that week we kept in touch. I would talk to her at work occasionally and within a month she decided that her coworker and I would make a cute couple....

So she went to work...trying to get us to talk...and for a while it didn't look like anything was going to happen. (If you haven't figured it out yet, her coworker was Chris) It seemed like every time I would call to talk to my friend, she would try to put Chris on the phone, he would have to rush off to "fix the air conditioner" or something odd like that. To this day, he insists that he was really fixing it.... I honestly thought that he wasn't interested, and I told my friend that...because we eventually did speak for a few minutes, and I gave him my number(at least that's how I remember it!) and ...no call. So I told my friend, not really thinking she would relay that back to Chris. Of course she did, though, and it turns out that he was thinking the same thing... I wasn't normally the type of person who wouldn't call a guy, but give me a break, I was 17, and really, I was a bit peeved with men at the time.

Chris probably called that evening, and we probably talked on the phone for several hours that first time. We spoke every night for about a month, and then he made the suggestion that we meet "face to face." I guess normally a couple would meet in person long before a month passes by, but I lived almost an hour away, so it wasn't terribly easy. I didn't have a car, and he worked into the evening every night. Anyway, I agreed that it was about time that we meet, so he asked me when would be good...without thinking I blurted out "How about Wednesday?" It was monday I think, and I didn't really think much of it...I found out years later that he thought that was really wierd...but anyway.... We agreed to meet at 8:00pm (or was it 8:30?) and that was that....

Wednesday night...I was in a near state of panic. I must have tried on 5 different outifts that night... Needless to say, I was ready by 7:30. So 8:00 rolls around...No Chris. So I call my friend. I'm not quite upset yet, but wondering what's going on..I thought he might be early for our first date. She assures me that Chris is not like that, and she's sure he's on his way. I guess now would be a good time to tell you that my friend's mom also happened to be Chris's boss, and I could hear her in the background saying what she'd do to him if he didn't show up. Anyway, 8:30 rolls around..and by about 8:45 my dad was offering to take me out to dinner if Chris didn't show soon.. He finally showed up at almost 9:00. His excuse? The street sign at the entrance to my neighborhood was gone...Thinking back, I remember seeing the street sign in question on the balcony of one of the apartments behind the house. At any rate, he ended up going almost 20 miles past my neighborhood, and ended up stopping at a Pizza place to ask for directions.... Well, he finally got there, and we went to dinner as planned (albeit a little later) and had a great time. Four years later, almost to the day (July 30, 1999...it was 3 days before our anniversary...I guess he couldn't wait any longer) he asked me to be his wife.