The Story Of Us: The Short Version

On Friday, September 20th and Saturday, September 21st, 2002, the Crossbearers (a singles Sunday school class at our church) took a trip to Busch Gardens in Virginia. I was on that trip. So was Mary Ellen Cobb. When we left for that outing, neither of us had any idea that it would literally change our lives forever. At the time, I had a bit of a crush on someone else in our group, but as it turns out that person was not interested in me. Mary was also interested in someone else in the group, but they weren't as interested in her either. Whether it was merely coincidence or whether it was fate, Mary and I ended up spending a lot of time together on that two-day trip – especially on Saturday, when we not only walked and talked together everywhere, but even rode on the rides together. We'd known each other for about two years at that point, and we were friends – but that was all. Or was it?

Two days after we returned from the Busch Gardens trip, I sent Mary the following e-mail:


From: lazyspleen@cs.com
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2002  2:56 PM
To: cobbm@mail.ecu.edu
Subject: A Bad Case Of Pronouns

Just Between You And Me:
I just wanted you to know that I really enjoyed spending the day with you on Saturday. For a few fond hours, it was like you and I were more than you and I or he and she, but more like we were "us," or we were "we," and it was nice. If "we" or "us" is something you would be interested in exploring, then so would I. If I misunderstood, I apologize, and hey, it was fun!
-- Jason


Less than an hour later, Mary replied to me with this e-mail:


Subj: A Bad Case Of Pronouns
Date: 9/23/02  3:34:28 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: COBBM@mail.ecu.edu (Cobb, Mary E)
To: Lazyspleen@cs.com ('Lazyspleen@cs.com')

Jason,
You didn't misunderstand. It was nice! You've done a much better job of describing the "nice" part than I can! But you're the English major and I'm the illiterate science girl, so go figure! I am interested in exploring the "us" phenomenon, too!
– Mary


And with that, we started dating. Six months later, we were engaged. Six months after that, we were married – nine years ago today, as a matter of fact.

Happy Anniversary, Mary! I love you!