OUR STORY

Linking up with Grace

This story began a full seven years earlier for me than it did for Warren. I remember so clearly watching from the door of my 5^th grade class room as the new boy in my brothers class in high school dug through his bag picking from his assortment of valentines gifts, including mine.

I had spent all of the night before colouring in the giant hand made heart shaped paper card (in my defence I was only 10), I had so wisely covered my name, not realising my brother had seen me creating my masterpiece the night before. Needless to say with my brother announcing in shock and horror that he knew who Warren’s “secret admirer was” the start of five years of an embarrassing crush began.

Warren started getting a lift home from school with us, he lived just two blocks up from us and with all those car rides for the rest of his high school career I was tortured through sitting next to this guy that I was so “in love” with right till he finished high school when I was 15 (with many embarrassing stories in-between but I’ll spare you). My brother and Warren had their pre- matric dance photo shoot at our house and there I stood watching him with his beautiful date- me the picture of ugly duckling awkward teenager with spiky hair and the worst sunburn you’ve ever seen. These were my last memories of him before he left school- dressed in his suit with the most perfect non-awkward of girls on his arm.

He graduated and I thought that was the end of it.

A year and a half later, out of no-where we ended up at the same braai . He arrived at the braai- me having conquered some of my awkward teenager felt a little more confident. I remember saying to my friend “flip I don’t know why I was so obsessed with this guy”.. By the end of the braai I remembered, there was something magnetic about him. BUT he left and I didn’t see him again till a full year later.

We celebrated my 17^th birthday at a club, my friend worked at the door and managed to get me an endless guest list- unbeknown to me my brother had used said guest list to invite some of his own friends, Ross who we grew up with and Warren.  I was dating a guy from East London- it was mostly long distance and we were only together for 3 months. Warren and Ross arrived and I pretty much spent the entire night with them. This was finally the turning point, I no longer looked like a scary teenager and nothing like the girl with the heart card (my husband always says he doesn’t see me as the same girl from high school) and something clicked.

check the creepy guy in the backround

I spent the whole night doing what I had always hoped - getting to know Warren, and my boyfriend spent his night alternating between being consoled by my friends or glaring at me.

  

On the 1^st of February Warren and I went for coffee, a date I still remember every detail of, specifically thinking the whole time ‘holy crap I can’t believe this is happening’. I had still been torn about breaking up with the guy I was dating but that night I got home and dumped my boyfriend and Warren and I started dating, hallelujah it only took me 7 years to nab him. He even asked my parents permission a few days later.

 

We had discussed getting married, we both felt sure of each other within the first year of our relationship but by my 20^th birthday we had been together almost three years and it just seemed like we wanted different things. Aside from his job Warren was spending a lot of time on his djing and I just wanted to travel again, I had spoken to him again again about feeling like we were standing still and so I felt like nothing was going to change and we broke up.

I had been through a break up before but nothing like this, I’m not much of a cryer but I cried plenty tears over Warren and it was clear he was hurting too. A lot of change happened in both of us over that December and we both realised what was important and that our relationship was worth fighting for.

I began planning a years stay in Europe, I loved Warren and knew we were going to be together but I didn’t want to wait around. Our 3^rd year anniversary arrived in February and Warren planned a whole day of pampering for me and that night he took me to dinner at my favourite French restaurant with our own private candle lit balcony.  He was nervous and quiet and then he started to tell me how much I meant to him, how much he loved me and completely surprised me by asking me to marry him.

10 months later on the 5^th December 2009, two days after my 21^st birthday we were married and set off on the first of many adventures on our honeymoon in France.

Yep and we've managed to really fill up the last couple years, and I like to remind him every so often that I won (evil laugh) I got him in the end...