The Story of Us {Celebrating 12 Years of Marriage}

Many of you have been reading this blog for many years now, but have you wondered where the name comes from? I know I so often find myself wondering where other bloggers come up with their titles, what is the story behind it.

The story behind 'A Modern Day Fairy Tale' is one I have shared many times in the past, but as I celebrate 10 years of blogging this year, and 12 years of marriage today, it seems the perfect time to share again.

Why 'A Modern Day Fairy Tale'?


I never intended to fall for a military man. In fact, I remember the summer before marrying my husband telling some friends that I could never be a military wife, I wasn't strong enough. Let me tell you something though... when God plans something for you, your own plans and intentions have a way of falling to the side. Like it or not, that is JUST what He'd intended for me after all.

The first time I learned about my husband was at church. His sister- my preacher's daughter and close friend- added her brother to the prayer list at church. He was a Marine, and he'd just been deployed to Iraq. I prayed for him, but didn't give much more thought to it at the time.

This was back in those earlier days of social media. Facebook was around, of course, but unless you were a college student, MySpace was where it was at. Top 8, comments on walls...some of you may remember well. Let me tell you, I loved it and spent much time on there, sending comments back and forth with my closest friends. Friends like my would be sister in law. My would be husband saw all those comments and got curious, finally asking his sister 'Who is the cute girl that's always commenting on your stuff?'

And so she made the introduction. From across the globe and through MySpace and MSN messenger we formed a friendship. That very quickly formed into something deeper. If you ask me, I think there is something to be said about meeting online in this way that we did. I'm not a social person myself, I struggle with small talk and get nervous speaking out loud... but typing? That was something I was very comfortable with. It allowed us to get to know each other on a deeper level without all of the worries that typical dating brought. On August 1, 2006, we officially became a couple- all without having ever met. By the time he was to arrive home that October, we already knew that this was it and planned to be married--- though we weren't officially engaged just yet.

The Day We Met

Talk about the build up. After months of talking and falling in love, it was time to meet. By this point, I'd already met his entire family and so I waited with them for his arrival from California. His (other) sister was to bring him to his mom's where we all waited. After much anticipation, she arrived...alone. She had said that he was spending a little more time with his dad, and would come over in a few hours. Imagine my surprise when a few minutes later, I caught my first glimpse of my handsome prince in the mirror at the entry... looking ever so princely in his dress blues. In his hand he carried a pillow with a rose and a pair of glass slippers. He'd known of my love of Cinderella, and had worked with one of my best friends to make sure he had the shoe size correct. A few short weeks later, he whisked me off to California to the Marine Corps Ball where I wore those glass slippers.

Our First Ball

In all those months and hours wondering what that first meeting would bring, nothing could have prepared me for what was to come. It was the perfect beginning to our very own love story, and left me with no doubt at all that this was the person I would marry- which we did 12 years ago today, after having met in person just a few short months before. Was it crazy? Perhaps, but I wouldn't change it for anything. The past 12 years have give us our fair share of life's ups and downs, and I couldn't imagine doing it with anyone else.

And so when I started this blog nearly 10 years ago, with what was started as a story of our life together as a family, I knew I wanted to pay tribute to that moment that started it all- where our fairy tale- imperfect though it may be- began!

Army Ball 2018