Childhood officially ends in the morning

Erin and I close on our house in the morning. Please send any cash donations to our new address:
2308 October Court
Acworth, GA 30102

I told Erin that I would finally write the background blog, so here goes nothin'....

I'll give a quick recap of our histories before we met first -
I (Trent) was born and raised here in Georgia. We never moved as family, at least as early as I was capable of storing anything into my long term memory. I graduated from high school in 2004 and worked for the next several months before embarking on a great journey to the other side of the earth for my mission for church. It was two very exiting years spent Russia, up and down the Volga river region. Met some wonderful people, learned a lot about everything, fully understood how much I hate cold weather, how much I love America. Not that Russia was horrible, but it was very different. I would love to go back and visit...but for maybe two weeks and two years. And then I came home and began working at Barbecue Street again in February of 2007.
Erin was born in Iowa, moved to Texas while her mom studied at Texas A&M and got her Doctorate, and her family moved to Augusta when she was in middle school. After graduating high school, Erin and her twin sister and their best friends moved to Kennesaw to attend Kennesaw State University. While at school in Kennesaw, Erin and her sister were offered jobs at Barbecue Street, and so Erin became one of the greatest servers that the restaurant has ever had.
Now, as I mentioned yesterday, my memory has fled me quite a bit, so I may get time-frames mixed up a bit. But, when I started back at the restaurant, I began as a cook. So I was always in the kitchen, and Erin was still serving. All that separated these two love birds was a chopping block and a steam table....and a boyfriend. I'll try not to embarrass Erin too much while doing this, but that is an important part to our story.
Those of you that know Erin and I, we have always enjoyed...and been very good at...a little flirting. Who doesn't, right? But it was not long before the whispers began and our friends began to notice things. The problem was, once again, somebody had a boyfriend. And we both understood that, and neither of us wanted to be in the wrong. She told me pretty soon after all of these whispers began that she had a boyfriend and was not interested in acquiring a second boyfriend, and I didn't want to be the jerk that came around and tried to ruin someone's relationship. So we settled for friends for a while.
As you should have put two and two together by now, Erin's previous boyfriend eventually left the picture...Once again Erin I apologize if this is embarrassing...and by this time I think we both knew that we had found someone that was making us happy. Erin wanted some time to figure some things out and I was willing to give her the space. I had waited for her already, if it meant waiting some more I was more than willing. By the time our first official date came around(which was an awful movie that I don't think either of us will ever forget)we had built a fairly solid foundation to build a relationship upon. During this period of "courtship" we had been able to meet each others friends and had even taken some trips together with our friends. I'm sure some people may have thought it was silly how long it took us to make things official and begin dating, but I was very happy just being around her. It didn't matter to me if we were dating yet, but I would do everything I could to be places if it meant that was even the slightest chance that I would see her and get to talk with her. There was about a year or so of overlapped time when we were both still in school, and I would sometimes take an extra long way to close just because I hoped it would give me a better chance of running into her (yes, just like you would do in middle school).
I believe it was this year or so of what we now refer to as "fake-dating" that has made us such a solid companionship now. I'm going to brag a bit right now, but we had our second session of pre-marital counseling this evening, and the fellow that is our counselor has told us a few times of how impressed he is with us as a young couple preparing to get married. Our solid foundation of "fake-dating" definitely gives us something to lean on and build off of.----gotta wrap this up now, I'm getting long winded!
So, we began dating in July of '08, first mentioned getting married in August of '08(once again it was the year of "fake-dating"), I bought a ring in February of '09, and we planned a trip with some of our best friends to Fall Creek Falls in June of '09. On June 7th, we hiked to the base of the main falls and began taking pictures with our friends. Our good friend Chris happens to be an aspiring photographer and brought some nice equipment with him. Erin and I walked out for our turn to take a few photos, and while Chris was switching his lenses around, I turned to Erin and told her that I loved her. The next part I am sure was very smooth, no shaking, and no nervous stuttering at all...but I reached into my pocket and got down on one knee and asked her to marry me, to which she of course replied she would. I'll never let Erin forget this, but she was so excited that after I asked we both hugged and when I asked her if she wanted to put the ring on she did just that...she put the ring on. She took the box from me, took the ring out, and put it on her finger. So, Rod, if you are reading this, when it's time to exchange rings, make sure she lets me put the ring on her finger!
It really has been a wonderful few years since we have met, and I would not change any of it for a bit. Looking at Erin and holding her hand let's me know that there is absolutely a reason for everything. While tomorrow we may be buying our fist home and entering the world of grown -up mortgages, I am so happy to know that I get to be a grown -up with Erin that we get to spent the rest of our time together!