The Courtship & Proposal (Part 3)

If you haven't already, check out the The First Day I met him and The Conflict beforehand. I hope Grace doesn't mind, but I'm linking up for the third time...

The Courtship
If you were keeping tabs, Jude and I had been great, totally platonic friends for 2 years (ok, a little less platonic toward the end of that 2nd year) and in that time we casually ironed out all that really serious stuff wrinkling up relationships - religion, family life, career goals, you get the gist. Thankfully, we were able to do that as friends, without the pressure of If I'm honest he might not want to marry me. So by the time this courtship rolled around (a very slow roll, mind you) we both knew we weren't interested in dating just to date. For us, dating was supposed to be serious and probably a little short if we felt called to the big I DO. 

That was how we answered my parents question, "Ok... what does that mean?" when Jude was over for Thanksgiving break in 2004, and shared with them our plans to start courting soon. We basically said, "we're going to start dating/courting and don't be surprised if we get married next month," or something like that.

Now that we were back at school, and he had my parents' permission/blessing/confusion, he invited me to his dorm apartment for dinner (i.e. Chicken Helper and crescent rolls - but the named-brand kind) and OFFICIALLY asked to court me to which I almost replied, "duh," and we shared our first kiss (ok technically, he'd kissed my cheek at his grandmother's house the week before, but who's counting? We are.). That was November 29, 2004.

The Happy Couple in black & white (nostalgic).
I apparently prefer to be on the right. Except in Paris.

On our World Youth Day Pilgrimage Summer 2005
(pre-engagement), Paris, France. Obvi.

Same WYD Pilgrimage, throwing 2 coins with our right hands over our left
shoulders into the famous Trevi Fountain in Rome ensures both
love and marriage. check & check & a nice segway into:

The Proposal

Jude & I were planning to drive from Ruston down to Sulphur on October 15, 2005 so that I could sing in a wedding. We had lunch on campus and then stopped by the Catholic student center to make some copies of music before we headed off, or so I thought.

We got out of the car and started walking to the office until Jude said he'd already made the copies and then brought me over to the steps of the chapel. He reminded me that this spot was where we first met, that this church and student center formed the foundation of our friendship and courtship, and so, would be the perfect place to kneel down and say, "Alisha, I want to serve Christ with you for the rest of our lives. Will you marry me?"

And so I did, and still do.

July 29, 2006

Yes - a high-five. We were always friends first. 
Forever my friend, forever my love.

The end. (mostly)