Chris and Angela...the best love story ever told

Chris is the love of my life. He makes everything better.

I met Chris about 3 years ago, as we both work at the same acute-care facility. He is 8 years younger than I, so neither he nor I ever considered taking our friendship to the next level. He is an EKG technician and I am a critical care RN. We both work night shift (7p-7a). Initially I thought Chris was a bit arrogant and most likely full of himself. Regardless of my preconceived negative opinion of Chris, he carried himself with an air of confidence that intrigued me. I slowly got to know him in passing and before I knew it I actually thought he was pretty nice and a reasonably fun guy to talk to! More months went by and I found myself actually looking forward to the times he would come by my busy unit in the ICU with his EKG cart just to say "hi." He made me laugh like no one else could and we seemed to share the same sarcastic, "no one ever gets me" kind of humor. There was an undeniable sense of chemistry between us and everyone else around us could see it too.

In June, 2008, I decided to take up ballroom dance lessons. I had always wanted to do that. Dancing has always come fairly naturally to me, and it's something I've always loved to do. I took dance lessons for 14 years of my life growing up...tap, jazz and ballet. If nothing else, these lessons early in my life taught me rhythm and how to count beats. Anyway, the only thing I lacked in my quest to begin ballroom lessons was a good partner. So, one night at work I approached Chris somewhat nervously and began with "I've signed up to take ballroom dance lessons but I do not have a partner yet..." Before I even had the chance to ask Chris, he volunteered "I'll do it!" I was so excited! Not only was I going to finally get to learn ballroom, but the man I secretly (or not so secretly) adored was going to be my partner! I couldn't wait!

Up until this point we had established a friendship, but had never spent time together outside of work! On June 19 (the day before our first ballroom dance lesson), Chris invited me to breakfast. He stated he thought it would be strange for us to not have at least spent a little time together outside of work before having our bodies shoved up against each other during our lesson. I agreed. Admittedly I was pretty nervous. We met at Mimi's cafe after a long night at work for breakfast. After only 2 minutes my nerves vanished. It felt like we were the best friends in the whole world, like I had known him my entire life (sorry about the cliche!). He had me in tears laughing, and we both had the best time ever. It was at this breakfast that I found out how Chris felt about me. He slipped up and said "I have such a great time with you at work. I always look for your car in the parking garage to see if you're going to be working that night. You seem to be the only one that drives a black Honda....." Now, Chris did not yet pick up on the fact that he now seemed like a stalker (I thought it was cute, by the way....not creepy), so I kind of cocked my eyebrow and said "Hmmmm...the only black Honda, huh? So, do you drive up all 5 levels of the parking garage to know this??" His expression than changed to one that appeared horrified. "Oh God," he said, "Oh God." I laughed so hard, but I think he was utterly embarrassed beyond belief until breakfast was over.

Ballroom dance classes were a lot of fun. We did them in groups with some of our friends which, although much cheaper, ended up costing us more in the long-run while also causing us much frustration. Every week it seemed we were adding new couples and old couples disappeared. What this meant was Chris and I (being the good little students that showed up for EVERY lesson) were way ahead of everyone else and we had to constantly be reviewing things to catch the new people up. After about 3 or 4 expensive lessons coming and going, without us learning a stitch of anything new, we stopped going all together. We vowed someday we would do the lessons again, but with private lessons only.

By the time we had discontinued our lessons, Chris and I were officially a couple. We had virtually professed our undying love for one another and our new romantic relationship was in full swing. We knew early on that we were "the One" for one another. What "they" say about "when you know, you know" is absolutely true! In fact, what "they" say about "it will happen when you're not looking or when you least expect it" is true as well! Before I met Chris, I had heard all of these cliches and more. I couldn't stomach any other romantic "advice" people felt the need to shove my way. I was 29 years old and society says you're an "old maid" if you haven't married and had a couple of kiddos by then. Sure, that's what I wanted for my own life as well, but you just can't force these things. I had kissed a million frogs before I began dating Chris. In fact, ironically, Chris was the guy I told many of my pathetic dating stories to! We were genuinely "just friends" and I felt comfortable talking to him about such sensitive things. It was nice to get a male's perspective on things and it was equally nice to hear Chris call most of these "old frogs" of mine, "jerks." When I fell for Chris I was absolutely not looking for ANY relationship. I had recently gotten out of yet another short-term "frog" situation that I knew was wrong for me from the beginning. I was just burned out on all of it. Additionally, I was just beginning the process of applying to CRNA school and I was not sure if I would have to move or not, so I had decided to not only NOT start any sort of relationship, but not even go on a single date with anyone. It was time once again to focus on myself and my life-long goals and I did not want anyone or anything to distract me from it. Well, needless to say, sometimes God has other plans. I always tease Chris by saying "you snuck in the back way. I didn't even see you coming."

We celebrated our one year anniversary on June 19, 2009. We have currently been dating approx. 14 months now. He has officially asked my father for his permission to marry me. Yes, Chris told me. He was apparently too excited to keep it to himself!! Ha! Ha! My dad gave Chris his blessing. Now, the waiting begins.... Over the past year we've developed a greater friendship and love for one another than I could ever know of. I didn't know what I didn't know. This is what I've been looking for my entire life! We respect each other every day and never say an unkind word to one another. We are both very sensitive to each other and our moods. Chris knows instantly if I'm bothered by something and he'll ask me about it. This is good for me, though, because it forces me to communicate and discuss things/issues while they're happening, whereas in other relationships I would just bury the issue until I exploded later, because whomever I was dating at the time settled for my "nothing is wrong" copout. I've never been happier in my life, and Chris and I agree that we have the "best love story ever told!"