10 Years Ago...in case you didn't know.

In 2007, I moved to Athens, Ga alone. I had survived a break-up 10 months earlier. I graduated from graduate school with a Masters in Elementary Education and took a job at a Title 1 poverty school in Athens, Ga as a 4th grade teacher. I had taught 3 years prior in private schools and had been a substitute in public schools. I had been making $18,000 a year and now I was making $40,000 a year, just like that. 

I moved to a new city, had my own 1200 sq ft 2-bedroom apartment for $725/month. It was a pretty amazing, spacious place. My first year teaching in the public school was rough. I did plug into a church, Rock Church, right away. It was a small, spirit-filled non-denominational body. There were quite a few people my age and I was on the dance team. We did stuff outside of Sunday church too. I was still an avid runner, which I used as therapy after the intense break-up. 

I asked a friend in Bluffton, SC if there were any single guys at her church, Lowcountry Community Church. She responded that there was one she could think of, but he was leaving for California for Bible school. 

Eventually, I looked him, Joey, up anyways on MySpace and found out that he had decided to go to a small Bible college in Toccoa, Ga instead. His college campus was 1.5 hours away from my apartment. We had grown up 30-minutes away from each other (Hardeeville, SC) our whole lives, but we didn't meet until we both moved to Georgia August of 2007. We had attended the same Edwin McCain concert in Savannah in 2001 and the same high school graduation a few years later without even knowing it. 

This was the picture on his MySpace profile

I sent him a message on MySpace and when he asked for my phone number I gave it to him. I made him call me because I wanted to screen his call and hear his voice first. I called him back after he left a voicemail. I had purchased 2 football tickets to the UGA and Carolina game in September without knowing who was going with me. I asked "Joey" to go with me and that was our first date. 

First date and first photo together- September 2007

50-yard photo

50-yard photo

seat view

I liked his tattoos on his arms. He had a big red star on the back of his arm and red scripture down his forearm. He wore jeans to the game and rolled them up to his knees. We wore Georgia shirts, but secretly I was wearing black shorts that had CAROLINA across the butt. Only he and I knew that. Since we were in "bulldog country", I didn't want anyone else to see. I made sure I kept my butt covered. Carolina won. 

After the game, traffic was bad as you would expect. I lived about 1-mile away from the stadium, but I missed my turn (since I was still learning my way around the city). It ended up taking a couple hours to get back to my apartment. Once we did, it was late and I felt bad that I had gotten lost. We did get a chance to have more conversations in the car. We had already agreed that he could not stay overnight with me and he would have to drive back to his dorm. I did make him a big egg, ham, and cheese bagel to take with him on his drive. 

One of my visits to Toccoa to visit him

Thanksgiving at my Auntie's

Toccoa Harvest Festival was an annual thing we did

Then we had the 'exclusive' talk and 'boundaries' talk. He finished one year of college at TFC and then moved to Athens to be closer to me and got his own apartment. We usually spent the evenings together walking laps around my apartment complex, going to the movies, cooking dinner for each other, driving around town with the windows down, trying new restaurants, attending festivals and expos, playing disk golf at the nature center, going to the dog park and participating in running events.  It was nice having our own places for time alone when we needed it. 

It snowed in Athens and school was cancelled for a few days

One of the races I did in Toccoa

Christmas 2007

We had ups and downs like most couples. Arguments and silent treatments were usually about responsibility, expectations, and money. I bought a puppy too, which was pretty stressful for me, being a first-time pet owner. I would cry him calling because the dog had me up all hours like a baby, he would pee on my carpets and tear the drywall off the walls. 

One of the dog park visits

Me with my puppy, Fisher

 We dated for about 11-months before Joseph proposed. He knew I didn't want diamonds or a grandiose proclamation so he asked me to marry him while we were outside taking the dog to the bathroom. Romantic, right? He gave me a London Blue Topaz ring that he purchased from a local shop in downtown Athens. We continued our engagement during another school year and we married in 2009 as soon as summer vacation began.

I gave him an engagement ring too

The night he asked me to marry him

And for those that didn't know, that is how we ended up together.

RH