We first met at church when we were both in high school. Many of the girls swooned over Kenny but I thought he was a dork for driving his four siblings to church in a suburban. I also figured I didn't stand a chance with him. Kenny would say I never went to church and always used "homework" as an excuse, so he didn't have much interest in me either. His family ended up leaving the church and we went our separate ways. (This was before social media and we didn't keep in touch.)
My senior year of high school, I was asked to go to the homeschool prom with a good friend (even though I went to a private school). A friend of mine from school was also going to the homeschool prom and we thought it'd be fun to all go together. Later, I came to find out this was all Kenny's idea. He was at Six Flags with Audrey (his prom date) and she mentioned that I was also going to the homeschool prom. Kenny says as soon as he heard my name (I mean how many "Sarah Jane's" are there?!?) he knew I was the girl he'd marry.
As soon as I saw Kenny at prom, I was smitten! Now I was in an awkward "I-don't-want-to-ignore-my-date-but-I-also-like-this-other-guy" position. It seemed like an eternity, but Kenny finally asked me to dance! It was heavenly. After prom, we all went to IHOP and then snuck into a movie, prom dresses and all! I was drawn to Kenny's chivalry - opening the doors for us, and putting his date in the car first - as well as his calm and confident nature. I thought it was so cool that he came from a family of five children like me. And suddenly I thought it was extremely attractive that he used to drop his siblings off at church... what an awesome daddy he would be some day!
The night ended with him dropping Audrey off at my house for a sleep-over and me thinking I'd never see him again.
A week later, my brother came storming into my room saying Kenny was on the phone. Side note: his best friend's name was also Kenny and I wondered why in the world he would be calling me.
To my great surprise, it was Mr. Kenny Wright! He somehow found my phone number because I never gave it to him. (Another thing I fell in love with.) He asked if I'd like to go to a friend's party with him the following weekend. It turns out we knew a lot of the same people. We were both homeschooled, so it kinda made sense.
After the party, Kenny drove me home, parked in front of our house, switched off the ignition, turned to me and asked, "so where do you think this relationship is going?"
I thought, "Excuse me!?!? We're in a relationship?!?!?"
I said, "Well, I don't date guys I don't see myself marrying. I'm going to Baylor in the fall. If you're willing to wait for me, I'd love to date you!" And the rest is truly history.
We dated for two years and were engaged for one seemingly never-ending, longest year of my life.
Kenny proposed on the beach during a high school youth trip that we were both counselors for. We had already looked at rings and I had told him my idea of a perfect proposal would be on the beach at sunset. So I just knew he was going to ask!! He told me repeatedly there was no way he'd be asking me on this trip because he had not asked my dad's permission yet. So on the last day, when it still hadn't happened, I was in a bad mood because I felt he had wasted this perfect opportunity. After baptisms on the beach, we were all supposed to head inside for skits. However the youth pastor said there was one group that would do their skit on the beach. Kenny asked me take pictures and I sat down and looked through the tiny hole on his disposable camera. His group lined up and began turning over posters, one by one.
"Sunglasses... $9.99... Swim suit... $19.99... Sunscreen...$5.99... etc."
Finally, Kenny turned one over that said "the perfect proposal" and then they all flipped their posters over and they said "priceless."
Kenny started walking toward me. Meanwhile, I'm still looking through the tiny window wondering what a marriage proposal has to do with their group skit. Kenny took me by the hand and pulled me up in front of the entire group. I finally caught on to what was happening and was completely surprised! He knelt down and asked for my hand in marriage... I said yes!
 |
| the night we were engaged (July 1, 2004) |
 |
We were married August 13, 2005 in the church I grew up in. We were so young but have been able to spend eight years growing up together and having fun. I don't know all the reasons why God chose to wait to bless us with a family. But I wouldn't trade those first eight years of just us two for anything!
Mr. Wright is my best friend and the love of my life! I'm looking forward to starting each new chapter of our Wright life and writing it all down for us to look back on in our old age.
No comments:
Post a Comment