Countdown!

The last month has been a blur! We leave for Scotland in just a few hours!

In the last few weeks, Doug got settled into his new job as a data analyst for Pulse while I tried to rip myself the rest of the way out of my job at Webb. My final Vanderbilt classes were two weeks ago. Immediately after my last classes on a Saturday afternoon I came home to meet my sisters who quite efficiently packed up and cleaned my entire kitchen (no small feat). The next day we moved most of my earthly possessions into the P.O.D. with the help of my amazing brother-in-law, Bill.

Bill has this weird and wonderful gift of being able to fit hundreds of random items into tiny spaces in such a way that they defy the forces of travelling and don't collapse into a random pile. I need people with skills like this in my life. I know this because I packed the last third of the P.O.D. and I have a feeling that it's going to become a random pile after traversing 2,300 miles.

I spent the last week cleaning the house frantically so that the new owners wouldn't know what a slob I am and could move happily in. It seemed like a never-ending ordeal. I love my house, but by the time I said goodbye to it, I was ready to never, ever own a house again.

Friday July 27th was my last day at work and also the day I was scheduled to close on the house. I nearly had an anxiety attack at work as I was going through 4 years of accumulated papers and memories. I left early for the closing at 2 PM only to learn that there was a hold-up that could last until the next week. This was terrible news, so I breathed and said a quick prayer and hung around the area for a few more hours.

Prayers were answered, and I was glad to receive a bottle of wine with my closing papers! This weekend I stayed with my sweet sister Tracie whilst resting, re-packing my wedding luggage, running last-minute errands, and seeing some old friends for the last time.


And now we are ready. We are so excited and thankful for our friends and family who will be part of our wedding-moon adventure!!

Kiddos!

Here are some photos of us when we were just little kiddos. Weren't we cute??!!

"I love you"

Our adventures continued from spring break towards the summer. We were trying to keep our relationship under wraps as much as possible at Webb to avoid unnecessary attention from the kids and the other dorm parents, especially if things didn't work out with us, so we basically ignored each other during the day and went for long wandering conversation-filled walks in the dark. I'm pretty sure everyone saw right through it, but the adults were too polite to say much and the kids always reveled in speculation about every teacher's love life, so they didn't give many more signs of awareness than usual.

By this time I was studying frantically for the quantitative section of the GMAT, and Doug (who was completely dismayed by my general lack of math talent) would sit with me while I studied. One night he and some of his dorm "sons" baked cookies and brought them over to my dorm, which provoked much cooing from my dorm "daughters." It felt even more like a high school romance than ever...only we were apparently the parents.

Summer was approaching. Doug had signed up for a couple of summer Latin classes at UT Knoxville, which is 3 hours away, and so I wondered how our budding relationship would fare once Webb classes were over and he went out to Knoxville. We were getting closer and sweeter and I kept waiting for something to go wrong, but it didn't.

The last weekend before summer break and Doug's departure to Knoxville, two of the other dorm parents (who had met and fallen in love at Webb) got married. Doug and I attended the wedding together, sparking whispers and giggles amongst the students who were present, and then we split up during the reception so we wouldn't seem to be REALLY together.

I knew something was bothering Doug on the drive home. After some conversation about weddings and relationships, he told me that he wanted to be more open and serious about our relationship. We had a wonderful talk. It took his sincere honesty about how he felt for me to help me realize just how much I was growing to care for him.

That Monday he left for Knoxville, with no particular plans about keeping in touch. I missed him so much that week, which once again made me realize how important his friendship and company was becoming to me.

As it turned out, he drove back to Nashville to see me every weekend in June. He had classes every weekday, but on Friday afternoons he would text me as he was leaving and I'd look forward to seeing him a few hours later.

For the long weekend of July 4th, we decided that I should drive to meet him in Knoxville, and that we would go from there on a little road trip to Asheville, NC by way of the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway. I was so happy to see him when I got to Knoxville, and as usual we didn't stop talking as we drove up into the Smokies. We camped up in the mountains on the evening of July 4th -- fireflies, the milky way, shooting stars, and lazy satellites are much more exciting than fireworks!

That night, under millions and millions of stars in the cool night air up in the Smoky Mountains, Doug told me he loved me.

And I loved him, too.