Meant To Be

One of the questions in my "Ask Me Anything" post was from Patti. She asked how Chris and I met, how long we were engaged, etc. I absolutely LOVE our story and decided it deserved it's own post. As you probably know by now, we are huge Duck fans. My family has had season tickets to the football games for years, and part of my extended family goes to the games, too. I always said I could never marry a beaver because it would be like marrying someone who didn't believe in Christmas. It's a huge family tradition to go to the games, and I wanted to share that with my spouse, too. So in 2003, the civil war game was at Autzen Stadium. Two rows behind me, in the midst of all the Duck fans, was a lone beaver fan. On the way out of the game, as we were all making our way down the stairs in our section, I was criticizing the Duck fan who had brought the beaver to the Duck section. Turns out that Duck fan was Chris, and the beaver friend was one of our groomsmen. It was all in good fun, but I let him know it was not ok to bring the enemy into our section! We all laughed and went our own way, that was the last game of the season. Turns out I made quite an impression on Chris that day! He had sat behind me and my family for a few seasons and had noticed that I was big fan. So the 2004 season comes around and on October 16, I was down by the vendors meeting a friend and Chris comes up to me. He starts talking and asks for my number, but I remember him as the guy who brought the beaver to the game last year! Plus, I thought he was in college (turns out he was 35) and said, "No, I don't date college guys." I was a whopping 23 at this time, only out of school for one year myself! He looked surprised but didn't correct me. Back at my seat, I told my mom about it and she looked back at Chris, 2 rows behind, and said it was too bad because he was good looking. So I looked back and sure enough, he was kind of cute and I began to regret not giving him my number. So the next game, October 30, I went up to him and started talking. Turns out he was a Christian, involved in his church, and a huge Duck fan. He asked for my number again, and for some reason I got flustered and gave him my mom's cell number, which is very similar to my own number. I didn't realize I had given him the wrong number until later. So the first time he called, my mother answered! She totally grilled him before she gave him my number! So he calls and we hit it right off. We talked for a month before going on our first date, to that year's civil war game. When he picked me up, he didn't bring flowers, but a large Oregon Duck! He proposed 3 months later at Autzen Stadium on a beautiful, cold, clear day. We got married October 8, exactly one year after we first started talking and 2 years after I told him off for bringing a beaver to the Duck game. Our rehearsal dinner was a huge tailgate party, with BBQ and green and yellow decorations everywhere. It was so much fun! We have been blessed with 2 daughters, but if we had had a son, his middle name would have Autzen, after the place we met and have so many fun memories. Now isn't that a great story?