How We Met (by Mary)
God began writing our love story long before we knew it.
Although Ben and I had mutual friends throughout college, neither of us remember ever talking to each other until we met at Buckhead Church in February 2008. I was with my friend Allison, who is now my Maid of Honor! She and I were cruisin' the sea of people after 7:22 and she said, "That's Ben and Isaac!" And she and I went over to talk to the guys and say hi. It was fun to see Ben's face that night because it was familiar and this was my first time at Buckhead Church, but I really didn't think anything about seeing him that night.
Over the next few weeks, our groups of friends started sitting together at 7:22, which met at Buckhead Church weekly on Tuesday nights. And, I distinctly remember Tuesday, April 1, 2008 when I ended up sitting by Ben because I was running late, and there was a seat open on the end of the row next to Ben. During 7:22 that night, Jarrett Stevens, the speaker, said something that made me tear up. As tears ran down my face Ben noticed and offered me his handkerchief. Then, after 7:22 our group went to Cheesecake Factory and as we were standing up from the table, Ben motioned with his hand to let me leave the table first. Afterwards, in the car with Allison she said, "Could you ever have a crush on Ben?" and I replied, "I think I do!" and so it began... I had a crush on Ben for a dramatic six months until he asked me out for our first date on his motorcycle to Chow Baby. :-)
Engagement (by Ben)
Through out our dating, Mary and I have been competitive in only one area. Backgammon.
We started playing on some of our first dates. When we were first starting to date, I was getting ready to quit my job, start my own company and move to Alabama. Mary would come over and help me pack. In between packing we would set up this little travel backgammon set I had and I would teach her all the little tricks to the game. After I moved away, we spent many nights playing each other in backgammon remotely on the Internet. Her skill was improving and I found myself keeping my mouth shut when I saw a good move for her, just trying to win. For my birthday that year, she drove all over Atlanta to find me a very nice backgammon set. We played on it often when she would visit me in Alabama and over the next several months. We had many dates where we would meet at a Starbucks and play backgammon until they kicked us out.
I got the idea to involve backgammon into my proposal in the summer of 09, I just didn't know how. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea that she would roll out custom made dice that would ask her the big question. I spent several months planning, all in secrecy, on every little detail that would be involved. It went something like this...
Having purchased the ring, and knowing approximately how long it would take for them to set the center stone, I began working on the date. I chose a Thursday before her birthday because I had a feeling that she would be expecting it on her birthday and I wanted to catch her off guard, and I knew I could talk to her parents on the Wednesday before while Mary was at small group. I set up an evening for her to come over and have dinner with my parents, having planted the idea weeks before by telling her my mom was asking for her to come over (which was true). I ordered the custom dice to be made, I arranged for my aunt to come take pictures, and I settled on the place to ask. I wanted it to be something that was a little bit nice, so that Mary would come dressed up, but not too nice that she would be suspicious. I eventually settled on The Commons at Stone Mountain Park. They have a beautiful lounge that has two nice big fire places, and over looks the lake at Stone Mountain. The trick was how to get her there with out my parents, and where we could have some time to play backgammon. On the big day, I went on my lunch break and scouted the place out with my aunt. We determined where she would hide, and how she was to know to come out and start taking pictures. That evening, I had her waiting at The Commons, and about dinner time I arranged for my Mom to call me and tell me she and dad were running late. I pretended to be a little annoyed and asked Mary if we could go on over there and meet them there. Upon arriving, Mary and I sat a the predetermined table, and started a backgammon game. At this point I have a ring in my pocket, and 4 custom dice stuffed down my socks (she had patted me down before when she was suspicious). About half way through the game, I started coughing/choking and through grasping for air asked if she would get me a glass of water. She was very sweet and agreed, while she was away I slipped the dice saying "Will" and "You" into her tumbler and held on two my dice that read "Marry" and "Me?" After returning with the water, she reached down and grabbed the wrong tumbler and rolled out my regular dice. Realizing her mistake she picked up her tumbler and checked inside. She read the dice then looked up at me. I told her, "You've got to roll them." After which I rolled mine. I got down on one knee, said some sweet things to her and asked her if she would marry me. Her response was... "Are you kidding me? Is this for real? Is this a joke?" I said I was not kidding, it is for real, and it is not a joke. To which she responded "YES!!!" She couldn't believe it. The day we had been talking about for the last 6 months had come and she had never seen it coming! Mission Accomplished.
We took pictures, we smiled and hugged, and jumped up and down. Then we spent a little time at each of our parent's house celebrating with them. Without a hitch, we are engaged.