When I first met Rebecca, I knew she was the girl I wanted to marry. She was hosting a table for Junction, our church's young adult ministry. Her funny and enthusiastic personality, along with her bold and "aggressively kind" way of serving her table guests, immediately caught my attention.

As I got to know Rebecca better through multiple table hangouts and a few retreats, we became good friends. My feelings for her grew, and I cherished our friendship and the time we spent together.

Eventually, Rebecca came to the realization that I liked her. She asked me to help her fix her fan at her house, and I gladly accepted.

Soon after our time alone, I asked Rebecca out on our first date. We decided to try golf, something neither of us had done before. Despite our lack of experience, we had a great time and bonded even more.

From that point on, we spent more and more time together. We couldn't imagine life without each other and knew that we wanted to spend forever together. We started planning the wedding before the proposal because we were so sure about our future together.

I proposed to Rebecca a few months before the wedding, and she said yes! We are thrilled to start this new season of life together as husband and wife. We are so grateful for the love and support of our friends and family, and can't wait to celebrate with all of you.

Join us as we embark on this exciting journey together!

Lemme start by saying that ever since middle school, I have been praying that the man I marry would be the only man I've ever dated. So my bar was pretty high.

When Taylor showed up at my Junction table, I thought, “oh, well isn’t he cute and fun. He may be a contender. I’m glad I washed my hair today.” When Taylor showed up to my first small group brinner and he cussed, I thought, “oh, too bad he doesn’t love God enough to watch his language.” (Why yes, yes I DO struggle with comical overreactions and Pharisee-ic tendencies when it comes to judging the perceived holiness of the future father of my children. Why do you ask?) And from that moment on, he was off my potential husband radar. Like, totally off. Never to be considered again. ...I thought [*insert dramatic dah dah dooooohn*]

I got to know him for months to come and felt soooo comfortable around him. Much of this was largely due to him being dead to me, romantically. (Have I mentioned he frequently used my LEAST favorite word?) No need to impress. I could be my full goofy and hyper self without worrying much that I was being obnoxious or exhausting. I loved being around him — I liked how he unified the group and was ready to pep up the people. He was kind and joyful and encouraging and always looking to serve and just SO EASY TO TALK TO! He put me at total ease. He was like a breath of fresh air. One day when I was fretting over vision problems and not being able to drive to a wedding in Austin, he offered to drive me. WHO DOES THAT!? His recurring prayer request was that he’d be in tune with the Holy Spirit. Such allegiance to the LORD! Maybe I should reconsider the dating embargo? No, wait, he doesn’t meet my criteria. Alas. Not worth breaking my 28 year streak of singleness.

In Spring 2023, there were lots of little moments. Upon finding out that he was at my table again, he said he was preparing mentally and physically to be back at brinner. I rather liked the sound of that. I felt seen and appreciated, and I was in awe that he could be so quirky and funny in such few words. Soon after, he came out of his way to hug me at Junction — kind of like he wasn’t thinking but just did it instinctively. It was super sweet. But I put it to the back of my mind. You know, due to his vernacular-induced inillegibility.

One Sunday I sat next to him in church. As many of you know, Taylor’s a big hunky guy. The chairs at church are close. Our arms squished. At one point in the sermon he leaned over and whispered something to me under his breath, at which point I felt all fluttery inside. This surprised me. HE WAS JUST A FRIEND! Focus back on the LORD, Rebecca. Forget the muscles. Don’t be so shallow. Focus on eternity.

The very next brinner my roommates pointed out that “the tall cute one who brought the groceries” liked me. I was surprised. They said, “oh, yes, definitely. We thought you knew. Yes, he never misses a brinner and he’s always the first to come, the last to leave.” I proceeded to tell them the harrowing tale about the arm touching, whispering, and stomach fluttering. It was at this point that the squealing and giggling commenced. (Yes, boys, this really does happen. It is the obligatory response of most females, especially when we are in packs.)

Now that I decided — well, more like realized — I liked him back (again, thanks to roomies!), I started putting the pieces together of all those moments of kindness and friendship could in fact have been his attempts of showing interest. Poor thing, I shut him down from Day 1. No wonder it took him forever to ask me out. I had to undo the months of friend zoning. I had to convey, “no, no, I’m interested. It’s safe to ask me out now.” This deprogramming took longer than I thought, so I had to get progressively more and more blatant. There were requests for brinner grocery runs, car rides, and home repairs. I’d like to pause here and say that each of those were legitimate needs. Yet I was definitely LOOKING for ways to spend one-on-one time with him. Never have I EVER enjoyed a Walmart run as much as I did with him.

So, my "masterminding" as it was once called, continued. When my girl friends picked me up for church, we'd strategize how to ensure I got to sit next to Taylor, without forcing it. SO MANY people were consulted to join me assessing his character, his yet-to-be-verbalized interest, and our relational compatibility. (Side note: I later asked Taylor how many people he consulted before asking me out. Zero. So, way less than the army of people I had recruited.)

