how i became a mrs. (part 7)

In honor of Valentine's Day. And because it's been a while since the last installment. We left off with him turning into my hero - a knight in shining armor of sorts. You can catch up here, starting at the bottom.

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That week with Andrew had been exciting, in an uncertain kind of way. Did he like me? Was he going to do anything about it? Wait, did he just touch my hand? All of that stuff that makes your breaths shorter, but in a good, good way.

It was Saturday. He and I were studying at the Student Union and we hatched a plan to grill out before the Duke game that night. That was the first time I remember wanting to look nice for him. That whole week, I never thought twice about make-up I wasn't wearing or the casual t-shirt I had on. It was refreshing to know that this relationship (if you could call it that) was working, we were clicking, without any effort on my part. He liked me for me and I was so attracted to that. But that night, I actually styled my hair and put on makeup and paid attention to my overall appearance.

We ate dinner and watched the game together. We huddled close together and it was starting to become obvious to our friends around us that there was something going on. Chad, who was a leader in Campus Crusade, actually mentioned it when he officiated our wedding. He later shared his ceremony notes with me, in an effort to help me remember every detail of our wedding. Here's what he wrote:

I remember it very clearly - it was almost exactly 2 years ago. I was walking with Andrew, Page and some others to an apartment to watch the Carolina/Duke game. Andrew was in a Bible study that I lead and we had often talked about girls. I knew there was a girl that he had been interested in earlier that year, so I was really surprised as I watched Andrew and Page walking beside each other a few steps in front of me. They weren’t simply walking beside each other, they were walking with each other. There was something different, I could sense it. At first, I thought I was making something up - up to this point I hadn’t heard Andrew mention anything about Page. But, no I was sure of it. There was something going on here. I casually watched them during the evening - the side glances, the wry smiles. Yep, I couldn’t wait to ask him about this. Well, UNC won big that night over Duke. And as we can see here today, Andrew did too.

Cute, huh? I'm all smiley and giggly thinking back to that night. We watched the game and when we beat Duke, rushed to Franklin Street to celebrate with bonfires and general raucousness. I held on to his jacket to keep from getting lost in the crowd.

Andrew and Chad on Franklin Street

The next evening, after we all watched movies together, Andrew offered to drive me home. I thought for sure that he would say something about "us" that night. It had become so obvious how we felt - I just needed him to acknowledge it. But alas, he dropped me off with nothing but a promise to pick me up for another round of movies we'd planned the next night.

What I found out later was that he was planning on asking me out that night and he chickened out :) But the next night, he followed through. As we pulled up to a stop light, I saw him shift (uncomfortably) in his seat out of the corner of my eye. As he was nervously readjusting, he said it.

Wait for it.

The romance is coming

Are you ready?

"How should we proceed from here?"

Oh, my love. You are so, so, very Andrew.

I really wanted to mess with him. Play dumb and say something like, "well, just turn left here and then you're at my dorm. Come on, you've come this way before."

But I couldn't. He was too cute.

I told him that I was crazy about him and that I wanted to know as much about him as possible. He smiled and said he felt the same way. Before he dropped me off, he basically asked me out. Although I don't remember what he said. I only remember that he was dreadfully nervous.

He'd never done this before.

I was the first girl that he liked enough to get this serious about. (No pressure)

Here's the funniest part about that night: within 15 minutes, I got a Facebook email saying that Andrew Castrodale indicated that we are in a relationship. Do you want to confirm that you are in fact, in a relationship with Andrew?

Um. Not really.

I freaked out for a good 45 minutes, telling Martha that "it's too fast" and "he just asked me out" and "I'm not ready for this" and "now everyone will know." But because the thought of telling him that I wasn't ready to make it Facebook-official was scarier than actually linking myself to him on the interweb, I did it. I clicked confirm. And so the whole wide world knew.

For the record, he never knew about that. Until Martha made it part of her Maid of Honor toast. Sweet.

So there you have it. It was fast and furious and full of butterflies and sweaty palms, but it was so perfect.

Stay tuned for more: like how we spent our time doing crossword puzzles and how he told me my nose was big before I met his parents and how I knew I would marry him within a week and how I fell in love with him and how he told me he wanted to marry me and how we almost broke up that one time. All of that good stuff.

It's coming.

But today, I can tell you this. I know he's not perfect, because people aren't perfect and blah blah blah. But to me? He really, really is. And I'm so thankful that he's mine.