Memories of our First Date

I am sitting at the exact table at the Starbucks where Tommy and I had out very first date. I am instantly flooded with beautiful memories from the two years we have been together. We've experience life and death, joys and sadness, victories and failures, laughter and tears, awesome family moments and not so awesome family moments, but most of all we have made it though with each other's help. As our two year anniversary approaches in January, it's so hard to believe that it has only been two years. It feels as if it has been a lifetime in such a good way. We have been through a lot these past two years, losing three precious family members and our special little guy Paxton, the birth of 4 of our 7 nieces and nephews, making new friends and saying goodbye to old ones, letting go of jobs and adventuring out to find new ones, the wedding of some dearest friends, spontaneous road trips to New York, Boston, Florida, and the beach in North Carolina. It's been a blast the entire way.

My most favorites moments of our relationships have been:

1.) Our spontaneous trip to Boston that happened within a 4 hour layover to New York. We left the airport, hopped on a bus, and discovered downtown Boston and the beauty that it holds. It was truly the most magical experience and I would give anything to do that again.

2.) Our very first trip together as a couple and we traveled to Florida. Tommy and I had only been dating about 3 months but he invited me on a family trip to Florida and I was so nervous about the trip but it turned out to be the most fun we have ever had. We went to the beach and went shopping, went out on a boat and saw dolphins, woke up early just to go to Starbucks. That trip I realized our relationship was the real deal.

3.) One Sunday we both called sick into work and played hooky. We started the day off having our own church at Starbucks which was so sweet and intimate and then we adventured down to the flea market or  "little Mexico"as we like to call it. It was so much fun! We explored antiques and ate interesting food and just spent the whole day together. At the time in our relationship our work schedules were crazy and we rarely got an entire day to spend with each other, making that time even more precious.

4.) Our proposal. This day truly felt like my fairytale coming true. I remember every detail from this day and it was the most special day that took so much planning and paying attention to details that Tommy made happen. It made me appreciate his creative side even more. (if you haven't seen the proposal see it here ProposalVideo )

I have realized that our best memories have either been spontaneous adventures that allowed our carefree personalities to shine, or they were at Starbucks.

I can't believe it's only been two years, it feels like a lifetime and I can't wait for 50 more years together.

I love you sweet love of my life. Only 5 more months to go until we are one.

Learning What's Really Important

Things happen in our lives that make us realize what's really important to us. Usually when this happens it means something hard has just taken place. And yes an earthquake has just taken place in my life and I now have realized that I need to get my priorities in life straight.
This season of life for me is all about change, and I mean everything is changing. To adapting to a new family, learning to constantly serve my Fiancé and to put his needs ahead of mine, to let old dreams die and chasing new ones, being a helping hand with a new church plant while maintaining relationships at our current church, to welcoming new friends and letting go of old ones and most importantly constantly pursuing the love of my Heavenly Father.

One Wake Up Call For Me:

Health. As someone who has struggled with major health issues a majority of my life I have recently been faced with the challenge to improve my health but not for only my benefit. In the bible it talks about how Moses could not hold up his arms to touch Heaven for very long but he needed the help of Aaron whom he was closest to and trusted to help him hold his arms up. Tommy and I now have the opportunity to hold up the arms of my Father. Spiritually he is one of the strongest men I know and we are going to start encouraging him more and helping him hold his arms up so he can continue to lead us. But we are all needing a major physical improvement. So the Williamson family has made a life changing decision to radically change our health. Our bodies are a temple and we need to take care of them.

What does this mean?
It means I have to put away the candy bars, stop drinking the sodas, quit driving through the fast food places and instead replace all of the above with raw fruit and veggies, grilled chicken, actually healthy salads (not the ones we "think" are healthy) letting my flesh die and embrace these new foods. I'm hoping through this experience will not only better my health but open a whole new world of flavors and foods.

As far as the wedding goes, plans are coming together great, Tommy and I have now asked our bridesmaids and groomsmen if they will stand with us and we are excited about that. We now have a date and place for our second reception in Buffalo (June 24, 2012). Things we still need to do: find a DJ, find a place to have our rehearsal dinner, and find a videographer. If you have any suggestions please let me know!

The Story of How Tommy & I Met

Here is the story of how Tommy & I met, beware he tricked me multiple times to go out with him.  