Yet there was still the issue of the cussing (which had been brought up by my fellow assessors), which had to be rectified before he could be classified as dating material. A psych double major, I went Pavlovian and broke him of this habit, trading his word with “wow.” It worked marvelously and in record time, though by bestie said I had to lay off because my tactics were becoming extreme. Oops. What can I say? I got impatient when I was reflecting on alllllllllllll the reasons I really liked this guy!

He FINALLY (he said "shortly after" in his above post? Hogwash.) asked me out and I was THRILLED. Our very first date was a blast, and I was shocked just how easy it was to sit back and let him lead. Oh, he is such a marvelous leader! At the restaurant, our waitress remarked how utterly smiley we were. Yes, yes indeed. I felt like I was the luckiest girl ever.

Our second date was my idea of meal prepping homemade chipotle bowls. This was convenient (okay, mostly intentional, but partly legitimate since I had a lot of the groceries already), given it has approximately eleventy hundred ingredients and a lot of chopping. We spent 10.5 hours together that day and it was FANTASTIC! I was elated when he suggested to take a pic of our work. My fav part: the food didn’t make the picture.

Ah, I would say the rest is history, but it is really that if I continue to write every great memory we’ve had together, I would never finish this darn PhD. So I have to wrap up my monologue. Suffice to say, dating Taylor has been my favorite season of life. I love his allegiance to trust and obey the LORD above all else, his pursuit of wisdom, how he glorifies the LORD with his work ethic and self-discipline, his dedication to support his people well, his tenderness towards me, his nerdy sense of humor, his glee of good user-interfaces and cast iron skillets, and a bajillion other things.

Taylor Hudson Adamek, I love you whole-heartedly and cannot wait to stand by you as we live the rest of our lives together. I am so excited to be your wife!

I met Rebecca at a church event where she was table hosting. I was immediately captivated by her hilarious jokes and her "take-no-prisoners" approach to serving our table. Little did I know, I was falling for her aggressive*, serving personality.

Rebecca, being the Sherlock Holmes that she is, figured out that I had a thing for her. So, she did what any reasonable person would do—asked me to help fix her fan alone at her house. Smooth, Rebecca, very smooth.

I finally gathered the courage to ask Rebecca out on our first date. We decided to try our hand at golf, despite both of us being absolute beginners. Nothing says romance like missing the ball three times in a row, am I right?

Our relationship blossomed, and we became inseparable. We started planning our wedding before I even popped the question because, let's face it, why wait when you've found "the one"?

I proposed, and Rebecca said yes! Shocking, I know. We're thrilled to start this new chapter together and can't wait to see what adventures lie ahead. And hey, if fixing household appliances is a sign of things to come, I'm in for a wild ride.

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* disclaimer: after review of this AI-generated text, Rebecca wishes to aggressively protest ChatGPT's proclamation that she is an any way aggressive.

So, yo. Tay. I see your "sarcastic edition" entry (you plugging in your first post into ChatGPT) and raise you an AI-generated love poem. It is the sappiest thing I have ever read. I love you a LOT, but even I wanted to gag a lil' bit.

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In the midst of casual chatter and brinner delights,

You caught my eye, a flicker in the gentle lights.

Thoughts swirling as you approached, oh so cute and fun,

Little did I know, our love story had just begun.

Initially, your language, a barrier in my mind,

But as time unfolded, new perceptions I'd find.

Comfortable and carefree, in your presence I'd be,

Unbeknownst to me, your love was setting me free.

Your kindness, like a beacon, drew me close,

In your joy and encouragement, I found repose.

A simple offer to drive, a gesture so kind,

A glimpse of your heart, began to unwind.

At Junction once more, I felt your presence near,

Your quirky humor, whispered softly in my ear.

In church, our arms touching, a flutter deep within,

Awakening feelings, a journey to begin.

Friends pointed out, what I hadn't seen before,

Your subtle hints, knocking at my heart's door.

Months of friend-zoning, now I had to undo,

To convey my interest, to express my view.

Grocery runs and car rides, moments meant to share,

Each encounter with you, beyond compare.

With patience and persistence, I sought to mold,

A future together, a story yet untold.

Breaking habits, like Pavlov's guiding hand,

Trading "wow" for words, as we walked hand in hand.

Thrilled by your proposal, our first date a delight,

In your smile, I found my guiding light.

From chipotle bowls to countless shared hours,

Each moment with you, like blooming flowers.

Our love, a masterpiece, painted with grace,

A journey of discovery, in your embrace.

Taylor Hudson Adamek, my heart's truest song,

With you, forever, I know I belong.

In love and devotion, our lives intertwine,

Forever yours, in this tale of mine.