My Prince Charming
-by Amanda
Every young girl always dreams about finding their "prince charming"! Believe me, I dreamed about this everyday, but I also dreamed about finding someone just like my daddy! I have watched, over the past twenty three years, as my dad has loved and adored my mom through the best and worst of circumstances. I prayed that God would bless me someday with a marriage modeled after my parents. I will never forget the night that Nick asked me to out on a date with him to Kanki. I probably looked more like a scientist performing a case analysis instead of the sweet date he had expected! I watched everything that he did, just waiting to see what he would do that would resemble the actions of my dad toward my mom. He should be proud to know that he passed the test with flying colors! He greeted me with flowers, opened the door for me, paid for my dinner, and walked me to my door to make sure that I got in safely. He was quite the gentleman. I still don't think Nick knows that I stood on the other side of that door for minutes, just love struck. Now.....three years later, I don't think he has EVER seen a door that he did not open for me, or a restaurant check that he has not offered to pay.
I love everything about him, from his "laid back" demeanor to the way I catch him just staring at me and smiling over dinner.. It is the small things, however, that made me fall in love... The way he hums while driving or the times that he leaves me a sweet voicemail just to say "I love you", but somehow ends up talking long enough to make the message cut off! I feel so blessed to be marrying my best friend, my prince charming!
I love everything about him, from his "laid back" demeanor to the way I catch him just staring at me and smiling over dinner.. It is the small things, however, that made me fall in love... The way he hums while driving or the times that he leaves me a sweet voicemail just to say "I love you", but somehow ends up talking long enough to make the message cut off! I feel so blessed to be marrying my best friend, my prince charming!
Who would have known?....
-by Nick
Amanda and I met through mutual friends. It seems so amazing that we had so many friends in common and it took until the end of our sophomore year to get to know each other. Our sophomore year, Amanda roomed with a friend of mine from high school, Rachel McDaniel. I also knew her other two roommates, Emily Hunter (now Emily Packard), who I went to so very many baseball games with my freshman year, and Stephanie McLamb (now Stephanie Williams) who was Emily's suitemate at Granville Towers, and the sweetest country girl you will ever meet. I had seen Amanda several times and was always sure that she never even noticed me while every other guy in the room was noticing her. It was on a random day near the end of our sophomore year that yet another friend of ours, Melinda Bowman, invited Amanda to have lunch at the Agora (Granville's cafeteria). For whatever reason, I decided to sit with Melinda that day, even though I rarely sat with anyone besides the same people I had sat with during lunch all year. I had no clue that Amanda was there and that God intended me to have a seat.
While at lunch, I found out that Amanda was a part of an a cappella group, Psalm 100, and they were having a concert the following day. Amanda of course encouraged me to go to it and I, slightly exaggerating the truth, told her that I had already put it on my calander and was planning on going before she even mentioned it. She also told me of a get together at her apartment later that night that several of our friends were having as a going away party for a foreign exchange student we had all befriended. I told Amanda of my situation that I had no ride to her apartment, and would probably not be able to go because of this. Of course Amanda offered to come pick me up so that I wouldn't miss all of the fun. That night I decided that I would fight off all of the butterflies and try to get to know her a little bit better. During the night I suggested that we "bring back the days of middle school" and have a classic "slow-dance" before everyone went home. I got Rachel to help me out by picking the perfect song (KC and JoJo "All My Life" of course) and let the fireworks happen. Unfortunately, the fireworks turned out to be more of sparklers when everyone paired up and there was one more girl than guy there. I was left with making a decision of choosing either being with Amanda, the biggest reason for being there that night, or the girl who we were having the get-together for in the first place, and the real reason I should have been there. So I made the obvious choice that any nervous, awkward guy would have made......I picked the girl who we were there for. I couldn't let her go back to the UK remembering one of her last days in the US as being one of misery. After the song, I came up with one more idea. I got Rachel to suggest just one more slow song for the night, and at that point I chose Amanda to dance with me.
Over the next several days, I went out of my way to find excuses to meet up with Amanda. Whether it was begging Melinda to go to the Psalm 100 concert with me so I didn't look like a complete stalker with nothing else to do, or telling Amanda that I, too, was planning on studying in the Student Union for exams, even though I had never done that before. I never would have thought that over 3 years later, we would be where we are at now. The experiences we have had, from the loss of my grandmother, to her winning Miss North Carolina, to our yearly amusement park trip, to the day I asked her to marry me....they have brought us closer together. If you would have told me, at the beginning of that sophomore year, that I would be in the situation I'm in now , I would have assuredly laughed and said "in my dreams". Well, I guess I am in my dream now.....That is one of the great things about God, just when you think you have it all figured out, or even when you think you have figured out nothing at all, He leads you right to the very spot you are supposed to be. For some people it's a school, for others, it's a dorm hallway, for me it was something as unassuming as a cafateria. Wherever you are at, you must always trust that it is where you are supposed to be, and know that you don't have the power to see what tomorrow holds.
While at lunch, I found out that Amanda was a part of an a cappella group, Psalm 100, and they were having a concert the following day. Amanda of course encouraged me to go to it and I, slightly exaggerating the truth, told her that I had already put it on my calander and was planning on going before she even mentioned it. She also told me of a get together at her apartment later that night that several of our friends were having as a going away party for a foreign exchange student we had all befriended. I told Amanda of my situation that I had no ride to her apartment, and would probably not be able to go because of this. Of course Amanda offered to come pick me up so that I wouldn't miss all of the fun. That night I decided that I would fight off all of the butterflies and try to get to know her a little bit better. During the night I suggested that we "bring back the days of middle school" and have a classic "slow-dance" before everyone went home. I got Rachel to help me out by picking the perfect song (KC and JoJo "All My Life" of course) and let the fireworks happen. Unfortunately, the fireworks turned out to be more of sparklers when everyone paired up and there was one more girl than guy there. I was left with making a decision of choosing either being with Amanda, the biggest reason for being there that night, or the girl who we were having the get-together for in the first place, and the real reason I should have been there. So I made the obvious choice that any nervous, awkward guy would have made......I picked the girl who we were there for. I couldn't let her go back to the UK remembering one of her last days in the US as being one of misery. After the song, I came up with one more idea. I got Rachel to suggest just one more slow song for the night, and at that point I chose Amanda to dance with me.
Over the next several days, I went out of my way to find excuses to meet up with Amanda. Whether it was begging Melinda to go to the Psalm 100 concert with me so I didn't look like a complete stalker with nothing else to do, or telling Amanda that I, too, was planning on studying in the Student Union for exams, even though I had never done that before. I never would have thought that over 3 years later, we would be where we are at now. The experiences we have had, from the loss of my grandmother, to her winning Miss North Carolina, to our yearly amusement park trip, to the day I asked her to marry me....they have brought us closer together. If you would have told me, at the beginning of that sophomore year, that I would be in the situation I'm in now , I would have assuredly laughed and said "in my dreams". Well, I guess I am in my dream now.....That is one of the great things about God, just when you think you have it all figured out, or even when you think you have figured out nothing at all, He leads you right to the very spot you are supposed to be. For some people it's a school, for others, it's a dorm hallway, for me it was something as unassuming as a cafateria. Wherever you are at, you must always trust that it is where you are supposed to be, and know that you don't have the power to see what tomorrow holds.
