Our Love Story







someone once asked me to write how darin and i met. now, with a baby coming and all, i feel even more nostalgic and happy with our relationship than ever, so it seems like the perfect time to share our love story.

we are both from placerville and we have known each other since high school. darin was two grades behind me in school and he was a jock, mvp of the basketball team; all the girls liked him. he claims he just stayed home and watched movies all the time and that he was shy and stuff, but i remember him being "popular" and someone i never really thought i'd know. (i was a mormon band geek)

then, the year after we graduated, darin was working at the movie theater and my best friend kim had a crush on him. they started hanging out and went to his homecoming together.
i took this photo of kim and darin, circa fall 1994:
 we went over to his house to hang out and watch saturday night live. he and i talked a lot and laughed our asses off and became friends. even though nothing ever really progressed with him and kim, darin and i maintained a friendship and a couple years later i got him a job at the record store where i worked, Nancie's Tapes and CDs. (man those were the good old days! real record stores still existed!)
we had a blast working together and could talk for hours on end. we left each other little notes; he teased me for all the diet coke i drank and made me lists of movies i needed to watch, some of which are still my favorites today like Badlands and Bottle Rocket. recently i asked him how he always knew what movies i would love and die over. he said, obviously because we're soul mates :)


in the summer of 2000 we had both gotten out of long relationships and started hanging out a lot at my little yellow house. we literally stayed up all night talking. we analyzed all the lyrics to our favorite songs, and made connections with our favorite books. he was living with his mom in the house we live in now, working at 4:30 in the morning at starbucks. i was working at the college and he was in classes there too so we saw each other every day. we became best friends.

when i left on my trip and my house burned, he and my friend mary went with my mom to pick through the rubble and try to save what they could. he had sent me the best mixed tape ever (yes i still used a walkman back then) to listen to on my 24th birthday on the bus trip to new york, along with a letter to read. i remember opening it at 4 a.m. at a wendy's parking lot because i just couldn't wait. on the way home when my sister and i were in illinois for thanksgiving, i had a dream about kissing darin. and it was the most comforting, home-like feeling. when i got back we were inseparable, had christmas together with my family and took a road trip to ashland, oregon for new years with a few of the other friends. everyone but us thought we were a couple. 

it was late january; we were on a drive one night and he finally told me how he felt. i was quiet; i didn't quite know how to act. what a wimp! i think i just told him i understood and maybe i even confessed that i felt it too, but the truth was i was scared and probably a little stand-offish. it was so obvious this was it. it felt like an enormous wave and i knew it would change everything. it took one more week, and he brought it up again and i was more responsive, but practical... so what should we do? we had plans to move in together to a big house in midtown sac with addie and mandy. would things be weird? nahhh, i said, maybe we should just kiss. and that was that! january 31, 2001. we moved in together a few days later.

the rest is history!

summer 2001:


we left on a cross country road trip in spring of 2002. we lived in our van, isis, for three months. 
here we are in coeur d'alene, idaho.

and drenched after a louisiana downpour.























and home again in my parents' kitchen, summer 2002:


visiting addie in portland, 2003:

thanksgiving, 2004:

summer 2005 we took another big road trip through all the western states.
here we are in anacortes, washington for the what-the-heck-fest:
 
and our first visit to taos, new mexico. they were having the annual Fiestas de Taos:

at a friend's wedding, 2006:

and another huge road trip, 2007 we went cross country again for a couple months.
made it up to minneapolis and fell in love with louise erdrich's bookstore, birchbark books. we got to meet her business partner and one of her daughters as they were preparing for a special visit and reading with poet mary oliver.

atlantic coast, north carolina:
 and....june 30, 2007....we got married right here in our own backyard encircled by all our friends and family. it was a dream.




we had a lovely little road trip honeymoon down the california and coast and into mexico.


 after that he started making films, i went to grad school and got my MA, we had tons more adventures and worked on making a baby. and now we are finally going to have one! when i take the time to piece it all together like this, it feels like we have been so sweetly blessed by some cosmic grace. we belong together and i am full of gratitude to have him as my true love!

Comments

Anonymous said…
I love this more than I can articulate, Heather. You two truly are cosmically blessed.

xo
Teeny said…
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I swear i've got a little tear in my eyes. destiny love, that is what I see in these photos. So happy, so matched. Even your two lovely faces, together look like happiness to me. Your man is so handsome, and you are so pretty! I bet you don't even know how pretty you are. Much love and an entire future of joy to you both! xxx
Joanne said…
:D
this story totally just made my morning!
<3 <3 <3
J. xxx
Amanda said…
I LOVE this post. What a wonderful pick-me-up this morning. So happy for both of you and I can't wait for this baby to come!
Cel said…
Awww now I'm all full of warm fuzzies, love it! It's funny how oftentimes everybody else realizes who's meant for who before those two do :)
Brittan said…
This is beautiful!

P.S. I was a Mormon theater nerd in high school, so I can definitely relate.
what a sweet story. it's obvious even from the start of my reading your blog that you two are meant for eachother. thanks for sharing.
Violet Folklore said…
HEATHER! The frequency of your blog posts that make me cry lately is getting OUT OF CONTROL. It's so great to see these images and to hear your story. I never feel like I get enough time with Darin, but now I feel like I know him just a little bit better :-)
Tina Dawn said…
Awwwww... What a lovely love.
Milla said…
You guys are such an inspiration to me. Whenever I feel bummed out and overwhelmed and want to say no to things, or do things that don't feel true to myself I try to think of "what would Heather do?".

You guys strike me as so free and full of life. So unpretentious and honest.

I really hope that some day C. and I get to hang out with you and Darin proper. I gotta echo Amber, I would like to spend more time with Darin, I'm sure there's movielore galore to bond over.

So much love to both of you. And the sprout of course.
Heather said…
Beautiful story....you have told your journey wonderfully!! Thanks for sharing ~You are blessed indeed!! Love Heather
fabulousjunk said…
awwwwwwwww..... :) this is a great story, and so positive!

xxoo

becks
http://fabulous-junk.blogspot.com
anne said…
sooo sweet heather! yay for true love and soulmates! i too, hope to hang out with the two of you some day!
Andrea said…
you two just get more adorable by the day :) i love these stories. its the first thing i always asked couples to tell me after I meet them.

i had not read your post about the little yellow house before-- how heartbreaking.
Lena said…
I think it was me who asked for this story, and oh how it breaks my heart and puts it back together! Thank you so so much for sharing this. This is love.
Kelsie Moore said…
Cuute! You were of course, beautiful when you were younger but you really have aged so gracefully. It's done you good. You will be a very beautiful grey haired woman, i know it.
Missa said…
I love that you guys worked together at a record store. The perfect 90's setting for a youthful romance to blossom!

You two have such a special relationship, so beautiful and awe-inspiring. Thank you for sharing your story, so obviously meant to be!

Also, what an amazing foundation of love to build your new little family upon!
Missa said…
Not to mention, that dress in the house of rainbows photo is AMAZING!!!
College Dating said…
Aww. This is the sweetest entry that I have read! :')

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