Starting at the beginning, I decided in March of 2017 (on my 29th birthday) that I was tired of being afraid. My chosen word for 2017 was "brave". I had come to realize that I let fear hold me back from so many things. I'd wanted to do a photo shoot forever, but I kept putting it off waiting to lose weight and for the hyper-pigmentation on my face to fade. NO MORE! In April I stopped putting it off and booked a session with an amazing creative Mary Fehr. I also wrote down a bunch of goals for the year that I had no real excuse for not doing. In many ways, this was the beginning of my real efforts to live out my word of the year.
Around May a friend got in touch with me about a great guy she knew that was single for no discernible reason (okay, he was in college full time and working full time, but still.) She asked if I knew anyone that might be interested. I told her I'd look around, I did, and who I found wasn't a good match. My Nana suggested I tell my friend I'd talk to him. At first I balked, but then I remembered my "brave" word --that always happened at the most inopportune times-and I agreed to talk to him.
He called me Saturday evening May 20th.
First, we made sure we were on the same page:
"No expectations, let's see if we connect."
Five hours later we figured we'd connected enough, he'd been completely enthusiastic about the photo session I was doing the next day too, which I hadn't expect him to really "get". I woke up the next morning freaking out, between getting pictures done when I am the complete opposite of a model (and prefer being behind the camera) and meeting this guy that I liked already even though I was happily single...It was pretty much mind-blowing.The following four weeks we managed to talk on the phone every single day. I fought the process a lot at first, and he was so gentle and patient with me. My relationships in the past had been short on encouragement and kindness and long on control and changing me. This guy that liked me just the way I was scared me! Weird, huh?
A month later he flew into Atlanta to meet me, I was crazy nervous, but meeting him was like coming home. I'd been warned about the awkwardness, but there was none of that...We were already close from hours of deep conversation by that point! After he left, I had to learn to trust God all over again because as long as I hadn't seen him in person it was easy to feel like my life would never change. I didn't have to make any decisions about being away from my favorite people. Meeting him face-to-face planted the idea in my mind that I'd be making that decision, and sooner rather than later.
Fast forward to September 16th, I went to Ohio with my mom to meet his family and celebrate his birthday, and while I was there he asked me to marry him. I said yes without hesitation, and on March 3rd we will be getting married! Along with the excitement of wedding planning, I've slowly and steadily been working on my new business that I'm really enjoying! You can check out my new website HERE and my new blog HERE.
Lizzi
