Our Love Story: Her Perspective
Roughly two years ago, I interviewed Carson for a position in the Surgical ICU at Covenant where I was serving as a full time charge nurse. I remember vividly, Carson being the last interview of the day. Being O V E R it. Not really loving the candidates before him and just ready to get it over with and get on with my day. I looked over his résumé and saw “Tarleton State” “Sigma Chi” “Tyler Junior College” and already knew we were in trouble. (LOL)
But during that FaceTime interview, I learned that he had the greatest personality and he was a hard worker, so of course we ended up hiring him. Carson then got paired to orient with someone who worked my opposite schedule. So I remember over the 6 weeks of his orientation time not seeing or meeting him at all. I heard all of my coworkers buzzing about the new guy Carson “he’s so cool. He’s hilarious. He’s going to be so great.” And I was eager to actually meet him face-to-face! After meeting him and getting to know him a little better I told my mom “there’s a new guy at work named Carson and he is TEXTBOOK what I would want in a husband. He meets every check on my checklist” (if you know me, I thrive in checklists). “He has the best personality, the sweetest heart, is so kind to everyone, he’s hilarious, he’s handsome, he gets along with all of my friends (bc work friends=my real life friends), he loves Jesus, he comes from a great family, is a small town guy. Everything!” Then the BUT “but he has a girlfriend.” (At least I know there’s a guy out there that withholds all of the qualities I want and know he’s not a unicorn.) My mom said “well be patient Maddie and know there’s someone out there God has strategically picked out for you. He will come to you at the perfect time when both of your hearts are ready.” *eye roll emoji because I had heard this so many times and was being inpatient and tired of waiting*
Most of you know I was with someone who treated me like garbage (not important part of the story) and finally had the nerve to break things off with him. Six months after that, Carson was also single and we were finallyyy able to hang out with all of our friends! He was not on my radar, as I was a little bit traumatized from my previous experience. I was just excited to get to hang out with my friends again! There was a specific day we had talked about wanting to grill fajitas on my black stone and I made a “tentative plan” to do so as in “yeahhh that would be fun” but didn’t truly plan on doing that. Well Carson had committed to those plans. He texted me about hanging out but I was in Clovis on the Air Force Base with my sister + her family and my mom. He was veryyy persistent about hanging out so I said “do you want to come to Clovis to grill + hang out with us here?” (expecting him to say no). He said yes so then I explained to my mom, Chelsey and Lance that he’s JUST a friend, I wasn’t interested in dating him (yet) and that I just wanted them to get to meet him because he’s so much fun and they will love him. After his background check to get on base (he was sweating bullets LOL), we all sat around on the patio and told stories, laughed as they got to know each other. As soon as he left the next morning my moms response was “ummm he is PRECIOUS and we love him. If you mess things up with him, we are keeping him!” I said “well I’m not dating him. He’s just my friend.”
A few weeks later after a turn of events, there was never an “I like you, will you be my girlfriend” period for us. It was “I’m in love with you.” And the rest is history! I realize looking back that I tried and tried to push him away but he wasn’t having it. He pursued me in a way I had never been pursued, showed me love in a way that I had never been loved, and also we had THE most fun together no matter what we were doing. I knew it in my heart long before I thought it could ever be a reality. But now that it’s happening I find myself asking “is this real life?” every day because it feels too good to be true. He IS everything I’ve ever wanted. He DOES hit every checkbox on my OCD checklist. I thank God every day and every night for having greater plans for my life than I tried to design for myself. He really did have this all set before me, and it was out of my control. And I will never take a love or a man like this for granted. Here’s to forever, Cars! I can’t wait to marry you and spend the rest of my life with you! A dream come true!
