55 days

Only 55 days until I marry Adam Montoya!

Last night I had my 10 year high school reunion.  We got together with some old friends John Bell and Irena Murphy for dinner before the reunion.  It was nice to get to see them again and to have a little one on one time.  John and I had seen about a year ago when he was in town, but I hadn't seen Irena since 2003.  We had the normal catch up conversation, and they each asked how long Adam and I have been together and how we met. 

This led me into my most favorite, cutest love story ever!  Adam and I met for the first time at Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp the summer before 5th grade.  It was towards the end of the week, and while we might have noticed each other we hadn't talked.  My friend Cristina and I were standing in line at the Trading Post (the little hut where you can buy snacks and shirts, etc.) in front of two cute boys.  We started talking and flirting in our 5th grade way and learned the boys were named Adam and Steve.  Adam was from Cheraw, CO and Steve was from La Junta, CO.  Like I said it was the end of the week so we didn't have much time to build on the friendship at that point.  Just like every other weeks end at camp all the campers exchanged addresses so we could write letters.  Email wasn't an option back in those days.

Adam and I wrote back and forth.  We were each pretty quick to respond.  I loved him in my child like way.  I have one picture of him from camp.  On the back is written Adam and Steve.  Around Adam's name is a big heart!  We got to see each other occasionally.  He had orthodontist appointments in Colorado Springs sometimes and we also met up at the Relief Sale in Rocky Ford one year.  Sometime in Middle School we stopped writing and lost track of one another.  Neither one of us remember why we stopped writing but for some reason I had the feeling I had made him mad.  I would think about  him from time to time and wonder if I should write him again, but didn't know if he wanted to hear from me. 

Life went on.  We each graduated high school on 2001 and went on to college.  My first year of college I went to Hesston College in Hesston Kansas.  I learned years later that Adam was very close to also going to Hesston on a basketball scholarship, but he decided to stay in Colorado.  We had different college experiences and different relationships.  I got married in 2005.  In 2008 I divorced and decided it was time to leave Kansas and move home again.

I was a very broken person when I moved back to Colorado.  I needed my family and my friends.  After a difficult time of closing people off when I needed them most I was able to begin healing and reconnecting with some of the most important people in my life.  It was the best decision I could make moving home.  It was a new beginning!  Just a matter of weeks after I settled into my C. Springs apartment I was online and decided to check my old email that I hadn't looked at for quite some time.  There was a notice for a message sent by Adam to my "MySpace" account.  At first I was slightly irritated not knowing which Adam it was from.  I opened the email and there was a picture and the name Adam Montoya.

I wrote back immediately.  He had just written the message earlier that day.  He had recently began a job in Colorado Springs and was commuting from Pueblo.  He said on his drive to work he wondered what ever happened to his old friend Lauren Gillis.  He found me!  I was so excited about the possibility of getting together with him and re-meeting him and starting our friendship over again!  I needed friends!  We met after work one day and it was very natural and comfortable hanging out together.  I began going to Pueblo to hang out with Adam and his brother Scot and sometimes their brother Rob and his son.  I was having the best time!  I remember telling those boys how important they were to me and how perfect the timing was that they came into my life.  It kept feeling like there was an important reason things happened as they did. 

Hardly a day went by that we didn't text or talk. We saw each other weekly if not more often.  I tried to resist my feeling for a while but it was worthless.  I was falling hard for him.  Eventually we admitted it to each other and our friendship became an official relationship.

I have never been so happy.  Adam Montoya is my best friend.  We have such honest conversations about what we want in life.  We have so much fun together.  We communicate so well.  We don't agree on everything but we're able to talk through it.  He is kindhearted and loves my friends and family.  He is patient with me and supportive of me.  Not to mention is he sooooo good looking!  :)  I love him.  My heart is happy knowing the love we have for each other.

While marriage is a formality and the rest of our lives has already begun I am so thrilled for the formality of it all and the party we get to throw.  I can't wait for the next 55 days to pass!  I love you Adam!