How we met

Grace invited all to join her link up of How We Met, Love Stories.  Here is ours...

After graduating from college, I moved back home to Washington for a short time while I decided where and which sort of medical avenue I wanted to pursue.  I had narrowed it down to nursing school or dental hygiene school, but after promising my mom during a moment of weakness that I would go to nursing school, I applied to a couple of programs.  I had no desire to be a perpetual student, and I just wanted to do what I needed to do to get back to WA to be near my mother who was ill at the time.  So, I chose to attend Creighton's Accelerated Nursing program which would keep me away from my family for a mere 11 months.  While at home, I remember a conversation that I had had with my mom about how I had expected to meet my husband in undergrad, and get married shortly after graduation, and how I never really wanted a career, but that was the road I was headed down.  My mom nonchalantly said that she thought that I would get married at 25.  She wasn't one to make predictions, and so I asked her why and complained that 25 seemed so far away, but she just said that she had a feeling.  I never told anyone that, because for some reason it embarrassed me.

Josh had graduated from University of Nebraska in December of 2000, and following graduation, he spent some time in Costa Rica learning the language and culture.  When he returned, he lived at home in Omaha and worked at a restaurant before starting nursing school.  His plan had been to use his nursing degree and experience as a spring board to a higher degree in medicine.

Classes started in January (2002), but before I moved to Omaha, I had made a strict promise to myself (and this time I told everyone about it) that I would not date for the time that I was in Omaha & attending school.  I really wanted to devote myself to my studies, something that I had never fully done before, and I really had no intention or desire to date.

Our nursing class was small, maybe 40 or so at the start, but 12 of them were male!  Needless to say there were many "focker" jokes and our class quickly bonded through our 40+ hour weeks of class and clinical, and nothing breaks the ice like learning to give bed baths and insert catheters together.  We de-stressed on the weekends at local bars, movie theaters and sporting events and we had a lot of fun together.

One of my girlfriends had a crush on this tall guy in our class named Josh.  I confirmed that he had a great body and was good looking, but not my type- with long hair and a shell necklace, I had him pegged as a "California Surfer Dude".   I had never talked to the guy (he was extremely quiet and shy), but I can almost verbatim to this day tell you his introduction on our first day of class.  I encouraged my friend to pursue him.

 A classmate of ours, and her roommates hosted a St. Patrick's Day party at their house.  It was fun, but I had a head ache and was a very cautious drinker that night because I had planned on going home early.  So, that tall guy Josh was there with some of his high school buddies, and one of his friends was extremely forward and obviously flirting with me which was a big turn off for me, and a big wake-up call for Josh who apparently had his eye on me.  So, out of nowhere this guy whom I had never, or maybe once talked, to plopped on the couch, rested his legs on me and started talking to me so no one else could.  We talked small talk, and I can't recall anything from our conversation except that I mention that my family was going on a vacation to the Oregon Coast in August during our break from school to celebrate my parents' anniversary, and I told him that he should come with me.  What?!?  I still can't believe that I did that, I am not a forward person at all.  Anyway, he agreed to go, and for some reason, I knew he would, and although the thought of us dating didn't cross my mind, I kept thinking, "my family would LOVE this guy."  That friend of his had heard that I had invited Josh to Oregon and asked if he could also come to which I replied a strong, "NO."  I ended up not leaving the party early because this Josh guy was talking my ear off, and I was enjoying our conversation.  At the end of the night, I am not sure how or why but he gave me a little trinket of a ring with a green stone.  Cheesy, I know, but there was alcohol involved and I am sure the green had something to do with St. Patrick's Day.  He was a stranger at the beginning of the night, but when I left, he had made an impression, and I still have that silly little ring.

