Our Love Story, Part 2: Growing up Together

Hello!  Thank you for joining me this week.  Last week I started a 3 part series of my own love story.  If you'd like a refresher, you can read Part 1 here.

Part 2: Growing up Together

It was mid September of 2001 and I was a senior. I was fresh out of a relationship and had a new sense of freedom. I was excited to start off my last year of high school, single and available to do whatever I wanted with my friends. As I strode down the crowded hallway, I caught sight of Adam standing in ‘his’ corner with a group of friends-- some I knew, some were kids I’d never paid attention to. He still towered above everyone and now sported a foot long Mohawk that made him stand out even more...but in a really good way. I knew this was where he hung out, with the other punk rock and skater kids but until this particular day, I kind of ignored it. Our eyes met briefly and we nodded a hello to each other. I kept on going. The next day though, there was a special feeling in the air… one of those fall days that you feel so excited about life and willing to take on whatever challenge comes your way… like talking to a cute boy you used to really like and getting him to break up with his girlfriend… again.

Okay- I know what you are thinking… “Man, she’s awful!”, “What a (fill in the blank)!”, “How could she?”, “Seriously?”, “Breaking up another one of this guy’s relationships?” Go ahead… judge me! It’s okay. I’ve reconciled all of that already. But I promise, I didn’t really have malicious intent. It just sort of happened. 

As I approached ‘his’ corner that morning, my heart took over, and before my mind could step in and stop me, I was standing in front of Adam with a big goofy grin and flushed cheeks. I wanted to keep walking to class but here I was. Looking up (way up) at a cute face, with gentle brown eyes and a big toothy smile. All 3 years of missing him came flooding back and I choked out a very nervous but eager ‘hello’. I’ve never been very graceful so when I get nervous I laugh and talk a lot. I think I just started jabbering away and asking him how he was, what was new, did he still skate, could I hang out and watch him sometime? He seemed genuinely excited to see me and told me that yes, I could come hang out anytime and that he had started a band. He invited me to come see them play. It was right about this time that I noticed his girlfriend, staring at me from behind him, shooting some pretty intense eyeball daggers my way.

I said hello to her and ended our conversation pretty quickly, telling him I’d see him around. See? I wasn’t trying to steal her boyfriend… I was trying to be nice. I consulted a close friend at the time and told her that I had talked to him and desperately wanted to hang out but that he had a girlfriend and I didn’t want to start any trouble.

Friday night rolled around and I found myself wondering what Adam was up to and if he and his friends were out skating or playing music. In spite of not wanting to cause any drama, I couldn’t help myself. It was pretty easy to figure out where he’d be and before I knew it, I was there hanging out with him and his friends, catching up. It was one of those nights where you pick up where you left off with an old friend and it seems like there was never any time or distance between you.

We ended up at a friend’s party. A typical teenage party where the parents were out of town and somebody’s older brother bought beer. Everyone was playing drinking games but I noticed that while Adam was playing too, he wasn’t really drinking or getting wasted like his friends. I thought this was pretty cool and unexpected--every other boy I knew in high school was the exact opposite. We ended up hanging out and talking long after the party was over. But that was all--just talking. He walked me to my car and as we said goodbye, we both knew it wasn’t going to be long before we saw each other again. That spark that drew us together when we were 13 was still very much there at 17. 

So, Adam broke up with his girlfriend… again… only this time, he didn’t ask me out the very next day. We mutually decided that since both of us had had recent break ups, we should just be friends for a while and see where things went. I know, very mature 17 year old stuff here people.

We started hanging out every day. Eating lunch together, driving around aimlessly, hanging with friends, listening to music. He properly introduced me to the world of Punk Rock and I fell in love with it. We’d drive to Denver on the weekends to the record stores where he’d buy new CD’s and more studs and patches for his leather jacket. He took me to my first show and taught me how to get to the front of the stage without getting sucked into the mosh pit. I had been to Warped Tour but this was such a different experience. We saw Dropkick Murphys and I was fascinated by the sea of combat boots, Mohawks and screaming kids pumping their fists and belting out every lyric while running in circles, smashing into each other. It was the first time I saw music come alive and it was such a gift.

