Our Story, Pt. 1 "You've Got Mail"

Carlos and I have an interesting history. I never would have imagined that this would be my story, or I should say "our story." I like to joke that we met on the internet--technically, we did, BUT, we were set up, and by someone we both knew well and respected. The mother of one of my best friends from growing up set us up. She's also my mom's best friend. This woman is one of those people who you can only describe as a perfect angel. (And I don't just say that because she introduced us). When you imagine heaven, you imagine it is filled with people like Sister Ritchie. You can't exactly say "no" to an angel. So, with a bit of gentle angelic coaxing, we agreed to write each other (I agreed only as long as he wrote me first). :) So, on Aug. 30th, 2005 Carlos wrote our very first email. The only problem to our "happily ever after" story was, I didn't get it. It went directly to my spam box. In fact, it was my very first spam email that I received in my new g-mail account. (He's come a long way from a spam email). But I digress, back to our story. A week later I received a phone call from my mom who was very upset with me: "He wrote you. Why didn't you write him back?" Well, that was the gist of our conversation. Apparently when I didn't respond to him he had written to Sis. Ritchie that it must have been the wrong email or something because he never heard back. Sister Ritchie wrote to my mom (in Ukraine), who then called me--shocked that I could be so rude (despite all my protests that I had never received an email from this mysterious Carlos). To appease her, I immediately checked my inbox to prove I was right. No new emails. Ha! I was right. To my horror I then noticed this:
Spam (1)
Oh no. With my mom still on the phone, I had to admit that I was wrong! He had written me! But, to my defense, it had gone to my spam box, (who checks that???) but that was no justification since my mom didn't know what a spam box was. After I promised (repeatedly) to write back immediately, my mom hung up the phone.
And so began our friendship. We wrote for 3 months before we actually met. Though I would say that long distance relationships are no fun at all, I'm very grateful that ours happened the way it did. We are blessed to have a very well documented courtship. Someday our kids will be able to laugh at all of our cheesy and nervously written emails that show how our relationship evolved from complete strangers to becoming best friends. Even at the time it was nice in a way. I was a very stressed out and terrified new grad student (convinced I would never see a M.S. degree), and he was a junior in engineering at Purdue (also very busy and stressed). So, I didn't ever have to worry about looking cute, or spend my weekends away from my homework. I spent that semester in my basement--sitting at my computer in my pajamas, sans makeup, covered in a blanket with a space heater next to me and completely surrounded by piles of books and papers. (How romantic). Well, I was either there or in our closet, I mean grad student computer lab (which really was a closet). Likewise, he didn't have to plan expensive or creative dates, or even shave (after all, he was at Purdue, not BYU). :) (Maybe he did shave, I don't know). The best part was, it was completely non-threatening. If he turned out to be a scary dude I could simply stop writing him and change my email, no harm done. (I'm just grateful he didn't do that to me). Very soon our emails became more and more frequent. I was always so excited to get an email from him--I would compulsively check my email, hoping he had written.  Way too much time was spent carefully crafting replies--making sure there were no spelling or grammar errors. I never really worried about what he looked like, but I was always curious. After a month and a half, he finally sent me a picture, and I admit, I was very happy that he was so handsome. (I know, so shallow). So here are a few of the pictures he sent me before we ever met. I don't do this to make you all jealous, but really, he's so good-looking, I can't help but flaunt it. :)

Here is the first picture I ever saw...

 

Why the cat and Mr. T. you ask? Good question. I think it was to show off his good looks even more. (When my brother saw this his response was--"isn't that an actor or a famous singer?" No, but he is handsome enough to be.)


This was from a speaking event at Purdue...

And here's my favorite. This was from a concert he did with a singing group at Purdue...

Oh so very, very handsome.


Here's another favorite so you can see why I hope our kids will look just like him...

He would be the one in the carriage, with all the curls. :) Adorable. (as are Karen and Andre). I'd just love to know how they convinced him to play the "baby" as he obviously doesn't look too thrilled about it.

And that, my friends, is the end of a very long Part 1. No idea if/when subsequent parts will be written. :)