Our Story according to Me :)

Life at the Sowards' house has been fairly quiet lately and Alec, Tucker and I are really enjoying it. So, while things are calm, I want to to tell the story of how Alec and I ended up together. Why now you ask? Even now, I love to look back and read some of my previous blogs, and as time goes by I worry about forgetting some of the details about when we first got together. This might not be something that is interesting to you, but I want to have it in writing so hopefully I can re-read over the next 100 years we are married. :) Enjoy.

Fall 2003:

It was my first semester of school at ACU, I was beyond nervous about leaving my home and starting a new chapter in my life at a new school where I knew NOT A SINGLE SOUL! I also entered this new chapter with a boyfriend in tow, except that he would be attending a different school, but we were going to "make it work." On the first day of classes, I went to chapel with all my new found girl friends and after we headed off to the famous "Bean". I decided to get a sandwich and as I am waiting in line one of the baseball guys I had already met, Ben Maynard, walks up and says, "Chelsea, can Alec cut in front of you so he can eat with all of us?" I look up and there he was. I immediately noticed his amazing blue eyes and thought he was VERY good looking, but that was it. I said of course and that was the end of it. I saw him off and on that first semester. It was always really odd, I would be sitting in chapel looking around and even from across the gym I'd see him. I didn't think anything of it at the time, we really didn't talk. We would both play the same bowling game on our phones during chapel and after we would see who got a better score, but that was it. My first semester of college came and went...

Spring 2004:

The spring semester rolled around and I showed back up to campus a SINGLE LADY! I was so excited about starting this semester and being able to spend more time with my friends and meet new people. The first day of classes I signed up for a MWF 3pm English classes, after the first meeting I decided I needed to switch, so when Wednesday rolled around I went to a 12pm English class and guess who was in there? Alec Sowards. I LOVED that class. I always made sure to try and look really good on those days. I always looked forward to him walking in, he would wear this black baseball hat, the bill on it was still straight and it was cocked to the side a little. Sounds silly now, but I remember thinking he was so cute and shy. If anyone knows me, you'll know that my next comment is weird because as the semester went on I found that I could not talk to him. I would get all nervous and I don't know why. I remember a conversation with my mom, I was telling her that I met this boy but I couldn't talk to him. I liked to talk about him though. Enough so that one of my friends finally said that I could no longer talk to her about him until I talked to HIM. She did some detective work and got his screenname. Our first conversation took place on AOL instant messenger. We talked quite a bit and then he finally asked me out.

I remember that date like it was yesterday. I was so excited. He took me to Lytle Land and Cattle and it was perfect. It was a tough time to go on our first date because it was the end of baseball season and he would go on road trips and it was also the end of the semester so we were both, or he was studying quite a bit. I found myself really starting to like him, but I was afraid with summer so close that we would both go home and whatever we started would have to wait until the fall. However, that couldn't be further from the truth. We probably didn't go more than 7 days without seeing each other. I even went to Cabo with his family that summer. We were stuck like glue... and have been ever since.

It is weird to me because I swore I would never go to ACU and on top of that I didn't want to be like everyone else and meet my husband there, and Alec had never heard of ACU, he was there to play baseball. As we all know, it was all just part of God's plan.

We had such a good time at ACU and I'm glad that I was apart of Alec's life during that time. Some of my favorite memories are of baseball season. I LOVED Friday's and Saturdays. Rain or shine, near or far, I was going to watch my man play some baseball! I loved every second of it, it helps that I love sports, but there is something about watching the love of your life do something they love. I still close my eyes and think back to those days where I would get to the baseball game and see him our there, number 18... it was just this feeling of being so proud and loving him so much. Sorry, that was cheesy, but so true.

I also think about our Sonic/Cajun Cone runs. Every.single.day between 5 - 7 I would start listening for his truck. Once I heard him coming I would put my shoes on (sometimes) and run our to his truck and hop in and we'd go to Sonic or get a Cajun Cone. I always looked forward to that.

I could tell story after story of some the fun times we had in Abilene. Some people think it is crazy that we got married so young, or that we didn't get to enjoy college to the fullest because we were in such a serious relationship so young. I couldn't disagree more. Everyone is different but in our case I love that we got to share all of the crazy fun times together. I got to be there for every stressful paper, hard test, strike out, homerun and sickness and I love that.

I'm so thankful that I am Alec's wife... and I loved getting to re-live some old memories. I know I'll enjoy looking back on this one!

Hope everyone is having a GREAT short week!