Four Years Ago

Another trip down "Memory Lane"...sorry.

It was four years ago to the day when my older sister got married. Rachel was the first of my 7 siblings to tie the knot. She and Sam were married in the Washington, DC Temple, and her reception was held later that evening in our backyard. While I do send out a congratulations to my sister Rachel for four years of married bliss, this post is actually about the magic that came into my life following her reception.

Sam Sorber grew up in Orem, UT, and attended elementary school with Paul Cannon. Paul was on an internship in Washington DC for the summer, so he was able to attend the reception. His parents had received two wedding invitations, so he especially felt it his duty to come, even if he was alone. Paul's family used to live in our ward, so he enjoyed running into old family friends and checking out the bridesmaids, who were no longer 4 years old and under.

I was still recovering from ACL surgery, and had decided not to wear my massive leg brace under my yellow chiffon dress. So I was hobbling around on crutches. We never formally met at the reception, but Paul had gotten a visual. Quite by miraculous intervention, we both ended up later that evening at a Young Single Adults Dance at the McLean Stake Center. I had my brace back on, and thought I'd go hang out with my friends Julie and Kelly and my little sister Miriam. Paul was alone, at the only YSA dance he'd ever been to in his life. We ran into each other in the parking lot when he boldly approached our group asking, "Hey! Are you Lowe girls? I was just at the reception." Slightly weirded out, we said we were and agreed to let him hang out with us. I recognized his last name from his introduction. My family has always loved the Cannons, so I figured he couldn't be that bad.

So the whole night he hung out with us. I danced with him a few times, and got to know him on a surface level. As my group was leaving, he followed us out and told us that he and some of his friends were going out to a crab shack the next night, and invited us to come. Everyone else politely declined, but I gave him my phone number and said that I might go. On the ride home, my friends went on about how weird this guy was and how crazy I was for giving him my phone number, so they were shocked when I admitted that I was kind of interested in him.

He called the next morning, and re invited me. I convinced my friend Julie to come along, so we joined his group later that afternoon. When I saw him again, something happened. I'm not sure what, but I was madly in love from the time I laid eyes on him. I'm not sure if I can say I knew I was going to marry him (he says he knew from the moment he saw me at the reception), but I had this bizarre feeling that I could not let him go. It was a feeling of total inadequacy like I knew I didn't deserve him or that he could possibly like me, but at the same time I was not going to give up trying to win his affections. I had never, ever been so forward with a boy in my life. It was a magical evening. Poor Julie awkwardly tried to chat with his friends as Paul and I paired off, hanging upside-down on the docks of the Chesapeake Bay. I'm not sure what we talked about, but it was evident to me that our views and goals seemed to parallel one anothers'. Paul was a perfect gentleman the entire evening, and even ended up paying for me and my friend.

After a few more weeks of hanging out, we finally had our first "DTR." I was sure he was going to break up with me; it was always too good to be true. Keep in mind, I was still 20, and had never been in a serious relationship before. I was dumbfounded when he told me that he wanted to marry me, because I also knew at that point that I needed and wanted to marry him. And so we were engaged, a mere 25 days after meeting on June 25, 2004.

I love our story. And I love you too, Paul. Happy four years of magic!