Love Story Part 3, In which Angel is in a Hurry

Is there a happy ending to this tale? Read on to find out, or else read Part 1 and Part 2 if you need to get caught up.

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After March 2010, when we officially started courting, I studied for my classes, went to Bible study, and talked on the phone to Angel. My 2000 minutes per month of cell phone use brought some raised eyebrows from family members, but Angel and I had the same cell phone carrier, so it's all good. 

Things moved quickly for us, I believe, largely because I already knew so much about Angel! A lot of important information had all come out during his application and interview, things that otherwise would have taken months to get around to talking about during the course of normal conversations. Angel bought an engagement ring a month and a half after we started courting, and proposed to me the next time he saw me, during my summer break from school on July 2, 2010—three months from when we’d begun courting. 

 Our "official" engagement picture at the engagement party

Our original idea was to get married the following June, after my Junior year of college was over. However, we quickly decided that being engaged was not fun, especially when we were living in separate states. In August, Angel became like a man possessed, working 5 12-hour shifts a week so that he could pay off his student loans faster, while at the same time applying for any and all nursing jobs in the city where I lived—we’d already decided that he would move so that I could continue with college after we got married, and in late September he came to visit and interview for a job at the same time. We didn’t know for sure if he’d get the job, but we had decided we wanted to get married in November, so we sprung the news on my grandparents the first time I took Angel to meet them (not the grandparents I’d been living with, obviously, the other ones!). They were a little taken aback, but suggested that I call their church and see what dates were available. It turned out that all of the Saturdays in November were booked already, but we could have the first Saturday of December. We took it! Regardless of the fact  the date was a little over two months away at that time and that my final exams for the semester started exactly a week after that Saturday.

My grandpa asked, “I don’t want to be rude, but is there any particular reason for this rush to get married?”

We had our answers to that one already planned.

“We wanted to get married while the year was still 2010 so that it would always be easy to calculate how long we’ve been married!” I said with a grin. 

Angel added, “And we figured it’s better to get married before all the snow comes so that everyone who will be traveling to the wedding will have a safe trip.”

“I see,” said my grandpa, looking skeptical.

Around this time, a rumor was started that Angel and I weren't going to kiss until we were married. This rumor was started by my lovely Angel himself who posted as a status on Facebook, "I can't wait to kiss Rachel for the first time on our wedding day!!"

Now what would you think if you read that status? Angel insists that he was not being misleading and honestly meant that he was looking forward to kissing me for the first time on our wedding day, whenever the first kiss of the day happened to be (and though I don't recall, I'm pretty sure it was sometime during our pre-ceremony photo shoot). Angel's Facebook status led to some confusion on the part of friends and family and a concerned call from my grandpa, saying, "Rachel, there's a rumor going around that you and Angel haven't kissed yet. Is this true?"

I could honestly say, "No, Grandpa. That's not true."

"Good," he said, "Because that would just be weird."

I thought that was a hilarious response and concern, especially considering that it came from my grandfather!And it's not that weird. I know plenty of people who choose not to kiss until they are pronounced man and wife--but clearly, we didn't choose that route.

The day of Angel's {successful!} job interview. You can tell by how dressed up he is. I love him dressed up!

We were married Dec 4, 2010. I was 19 and my Angel was 26.

So, that’s it. Our love story. A version of it, anyways. And, even I’m a bit confused and bewildered by it, to this day. There’s a few rather confusing parts. First of all, there’s the false start back in my freshman year of college. And then there’s Angel coming back the next spring and deciding, quite suddenly, to marry me. The decision came very fast. Angel told some of his coworkers, only partially joking, when he left to visit me for  spring break that he might come back married. The only reason it took us from March to December to get married was because we were living in different states the whole time, Angel wanted to pay off all of his student loans before we got married, and he had to get a job in my city before he could move there. Just logistics, really. Oh, and if you're interested in the Wedding day, go ahead and check out the page labeled "Wedding" on my blog. I know that sounds too obvious, almost as if it were a scam, but it's not. Trust me.