Wedding in 3 weeks!

Today is the first time I have ever linked to another blog to share my story. I follow Kelly's Korner and she does a Friday Show Me Your Life and today's topic is "How you met your husband...." Well since the wedding is 3 weeks from today I figured it was a good time to tell the story of how Zach and I met! With him being born and raised in Utah and me being born in Iowa and moving to Georgia...we had to head even more south...to the Caribbean to meet.

It was Augusta of 2006 and I had just arrived on the island of St. Maarten to begin medical school. I was anxious, scared, excited and clueless!! During the first 2 weeks of school the incoming first years have a "white coat ceremony" where we get our short white coats for the first time on our way to becoming a true doctor. After the ceremony we had a huge celebration at one of the local spots on the island. Drinks were shared and it was a huge meet and greet since MANY of us did not know each other well at all. Needless to say this is the night I met Mr. Zachary. I knew of him because he was the head Anatomy TA for my class so I had seen him in our cadaver lab. That night we struck up a conversation and with the help of a little tequila (by me...not him) we talked for many hours. Now let me interject and be honest about my situation....when I had left the US I had started dating I guy I had met while nannying in Vermont and we were still together. However, here I was in St. Maarten talking to this blonde haired, blue eyed, skiing cutie from Utah. To my embarrassment we ended up going out to a gazebo just outside the bar and kissed. Well....this became the talk of the WHOLE school. Island life was much like being in a small high school. It was catty and gossipy and all around miserable at times. Everyone knew Zach since he had been on the island for a year already, but no one knew this "new girl" that he was kissing. Not to mention the fact that I had a boyfriend....
In leu of keeping with the honesty of this blog and for my memories....Zach and I proceeded to get to know each other all semester. We hung out a ton and most of the time he was helping me study which was also scandelous given that he was the teaching assistant. And this whole time I still had the boyfriend...I was scared to death of how I was feeling for Zach and he was always completely honest in how he felt about me. I was certain that my feelings were "situational" and that the only reason I cared about him was because we were both on the island, in medical school, facing the same obstacles. Also some of my class had ostersized me given that I was hanging out with Zach. It was a really rough beginning to a relationship, that really wasn't a relationship in my mind. He was slowly becoming my best friend and confidant and we spent MANY, MANY nights on gchat talking about all the things you talk about when you are getting to know someone.
Now I know this isn't my proudest moment...essentially cheating on the guy I was "dating" back in the US. And I'm not going to defend my actions. This is our story and I want to be real.

Christmas break came and went and I thought about Zach every second of every day. I told my mom and Steve about him over dinner one night and unbeknowst to me, mom told me later that she looked at Steve that night and said "that's the man Krystal is going to marry." I had tried to convince myself that after Christmas break I was going to distance myself from him and we would just go about being friends. I tried that approach for the month of January and on January 30th I got a call from my "boyfriend" back in the US saying he was coming to visit. I panicked! I headed over to Zach's and immediately told him that I couldn't do this anymore. I left him crying on his bed and as I drove away I knew I had made the biggest mistake of my life....
The whole month of February was a changing point in my life. I finally broke it off officially with the guy back in the US and then I spent the whole month trying to repair my relationship with Zach and actually have it start on a honest, real level. He forgave me for everything, told me he was waiting for me and we began this journey! The time from August 06 to February 07 was the toughest, most confusing, most regretful time in my life. Regret because of the person I was and my dishonesty. I am not proud of this time but I know in my heart that "it all happened for a reason." I met the man of my dreams and he stood by my side when I needed him the most. He just loved me even when I wasn't worthy of his love. He definitely didn't understand what I was doing through most of that time, nor did he agree with it, but he believed in us. And for that I am eternally grateful.....

And now 3 weeks from today we are getting married! We talk almost weekly about that time in our lives and what we were thinking and feeling. We are incredibly honest and open about it and I think that is tremendously important. It is not a "pretty story" but it is our story and in the end I met the man of my dreams.

I love you Zachary Paul Baker!!! Thanks for "just being" :)