Prelude
On August 23rd, 2010 I began my journey as a Pitt State Gorilla. Words can not describe how unhappy I was during that time in my life. My grandmother was very sick and we were preparing for the worst, I was attending Pitt State (which I swore I would never do because it seemed like EVERYONE went there and I missed Wichita State), all of my relationships were really rocky, and countless other reasons. I was depressed. All I could do was fully rely on God that he was taking care of me and I was on His path. I remember praying the whole way to class that He would show me love. Love to replace the sadness of my grandma's health, to teach me to love and be comfortable with myself, and love of a person to replace my other rocky relationships.As I sat in the last class of the day in Grubbs Hall, General Literature, I was complaining to my friend Carly via text about how horrible this day was. I quickly resent another text to her as a tall, tanned, light haired boy with gorgeous blue eyes walked in wearing dark denim and boots---"I just laid eyes on the guy I am going to marry."
In the following weeks I found out as much as I could about the boy and loved coming to class. On September 1st, campus flooded with the downpour of rain. This resulted in wet socks, which made for a very unhappy Malarie. Until...the Gen. Lit. cutie randomly ran up under my umbrella in the rain. I thought I was going to pass out. I tried everything I could to get him out of my mind since he was seeing another girl at the time, but I am pretty sure I annoyed Carly with my excitement. Sorry Carly. September went on and on September 25th I spent the evening with my Grandma GG. We talked about boys and other girl things while I also told her all I knew about my Gen. Lit. cutie. I even showed her a picture. I will never forget the look she gave me when she saw his face. She said he was so handsome and I obviously agreed. I got her ready for bed, said goodnight, and then went on my way. I was the last person she spoke with. The next morning when we went to check on her, she had passed.
Friday, December 13th, 2013
Ryan finally finished school and was about to graduate. The day was all about him! I decided to take a personal day from work to spend the day celebrating with Ryan and his family. My mom had scheduled me a nail and hair appointment, which I desperately needed, for the morning, before the shenanigans began. My hair stylist ended up fixing my hair AND doing my make-up for me. SCORE! All I had left to do was get dressed and I was ready! When I got to Ryan's house he was so nervous and kept saying he was sick to his stomach. I didn't remember feeling that nervous for my graduation, but I just kept giving him sympathy and telling him how proud I was of him hoping to calm his nerves. At about 3:30 Ryan decided he wanted to go tour the college for the last time. Seriously?! It was rainy, my hair was fixed, I was in heels, and it was COLD! I painted a smile on my face and said, "this day is all about you sweetie, so whatever you want to do." As I helped him gather his cap and gown, I teased with him that he should have decorated his cap like all of the girls usually do. "You should have put something like...Malarie will you marry me? on the top of the cap so I would see it during the ceremony. Haha..." As we were walking out the door he handed me an umbrella (the color of the one I had in college) and told me it was for our walk around campus since it was rainy. We jumped in his truck to head to PSU while he changed it to our song Honeybee by Blake Shelton.Obviously no one was at the college that day and all of the parking lots were empty, but Ryan insisted we park 2 blocks away where we used to park and sit to talk after class. He was being such a sappy romantic that day for an odd reason. We walked all through campus visiting spots that were special to us, even our General Literature room in Grubbs Hall. About the time by hair went flat, he decided he was ready to leave. Thank goodness! He was being ridiculously emotional that day. On our way back to his truck he started listing reasons he loved me. I didn't understand why, but Ryan is not the kind of guy to say that stuff so I was just letting it soak in. About the time he was going to tell me his #1 reason he loved me, I saw my mom pop up behind a truck that resembled my dad's with a camera looking like the paparazzi. Then, my dad started walking towards us, and out of no where we just happened to be standing in front of his parents' car (I didn't even recognize) and his family piled out. As I looked around confused, trying to figure out why everyone was there and with cameras, I had blocked out all of what Ryan was saying. When I looked back at Ryan, my Gen. Lit. cutie was on his knee and looking as if he was waiting on an answer. Assuming he asked me to marry him, I said yes and instantly began crying with happiness. We had always said that once Ryan graduated we would think about getting married, but honestly, on HIS graduation day, on Friday the 13th, I NEVER saw this coming. On a rainy, Friday the 13th, with an umbrella in hand, we made our own luck and decided on forever together.
xo
Miss Mal
