After several phone calls and emails back and forth, Torin and I had our first date on July 4, 2001. We went to the Detroit Taste Fest, ate some alligator and tried other new foods. We had a great time, and I ended the date feeling that I had met a man who I could see being with long term. I think he was able to overlook my popsicle stained shirt and saw something too.

At that time Torin (aka Rev. Alexander) lived in Albion, MI working as the chaplain at Albion College, which is about 45 minutes west of Ypsilanti. We are not strangers to long distance relationships, most weekends I would make the trek down I-94 or Torin would come up to Ypsilanti. It was during this time that he mentioned his five year plan and how going back to school to get his PhD was tops on that list. Well I�m nothing if not encouraging, so I gently (ha ha) nudged him to follow his dream. Little did I know it would take him to Houston, Texas, now I know the real meaning of long distance relationships.

I had assumed he would go to University of Michigan, a short 15 minutes from where I live. Well it turns out that Michigan does not have a religious program for students pursuing a doctorate degree. So then my vision turned to maybe Notre Dame and worse case University of Chicago; so I wouldn�t be able to see him as often, but it�s only 4 hours away. However, after applying to several schools, he got a great offer at Rice University in Houston, Texas that he could not turn down.

Immediate my mind went TEXAS, that�s all the way at the bottom of the country. All I knew about the state was that Bush was once the governor and you could carry you guns on you person legally. They had the death penalty and it miserably hot in the summer, and didn�t everyone walk around in cowboy hats and boots? Well we visited Texas last May and it indeed was large and the highway seems to go on forever and it was hot. And we did see a guy riding a horse in the middle of a city neighborhood. But it�s also a very cosmopolitan area, and Rice is a beautiful campus, and his advisor seemed really eager for him to start. How could I begrudge him this opportunity? So we parted with the understanding that marriage was in the future for us.

On December 27, Torin arrived in Ypsilanti after the end of this first semester at Rice. After settling down in my apartment, with Etta James "At Last� playing in the background, he got down on his knee and ask me to be his wife. At least that�s what he told me, I was crying and babbling and I don�t remember a thing he said. So that brings us to the wedding planning, but that's a story I�ll have to save for another day.

We feel truly blessed to have found each other.