Our Love Story: His Perspective
Maddie always says she remembers seeing me the day she interviewed me, unfortunately for me it was over a zoom call so I was wearing a top half of a suit with no pants in my rent house in Lubbock. But I knew the day I got an offer to work at Covenant’s SICU 4 my life was about to change for the better. When I first started I don’t think I ever saw Maddie for the first 6 weeks of my orientation. It wasn’t until I was a fresh nurse that I got to know the girl I had been hearing so many wonderful things about. My first shift working with Maddie would be a nightmare to so many new nurses, I was getting a patient who would direct admission to the ICU for respiratory failure and for some reason when the patient arrived our equipment was failing. The way she helped me then I knew exactly what kind of person Maddie was. She was not only the most helpful and caring person, but she would make you feel like what I was doing was important, you could easily tell how much she cared about her job. Since that moment the respect I had for her was unmeasurable. I would have done anything for that girl and I still feel that way today. Over the next 2 years I got to know Maddie primarily through work. Maddie helped me grow more as nurse than any other person I’ve worked with, but the most memorable moments for me were around the nurses station in the late hours of the night / early morning. That’s where I got to know Maddie Holman. Her stories of her crazy family were always guaranteed to make me belly laugh, and her experiences in patient care would keep the fire alive for anyone aspiring to be a great nurse. I could tell my feelings towards her as a friend were beginning to change as I got to know her history and what makes Maddie, Maddie. Unfortunately for the both of us, we were in two different but very similar circumstances that kept our close friendship bound between the Hospital walls. It wasn’t until a night of celebration for a coworker’s last shift that I really found myself head over heals for this girl who I wasn’t sure if she felt the same way for me over. March 17th, St. Patrick’s day, me and a traveling nurse were celebrating a friend’s decision to make the switch to travel nursing and we began to reminisce on how special SICU was. We talked about numerous coworkers but when we began to talk about Maddie I couldn’t help myself but to tell him that “I would marry that girl tomorrow, if I had the chance.” That summer I felt like the chance was arriving as both of our circumstances were changing and a chapter in our books of life were turning to new beginnings. What started off as coworkers grabbing a beer after a long night working turned into one of the best end to a summer I have ever had in my life. I wanted to spend every waking second I had with Maddie even if it meant I would be so tired the next night at work we would have to take shifts watching patients. The girl I knew as my work friend became the girl who I never wanted to leave. A summer fling that felt like it would never end. Mid September as the summer was seeming to fade away something terrible happened to us on a early Thursday morning. I don’t remember much from that night but one thing I do remember holding Maddie at 5 AM after she glued my head together and telling her how much I loved her. And that I would never let anything this terrible happen to her again. I don’t think I let Maddie out of my sight for the next week after that, and the times we were apart my mind stayed fixed on her. I knew that she was no longer a girl who I could live without, and I wanted to make her my girlfriend. So on October 3rd before a planned trip to Kansas City I asked Maddie to be my girlfriend. While some people may call the start of our relationship unusual, having Maddie as my girlfriend made me feel like I was the luckiest man alive. Maddie ended up coming with us to Kansas City to a chiefs game and I could instantly see our relationship taking strides that I didn’t know were possible. Our love grew stronger with everyday that we were together. Soon after our first cross country trip Maddie told me that she was wanting to sell her house in Lubbock and start travel nursing. As I helped her clean her house on 22nd place for showings I think I felt scared for the first time that we would be apart and distance would be difficult. During this time I think I was on the highway at least once a week. Whether it was a quick one night trip to Weatherford, or somehow convincing my parents that I was going to drive to San Antonio for the weekend I still could not get enough of this Blonde girl. I don’t think it was the plan either of us had in mind when we first started dating but God’s will definitely shined bright during our times apart. As we continued to do distance I knew all I wanted was to be with her. That December I worked my last day at Covenant SICU, the place where I had met my future wife and made so many great friends to go on the road with Maddie. Wichita was our first stop and Kansas has never looked so beautiful as it did the day Maddie took me with her to a 1 bed 1 bath 700sqft AirBNB. Our time in Wichita together at last was just the solidifying icing on our dating cake. I never needed any prompting or convincing to make this woman my fiancé. In our early days of our relationship one thing Maddie told me was “No relationship ever fails because you’ve tried to out-serve your partner.” And I think we both took this to heart because every time I would try to do something sweet for Maddie she would be one step ahead of me. If you know Maddie, you know she is the life of the party and a girl you instantly become friends with as soon as she steps into the room. This was on full display when we started working in Wichita. We made lifelong friends and had such an amazing time working together once again. As our contract was coming to an end, and after I had a Diamond engagement ring on the way to my parents house to give to her for her birthday, another road-trip to Texas. Planning an engagement 300 miles away is definitely a challenge I don’t recommend, but being able to reach out to her family and friends for help and hearing the way they talk about Maddie was another insight into the girl I loved, and how she has always been a light to the world. On April 21st, her birthday I asked her to Marry me. While it didn’t go exactly like I had planned, her saying yes has made me feel like the luckiest guy alive. Calling her my fiancé is a blessing I never knew I would achieve when I look back at the young scared nurse who started in Covenant SICU and got to work with the most amazing girl. I’ve never loved a person like I do Madeleine Tate, and I am so excited for her to be my WIFE!!
