The guy’s name is Russell and the girl’s name is Hannah. I just wanted to submit Ate Hannah’s version of them meeting from their wedding site because they were the cutest couple ever. :) They both don’t have a Tumblr.
Russ and I met the summer of ‘05. He and I were both fresh from the Philippines. Russ was fresh from a family visit—I had the Fresh Of the Boat status. It was on a Wednesday, we had worship service and I remember drawing my eyes to this reeeeaaaally tall guy sitting in the front row. I put the extra e’s and a’s because I was sitting all the in the back and I was still able to see about half of him haha! For now, we’ll call him “Really Tall Guy”. He then walked up to me and and introduced himself as “Russ” and tried to engage in a conversation while I tried to get out of it because I found him scary! :-P This was our set-up for a couple of weeks—it didn’t have the chance to grow because I only saw and tried to avoid him twice a week after worship services. Until one day our locale arranged a bowling night. Not having a single sporty bone in my body, I tagged along to eat and laugh, not to “try” to bowl. Really Tall Guy noticed that I wasn’t playing so he approached me and somehow managed to have me give it a shot. Gutter ball, after gutter ball, after gutterball, he found a way to make me feel a little better about myself and introduced me to bumpers. I smiled. Really big. And at the end of the night, Really Tall Guy became “Kuya Russ”.
Kuya. It means “big brother” in Filipino. I still cringe at that memory. I know it wasn’t necessary to identify him that way but knowing that he’s about 6 years older —it was just a force of habit on my part. He was then invited to come over our friends’ place for dinner and a movie. Mama and I were still living with the Garcia’s at the time so she was around to see Russ. He introduced himself and Mama was star/love/son-in-lawstruck. Her exact thoughts: “I will be very happy if this guy married Hannah.” She DID NOT keep this to herself and kept mentioning it. That same day. After dinner, he brought up a photo album that he carried with him while he was studying in the Philippines. I had no idea that he has a cat named “Mr. Bigglesworth” or that he is very family oriented. I rarely came across guys like him and I’m pretty sure I found that attractive in one subconcious way or another :-P Summer ended and classes began and I saw less and less of my friends. This didn’t help with my homesickness. One Saturday, Russ (who was Kuya—eeehh) decided to look at each other’s phones. We had the outdated kinds. I’m still not sure why I freaked out when he started scrolling down for contacts but I ended up chasing him all around the parking lot:
KR: Hey, you don’t have my number.
H: ……Yeah and?
KR: *hands me his phone* Here. Put in yours and I’ll do the same with mine.
H:…If I do that, will you give my phone back to me -__-“
KR: Uhuh :D
H: Okay fine >:/
The texts became frequent. So did our IMs over Yahoo. Months later I realized that his messages became my favorite part of the day and I became sad. I found him way out of my league and being 6 years older, I didn’t think eh would even consider someone the same age as his sister. I attempted to stop there.
It was November and Norwich, Bristol’s neighboring locale arranged a “Renewal of Vowes”. I was excited and so were my friends. For weeks, we spent looking for the right dress and shoes and the day that I complete my outfit, I received a text saying “Oh, I won’t be able to make it that day. I’m gonna be driving home from Rochester and by the time I reach Bristol, it’ll be too late.” and my heart sank. Rochester is 5-7 hours away. While he was away, Henry, our best man and Vikk, one of my matrons of honor, took me to the Mickey D’s near church while waiting for choir practice to be over. We got to talking about Russ and how he felt the same way about me and so and so and my heart sank deeper. I was actually missing him. (Now try to imagine my chinky eyes being this wide after coming up with that realization: O______O)
The morning of the Renewal of Vowes came and I woke up to a text message saying: “Driving home now. Will try to make it in time for dinner :-) :-*”. I gamely showered, dressed and left for church to help set up. Every hour I’d check my phone for messages and NOTHING. By 7:30pm I gave up. Halfway through my salad, someone pointed out Russ to me and just like that, my smile defeated Pucca’s tenfold. I got 15 minutes of actually being with him that night, out of the 3 days of thinking about him non-stop. We didn’t even ask each other if the other one had any plans of going online, and in our pajamas and worn-shirts, we talktalktalked away. THAT knocked off the “Kuya” (OMG finally..).
December came and Russ asked me out the best way he could—through Mama. He had Sasha, our MOH come along with him for moral support. It took him 3 hours to actually ask Mama and he impressed her with his determination to get a “Yes”. At December 10, 2005, we became official.
Something rare remained in our relationship since. It grew along with us. We grew into these two individuals that work well hand in hand without even trying. For over 4 years, Russ has been taking good care of me. And everyday I pray that I will always be able to do the same for him. I didn’t imagine us to be so compatible with each other to the point that it gets creepy sometimes :-P
My better half never fails to have the McDreamy effect on me (I hope you watch Grey’s Anatomy). It happens while watching him do the dishes, when I stare at him playing video games, while he’s folding laundry, even when he’s brushing his teeth! Perhaps it’s because we see, understand and love each other in a way that no one else can. God has blessed me with a wonderful man. And for that I am eternally grateful.
Russ asked Mama for my hand in marriage the same way he did 4 years ago. It was a lot more challenging this time around but his “dreaminess” has gotten to Mama’s heart and she gave him a yes. My friends and I were expecting the ring that same day but no dice. No dice for an entire week! Then it was Turkey Day at their place. Family and close friends were over with little ones. After dinner and during the middle of the celebration, I felt the food coma kicking in and headed for the living room couch. It was pretty crazy then having the adults sing karaoke in one end of the house mixed in with the children’s videogaming and story telling in the other but it all went away when I saw Russ playing with his neices. Ahhh the McDreamy effect, future husband style. It’s pretty funny because when the new category of the McDreamy effect had its debut, Russell proposed :D
And here we are less than 4 months until the wedding still being “US”. I love being Russell’s. And as one of my vowes, I will spend the rest of my life making sure that he loves being mine. It truly is the best job in the world. :) THE END!
It’s a 12-10-05 kind of thing ;)
It’s exactly like finding that someone you always want to give the cherry that comes with your Shirley Temple to. Or that someone whom you want to save the bigger half of your steak for. It’s that warm tingle on your fingers when your hand finds the hand it’s meant to hold. It’s beautiful. It’s sloppy. It’s perfect. It’s us.
……No, seriously, you can gag if you want ;D
by erikamari