December 23rd was a fun day of last minute shopping and errands with the family before Christmas Eve, and getting ready for our College group Christmas party! Emily & I had been working hard to make this party awesome! Me being me, I was getting ready for the party and of course running majorly late (45 mins oops!) and my brother was mad that we were so late and he definitely let me know, so we showed up at the party and I am upset by this point due to the yelling in the car. But I walked into the house and I saw my friend who was home from school and I go give him a big hug and there is this guy leaning against the wall talking to my friend and my first thought is, "Who is this joker that was not invited to our party" haha I know it was mean but hey I was already upset! So I give my friend a big hug and the other guy is just staring at me with this smirk on his face, but he is wearing the most hideous shade of green shirt so I just ignored him and walked away. I later was able to enjoy the party that we worked so hard at putting together and it was a lot of fun! We played a few games and had a lot of laughs but there was this one game that we played where you started off alone but the goal of the game was you wanted to get as many people as you could on your team. So the guy that was wearing the hideous green shirt tricked me! He tricked me to get me on his team but I called his bluff and he had to be on my team :) score for me! So it was the 2 of sitting next to each other for the majority of the night. By this time I found out his name was Tommy but he annoyed me to no end. I could not stand him and I tried to get away from him when the game was over. After most everyone at the party had left we decided to play one more game "Loaded Questions" and the question was 'What was an embarrassing fad from your childhood that you regret following along with?' well, it was Tommy's turn to read the answers outloud so I decided to write something super embarrassing for him. My answer was "high waisted pants that gave you a camel toe". His face got so red when he read it and he refused to read it but I told him he had to or he lost. It was payback for him tricking me! He read it and everyone laughed. And the night ended after we watched a movie.

A few days later Tommy had planned a bowling night for everyone but he did not invite me. Well me being out of that loop I had no knowledge of this bowling night until a friend of mine invited me. So I went to get my hair done before we went bowling and who did I see at the hair salon? Tommy! And he had foil in his hair haha so I laughed at him! He asked what I was doing that night and I told him I was going out with some friends to go bowling and he said he was too. So we parted ways and I said I would see him later. Well the bowling night was disastrous! Some people who will remain nameless had a little too much alcohol and were acting like fools and I was very distraught (one of them may or may not have been related to me) So I was upset and Tommy hopped into my car to try and talk to me and calm me down but I was no mood for it so I got out of my car. The night got a little better with wine & oreos and then we all parted ways.

New Years Eve was here and everyone was busy making plans to do something fun and again this guy Tommy made plans for everyone. This time I was actually invited but I declined due to previously made plans, but Tommy sweet talked me into going saying 'everyone' was going. So when we all met up there were only 4 of us. He lied to me to get me to go! Ridiculous. And it was 3 girls and Tommy. So he originally planned to go somewhere but when we showed up it was totally lame and a friend of mine and I decided to take matters into our own hands and to go downtown which turned out to be a lot of fun. So the night went on and it was time to find the car but at this point it is 2am and all of us girls are wearing 4 inch heels and our feet are killing us but Tommy couldnt find the car! We walked around downtown Raleigh for an hour trying to find the car. I hadn't talked to Tommy much that night because I found him rather weird and annoying but he weasled his way to get me to talk to him, but my feet hurt so much that i needed to lean on him. He of course loved it which I could tell so I decided to mess with his head and act interested in him (which i was not). The night ended after we all went to Cookout at 3am.

A few days later Tommy called me and said a bunch of people were going to help deliver food the Raleigh Rescue Mission and asked if I wanted to go. I wasn't going to turn down an offer to help serve the community so I said yes! I met him and it turns out THAT I WAS THE ONLY ONE HE INVITED. It was just the 2 of us. He tricked me AGAIN! But I was glad to help even if I was alluded under false pretenses to get there. We served the food and then Tommy offered to take me out to dinner and I said no but he convinvced me to go with him so we went to Chili's. When we got to Chili's he asked our waitress if he could have crayons so he could color. I had no idea what to think at this point so I went along. After Chili's he took me to Starbucks (my favorite) and we sat inside and drank coffee and talked for a few hours. This was our very first date, even though he tricked me into going with him. 

I am so very thankful that he tricked me into going out with him because it has been so worth it :) I love my sweet Tommy Ray.