Our History
THE AMAZINGLY INCREDIBLE HISTORY OF JEN AND TOM
Yes, we have one of those sweet stories that we love to tell our friends, and that we're going to love telling our children and grandchildren...
...how we literally spotted each other across the room...
...watched each other for an hour...
...danced for one song...
...totally hit it off...
...realized it was love at first sight...
...and knew that night we'd get married!
HOW WE MET (1997)
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7
1:00pm
Jen gives up on men because she has had yet another bad experience. When will she learn that they are all dogs?
11:00pm
Jen goes to a local bar with her roommate and, during a discussion of how she never falls for someone her type, decides to point out someone at the bar who is exactly her type. She sees such a person--tall, dark, handsome, and muscular (cliche, she knows, but that's her type)--and points him out. She keeps her eye on him all night...and would ask him to dance but she's a total wuss.
12:30am (technically Saturday)
Jen feels a tap on her shoulder and wonders what loser is asking her to dance now...so she turns around and it's...THE GUY SHE PICKED OUT! Needless to say they immediatley hit the dance floor and dance a few songs. She finds out his name is Tom (ironically, that's the name of her ex-fiance). He also tells her that she is totally his type and he's been watching her all night. Jen then tells him that, ironically, that's exactly what she thought about him and tells him the story of pointing him out. They can't stop talking, and are sick of trying to scream above the music, so they leave the dance floor and talk non-stop.
1:30am
It feels like they have known each other forever, and they want to keep talking, but the bar is closing, so Jen invites him back to her place.
6:30am
They finally fall asleep after sharing about 80% of their lives with one another and finding they have a lot of things [and some freaky coincidences] in common: they grew up 25 minutes from one another, their high schools played each other (so she HAD to have seen him play football), they both worked at the Glen's deli in neighboring towns (he even worked at HER deli once, a year before she did), they knew some of the same people, and they both LOVED to crack their necks. They agree to meet the next night, 
as Jen and her roommate have already planned a group outing to another bar.
8:30pm
Tom and a friend (Morgan) show up at Jen's apartment and proceed to have a few drinks. Both Jen and Tom are visibly nervous (and Jen is already a little tipsy!) but there is definitely an attraction. Jen and Tom hit it off again that night (at the Trillium in the Grand Traverse Resort, right) and everyone there enjoys hearing how they met--and think they make a cute couple!! They had a grand time dancing to "Lady In Red" (and that song still holds special meaning for them today). Jen invites Tom to stay the night again, as they just can't stop talking.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9
1:30pm
Jen takes Tom to pick up his car (they spent the night talking again) and he promises to email her from MSU.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12
Tom emails Jen that he is cancelling his trip to Toronto to meet another girl...because he hasn't been able to stop thinking of her...so he will come up to visit her instead!
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14 (Valentine's Day)
7:00pm
Tom and Jet meet in Grayling at her mom's house, and Tom surprises Jen with flowers and cooks Jen a Valentine's Dinner. Jen can't belive she found this perfect guy.
10:00pm
Tom and Jen are dancing at the bar when Tom looks at Jen and says "So are we going out or what?" Jen laughs at his bluntness,then says "Yes!" And this is the first song they danced to...
HOW WE GOT ENGAGED (1999)
We were living in Lansing at the time. Tom decided he wanted to go to Traverse City for Labor Day weekend (his birthday). We went to a show and dinner with friends (Morgan and Suzanne), then decided to hit Shimmers (the Holiday Inn bar where we met) for a few drinks and laughs. Well, after only about 45 minutes, my allergies started annoying me so we called it a night. Tom suggested we go for a walk on the beach to clear my head/nose/etc., so we said goodbye to our friends and made our way down the beach. I was a few steps ahead when he called out to me to come back...he had something in his shoe. I made some wisecrack like "So take care of it!" and then he said, "Jennifer--come back here." So I turned around, and he was down on one knee holding the ring. Then he asked, "Will you marry me? [dramatic pause] Will you be my wife?" Of course my answer was yes!! The ring is absolutely stunning!! It's a Hearts-On-Fire in a wide 14k tension-mount setting which you have to see to fully appreciate. (Also, we decided that since I had such a unique ring, we had to find one equally as unique for Tom. I think we succeeded!