Fast forward approximately 20 days from that first Friday night... We were saying goodbye to each other before heading off to 4th period when Adam very matter of factly said, “Oh, by the way, we are together now.” I looked at him and just said, “Okay.” I’m usually pretty feisty and don’t care to be told what to do, but in that moment, I was all in. I knew this was my person. I had no doubts. It was October 19th, 2001 and we were officially what the world would soon come to know as, “Adam and Jenn”. 

The next 6 years brought a lot of really good times. We were inseparable. At the beginning, we received the typical criticism of two young people in love. Friends would accuse us of changing for each other and spending too much time together and not enough time with them. Parents would warn us that high school relationships rarely last. Siblings would try to convince us there were more important things than our relationship. My own grandmother said that Adam wasn’t good enough for me… of course she didn’t know he was within earshot and felt bad afterwards (and soon grew to love him dearly). We got teased for not being able to do anything without each other, but eventually everyone stopped and just accepted it. I know now that they were all just trying to be helpful of course. Nobody wants to see a broken heart. But they didn’t know what we knew. We both believed from very early on that we were meant to stay together. We had overcome so many obstacles already to be together and nothing was going to stop us now.

Our first Christmas together

My Senior Prom 2002

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We both ended up at CSU together, studying art. College was so much fun and we got to experience all of it side by side. Our first experience living in dorms, hunting for our first apartment together, making new friends, staying late in the studio to finish painting deadlines, working hard and scraping by to make rent, tons of parties and even more shows.  We went through several fashion phases... rockabilly, psychobilly, alt country... we looked pretty goofy most of the time.

When our senior year of college rolled around, we really didn’t know what our future held. We were art majors after all so our future wasn't exactly clear cut. But there was never any question of whether or not we’d be together...at this point, that was a given.

I can’t say I expected this next part though. As part of our senior thesis, we had to put up a gallery installation of our final work. Mine was in late January. At the artist reception, I was surrounded by family, friends, peers and teachers. It was a very exciting night and Adam made it even more memorable. As we were leaving for the night and locking up the gallery, he ran back to “check on something”. I went on to meet our friends in the parking lot… we had big plans to celebrate my gallery opening with a dinner at Bennigan’s (which was fancy for college kids ha!) He came out all exasperated and said he couldn’t get the door locked and I needed to come back and help him. I was highly annoyed at his inefficiency because it was like -10 outside and our friends were waiting… or so I thought. I went back in to find that the door was just fine. I stared at him uncomprehending but then I saw that there was some light coming from inside. As I opened it to see what was going on, I was surprised by several little candles and music. I looked back at Adam with his big toothy smile, holding a bottle of champagne, offering me a glass. I laughed a little as I began to understand that he had tricked me into coming back. At first he was just saying he wanted to celebrate my success with me, just the two of us. But his expression wasn’t adding up… he looked nervous and his big brown eyes were kind of tearing up. Then he hugged me and I noticed he was fiddling with something in his pocket… when he finally pulled his hand out he was holding a small white ring box. “Will you marry me?” he said, just standing there. (He later explained that he was so nervous that he forgot to get down on one knee) I was shocked! 

Of course I said yes! And as I hugged him and cried and laughed all at the same time, my practical side kicked in. I suddenly blurted out, “We have to go! Our friends are waiting in the cold and I have the car keys!!” He just laughed and said,“They are already on their way to the restaurant, they knew about all of this.” I couldn’t believe it. Mostly because Adam is not very romantic so this whole thing just blew me away. 

The first person I called was my mom. She could barely understand me because I was talking so fast and was so excited. When I finally let her talk, her reply was, “You told me you were going to marry him when you were in middle school.” Until she said that I had almost forgotten it. 9 years had passed since we met at a Friday night birthday party. And now we were going to be married. Crazy.

Next week I’ll conclude our little love story with Part 3: Dear Adam.  

Thank you for tuning in!