It all started with a splash!

Today is my 27th birthday, but it also marks the 9 year anniversary of the day that I met my sweet husby!

It was Sunday, August 24, 2002, and I was 18 years old. I had just finished a week long freshman orientation at John Brown University and to kick off the school year they threw a pool party at the Aquatic Center for all new and returning students. It had been a rainy day and was fairly cool for late August, so I had no intention of getting my purple paisley tankini* wet, or my long blonde braids for that matter.

There were students milling around as far as the eye could see, and everyone shared my opinion of swimming that evening--the pool was empty! I saw a really cute boy with long, curly, black hair across the way wearing red swim trunks. I asked a few friends if they knew him, but nobody knew who he was. I stood around chatting with some friends and singing to the Train cd that was playing. When out of nowhere two boys I went to high school with ran up and pushed me into a chair. They picked me up, in the chair, and carried me above their shoulders singing "Happy Birthday" for all to hear. I was mortified, and angry, as I realized they were going to dump me into the cold, empty pool in front of the whole school!

I started pleading with them to put me down, not in the water! As I turned to my right to threaten to tell Hendy's mother, I realized that there was a third boy holding the back of the chair. It was "red trunks" guy! I had no time to threaten his life before I was in over my head and being repeatedly dunked by the boys who had jumped in after throwing my chair in the pool!

I finally managed to shout at him and ask why he had thrown me in when he didn't even know me!? His reply? "I'm Ryan Hawk, we're going to be great friends."

And the rest, is history.

(oldest pic I could find of us that was scanned, 2005ish)

*May that tankini rest in peace. It was my favorite suit to wear when we would break into the hot tubs after hours at a hotel in Springdale, AR. Since we would go after hours, they had usually just shocked the pools and the swim suit literally fell apart from so much chlorine exposure. Sad.