WHY WE PICKED THE DATE WE DID (2001)
Tom was planning on getting a double major in Criminal Justice and Computer Science, but he was getting a bit burned out of the whole school thing and needed a break. So...enter his friend Brian, who casually mentioned to him that he was going to enter OCS, otherwise known as Marine Officer Candidate School (100 points if you see where I'm going with this). So Tom talked to him about it, and talked with a few friends about it, and talked to the recruiter about it...and he wants to do it! Tom was a bit apprehensive asking me about it, but when he said, "So, what do you think of [me doing this] and us moving to [fill in the blank], I immediately said, "When can we go? Can we leave next week?" So he (we) thought about it for a month or so and weighed all the pros and cons--and decided he (we) really wanted to do it. The benefits are nice--paid training, a decent starting salary, paid housing, and a paid move--and he only has to put in four years (including his training).
So, about the wedding date. As most know, we were planning on a 2002 wedding--sometime after Tom graduated with both degrees. Well, this Marine thing changed things a bit. In order to get the paid housing and live in married housing...(100 more points if you see where I'm going with this)...we needed to be married!! So, it was either rush to get married before he left in June...or get married during his three-week break in training in August. Neither of us thought May was a great idea, so we picked August. And, since he only had three weeks off, we had a limited schedule to pick from. We didn't want the wedding to be the day after he got back or a few days before he had to leave, so that left one weekend...the 18th!
HOW WE PICKED WHO WE DID (2001)
I had picked my Maid of Honor many moons before--Angi, my best friend from and since college. (In fact, she knew she was going to be my Maid of Honor before Tom even proposed--but once he did officially propose, I officially asked her!) However, since I had no other close friends (that I considered close enough to be a bridesmaid), I was stuck. There were relatives, of course (cousins and such), but I may have had to step on some toes and I didn't want to do that. So, the problem was that Tom had four people he wanted (he didn't even really need to think about it--it was his brother, Rob, and three best friends, Don, Morgan, and Kate) and I needed to come up with three more for my side. I tried convincing him to just have one person stand up for us (since we wanted a small wedding), but he just wasn't having it.
So, it wasn’t until summer 2000--nearly a year after getting engaged--that it struck me. On a camping trip, I was talking with Angi about how I could not have gotten better step-siblings had I picked them out myself. BAM! Lightning! I had always wanted sisters--and now that I had three??? It was perfect!! So I decided to do it at Thanksgiving when we would all be together (a rarity since we're all across the country--Doug & Marie (CA), Kathryn & Marcus (FL), Beth & Jim (da' U.P., eh?), and Tom and me (MI)--and had just been together twice earlier in the year for two weddings).
So, being as anal retentive as I can be, I planned this long articulate speech telling them how special they all were to me and how lucky I was to have them and how great it was to finally have sisters (etc.)--to be given during Thanksgiving Dinner. Then I decided I probably wouldn't be able to work up the nerve for that, so I decided to just do it before dinner sometime. Angi was over for a few hours, and she wanted me to do it then, but I was SO nervous I just couldn't. I even had a drink to try and calm down, but that didn't help, either. I couldn't believe I was so nervous--it should have been a very easy thing to do. Angi kept needling me to do it before she had to leave, but I couldn't. Finally, we were setting the table for dinner, and I knew I had to do it before then, so I called all the girls into the bedroom...still ready to give my whole speech. But, of course, when the time actually came--and they were all standing in front of me--I got so choked up I could barely get any words out at all...but I did manage to ask them--and they were all very excited and honored that I asked. We all hugged and then they said "Can we tell?" and when I said yes, they all went running out into the kitchen and told everyone! I felt VERY lucky to have such wonderful stepsisters!!