This was a St. Patricks celebration a few years after the original.  Henry asked me why I don't wear this dress anymore:)

Our social rings where meshing more and more, and we saw a lot of each other outside of class.  I spent many a phone call to my family talking about Josh's friend, and how he had asked me on a date, but I didn't want to go in case it would ruin any potential thing with Josh, and at that point, I figured it wouldn't kill me to go on a date or two if the opportunity arrived.  I turned down his friend, but agreed to a blind date set up by my apartment complex manager.  Well, shortly before I left for the date, Josh called me (for the first time) to invite me somewhere.  At that point I realized that I was interested in Josh, and I was hoping he wouldn't give up on me.  He didn't.  A few days later we went on our first date to a local Mexican restaurant.  There were more dates, and more time spent together, and I honestly cannot recall when our first kiss was, but I do know that we were at my apartment watching the movie (more like talking through it) Life is Beautiful.

We hid our relationship from our classmates for a short time, but eventually word spread that we were dating.  During the next few months, my mom's health declined and the doctors anticipated her living for about a year longer.  It was so difficult to be away, but I had planned on doing my preceptorship in WA, so I would leave Omaha in October and be with her.  My mom and I talked on the phone every day, often multiple times a day, but as she got sicker, it was more difficult for her to keep up that regime.  I remember a particular conversation we had when I was taking a study break at the library.  I walked out side and called her.  We talked about her health, and the future.  It was a tough call, and we cried, but shortly before we ended the call, she said, "I know you are in good hands."  And even though his name was not mentioned, and we had only been dating a mere 3 months, it was understood that she was talking about Josh, and I said, "I know."

August was approaching, and Josh and I were getting ready for my family's vacation, and I was eager for him to meet my parents and siblings.  Well, unfortunately while we were at the airport ready to board our flight, my sister called and said that my mom had taken a turn for the worse.  We re-routed ourselves to Spokane where she was in the intensive care unit.  After arriving in Spokane on Thursday evening, we went straight to the ICU.  I said hi to my mom, and introduced Josh to her.  We spent the majority of the next two days and nights at the hospital, she died on Saturday.  The details of that event are for another story, but those days in the hospital were pretty much my dad, my siblings and their spouses sharing memories, crying, praying, last rites, rosaries all at my mom's bedside....oh, and I forgot to mention that Josh was not Catholic!  I thought for sure that he was going to bolt the second he had the chance, but he didn't.  He stuck around and we had my mom's rosary and funeral mass that next week.  My mom was very loved, and so not only did Josh meet my entire immediate family, but almost all of my extended family and many, many people from my small town... there were hundreds of people at her funeral.  At the end of the funeral mass, the priest (who was the priest who married my parents) thanked everyone in attendance for their support on behalf of each one of us children (and he named us all by name).  When he came to me, he said, "and on behalf of Jennifer and her fiance, Josh."  I think I almost passed out at that moment.  If all of the Catholicism hadn't scared him away, THIS would for sure!  So, as I greeted all of the wonderful people, family and close friends included, who attended my mom's funeral, I accepted their condolences, and declined the congratulations on my non-existent engagement.  Damage control big time.   I took Josh to the airport at the end of the week, and had fully anticipated him never speaking to me again for all of the insanity he had to endure on this "vacation".  Well, when I headed back to Omaha to finish school, he was there, and despite my efforts to insist he break up with me because I was afraid he pitied me, and the warnings that I would never be the same person, he stuck around.  He later told me that it was that week, and those experiences that solidified for him that he wanted to marry me.  And, like I had predicted back in March, my family did in fact love him, and respected him for how he handled the situation he had been thrown into.

I decided to do my preceptorship in Omaha, and after graduation, I accepted a job in Omaha.  Our love grew and sustained a few bumps, but all along I knew he was The One.

 Josh proposed on December 24 the next year.  I had actually called in sick to work, but I wasn't sick at all, and we opened our gifts- he sent me on a scavenger hunt in my apartment, which ended with him on one knee asking me to marry him.  Of course I said yes, and we were married eight months later at St. John's Catholic Church on Creighton's campus....a month shy of my 26th birthday (by the way I never told him what my mom had predicted until after we were married).

Almost nine years later & five boys later, I can't imagine being happier.  My mom was right, I am in good hands.