How It All Started

Hi friend.

Did I ever tell you about the first time Jered and I met?  Probably not because I started these letters a few years after we met.  I thought I'd tell you about it... less because you want to hear about it, and more because I love remembering it.

This is a shot of Mariah and me on our way back from church that morning.  Here you see an unsuspecting Aimee.  She had no idea that she was mere hours away from meeting an amazing guy, let alone her future husband.

That afternoon we went to our friend's house for a pool party.  When we arrived at her house, she was MIA.  Instead, we found three guys sitting on the couch watching TV.  Our friend, Tony, better known to us as his hometown, Washington, was there with three of his friends.  Two of them obviously brothers.  One of them I recognized as the cute flannel-wearing guy I had seen around campus the previous year.

Rather than be social with the strangers, we headed outside to play on the trampoline.  After our friend arrived, everyone else joined us by the pool and trampoline.  Introductions were made, and throughout the afternoon we had a nice time conversing with our new acquaintances.

 

We came to learn the other guys' names were Cole (more commonly known to us as Bam), Jeremy, and Jered.  We learned that Jeremy and Jered were brothers and that their older brother had graduated from TIU last year.

 

I talked to Jeremy the most during the afternoon.  Now that I know him, it's probably because he is more of a people person.  The only couple times I talked to Jered were when we were introduced, and I told him I thought I recognized him as one of the guys who always wore flannel, and when I heckled him for referring to basketball hoops as basketball goals.  I told him he wasn't in Kansas anymore.  (I had also learned that he was a Kansas native.)

 

At some point during the afternoon I texted Ashley, who stayed behind at school, to tell her that the cute flannel guy was at the party.  I also remember going inside to get the pizza with my friend and telling her that I thought Jered was super attractive.  She told me I should go for it, and I laughed because I was not the type of girl to actively pursue a guy I had just met.

I think that Washington noticed my attention being drawn to Jered because he made a sarcastic comment to me about how disgusting it was that the Flinkman brothers had about six percent body fat between the two of them.  My answer: "Oh yeah. Gross."

Mariah and I took off early to go to a movie.  I don't remember, but I'm sure that I told her I was digging the cute flannel guy.   This is us on our way back from the pool party.

I returned to our dorm room that night to tell Ashley that I really wanted to "friend" Jered on Facebook, but I was going to wait so I didn't seem too eager.  So I waited.  A day.  The next day Jered accepted my friend request... or maybe he sent me one... I don't remember.  What I do remember is him striking up a conversation, saying, "Hello there new found friend."  And that's how it all started.

Just thought I'd share that story with you.  Maybe I'll tell you the rest sometime.

Later,

Aim