love story, part one

two years ago today, i was in Italy

galavanting around Tuscany

waiting to get married

today i'm in Texas

watching Under the Tuscan Sun and missing Italy like crazy

waiting to go to work

what a difference two years makes, eh?

our anniversary is Monday

i started this blog during my third year of medical school

but didn't really post much until i was planning my wedding

and i think i skipped over much of our love story

several of you have asked about how we fell in love

so since i'm a big bucket of memories and love this week

i figured it was a perfect time to talk about it all

our first photo together...i think. ugly Xmas sweater party circa 2007

spring break M1 year..breckenridge circa 2008

taking the Metra to Wrigley...first Cubs game 2008

clearly a huge turnout that day.

nick introducing me to California. meet the Redwoods.

san fran

oregon. hiking along the Deschutes. 

july 30, 2007

nick and I met on the first day of medical school...during orientation

i remember him because he had a surfer look to him...and it reminded me of my boyfriend

he says he remembered me because of my walk...and T&A (hey. he's a dude.)

we didn't talk much those first few weeks

but i remember running into him at the gym and we had a conversation about "Turkey Drop"

which was a phenomenon at our med school...

that if you came to school with a significant other,

you'd be broken up by Thanksgiving...hence the Turkey Drop

i didn't make it that long.

my boyfriend and i were trying to do long distance

he was in new york, i was in chicago

and the love just fizzled.

it wasn't just the distance

it just wasn't there.

october 13, 2007

i threw a birthday party for my roommate at our apartment

we had drinks at our place, then went to this fantastic dive bar called the Squirrel Cage

(with stuffed squirrels...in cages. and $1 PBR pitchers. class class class.)

nick had evidently learned i was single...

and noticed that i needed a new toothbrush when he used my bathroom at our apartment

so he used this as a conversation starter when we were at the bar

dental hygiene discussions. big hit with the ladies.

unfortunately, i don't remember any of the toothbrush conversation

because nick had bought us shots of Wild Turkey immediately before it began

...

the morning after the party

(i slept alone that night, by the way...get yo minds out the gutter)

i got an email from nick.

it was an article out of the Journal of the American Medical Association

about a female doctor who was reflecting on her struggle to balance medicine and motherhood

...pretty bold, right?

so far, we'd allegedly discussed a toothbrush and taken a shot of Wild Turkey together

and now he was bringing up the deep, stuff-of-life topics

i was intrigued, to say the least.

october 15, 2007

so the next morning, after class,

he brought me an envelope

which contained a letter...and a brand new toothbrush

then he asked me over for tea that night...so we could study for a Histology exam

i accepted...and the rest is history.

october 26, 2007

first kiss

i fell in love with him in spite of myself

within two weeks of dating, i found myself imagining the rest of my life with him

our inside joke was that we kept saying "this just might work"

both of us knew it was crazy to feel so much so quickly

and it felt crazy to say it out loud...so we didn't

not for a while anyway.

i remember having this overwhelming sense of disbelief

i had come to Chicago to go to medical school

not to fall in love

it just felt too good to be true.

i was all business and no heart. (typical ER doctor)

but nick would tell you that he had started praying for love

right before coming to chicago for medical school

right before he met me.

his faith overshadowed my doubt.

january 3, 2008 (my birthday)

first time he said "i think i love you"

i said "you think? or you know?"

he said we needed to have some more fights before he knew for sure

i said "then i think i love you too"

we dated, both passionately and cautiously, for over two years before we got engaged

we were testing ourselves

each seeing how the other handled adversity 

(what better forum for that than medical school?)

and pain

we learned how to deal with conflict

we both lived out our mutual belief that communication was paramount 

in making our relationship work.

we laughed. a lot.

we saw marriage as a sacred next step

one that we would not enter into lightly

so we took our time getting ready for it.

to be continued...