It was a series of chance encounters in different towns across the great state of Louisiana. Joey first saw Fleur when he was 13 and she was 11. Joey was shooting his bow with his dad on his grandfather's land, and they saw a little girl (guess who) riding a horse across a field. Joey's dad said to Joey, "Why don't you go talk to that girl?" Of course little Joey was too shy and didn't. But he got another chance. A year later, Fleur was 12 and Joey was 14. Fleur was living in Baton Rouge with her family, but they were planning to move out to their farm in Ethel, Louisiana, coincidently a few houses down from Joey's grandparents' property. Since they were planning to move out there, Fleur's mom wanted her girls to get involved with a church youth group so that they could make friends in the area. That youth group just so happened to be that of Jackson United Methodist, the same church Joey's family attended. Fleur and Joey met for the first time at one of the youth group events, but they didn't get to know eachother very well. You see, Joey had a girlfriend at the time, and she didn't take too kindly to new girls on the scene. But all the same, Fleur thought the blonde haired boy with the light eyes and sweet demeanor was very attractive indeed. But she was not one to interfere in matters of the heart, especially since Joey was otherwise occupied. Although the future Mr. and Mrs. danced at a Christmas party once at the church...it was just as friends.
Fleur eventually stopped going to the youth group because her mom found more land in Zachary, Louisiana and sold her property in Ethel. One would think the story of Fleur and Joey would be over, but just as she was starting highschool, Fleur and her family moved to Jackson, Louisiana (where Joey is from) until their house in Zachary was built. Joey's older cousin, Jason, met Fleur's older stepsister, Jessica, and they started dating. Every day on the ride home from school, Jason tried to convince Joey to come by and meet Jessica's super cute sister, Fleur. Once again, Joey did not hear fate knocking on his door. So after about a year, Fleur moved from Jackson, where she had lived literally walking distance from Joey's house, to Zachary with her family. Was the mishap that was Fleur and Joey complete? Decidely not...
Another two years went by, Fleur is 16 and Joey is 18. Fleur and her pal Ashley applied for their first real summer jobs at Magnolia Cafe in St. Francisville, Louisiana, a landmark restaurant in the area. It just so happened that this was where young Joey was working as a waiter. Fleur immediately recognized him, but for whatever reason, decided to play it cool and pretend like she didn't know him...but he was even cuter than she remembered. Luckily, Joey FINALLY seized the moment and approached the newly hired waitress. It took a little while, but Joey and Fleur developed a wonderful friendship which quickly blossomed into young love. This is a summer that particularly stands out in my mind. It was just a very happy and exciting time---I guess I would describe it best as carefree. I knew I was falling in love, and it didn't take me too long, even at my young age, to realize that this was it.
To be honest though, I really didn't think it was going to last much longer than the summer, even though my feelings were very strong. Joey was heading off to college out of town, so why would he want to have to come back home to maintain a relationship with a junior in high school? It wouldn't be fair to him and his college experience. But thankfully, he made the trip home nearly every week to either watch me play volleyball or attend some silly dance or function. And I'm sure thankful he did! Because I know that he truly is the love of my life, and I think we both feel very grateful to have found that so early in life. Even though we missed plenty of opportunities to meet during our childhood, the Lord always has the best timing. We were married just as I was turning 23 and he was 25. So we've been married for over 5 years now, but Joey always likes to add, "....but we've been together for much longer!" He doesn't want those years to be discounted I suppose, like how you can lose your roll over minutes on your cell phone plan ;)
So that's our story in a nutshell. There are quite a few more fun details, but you get the idea: we like eachother and we've been together for quite some time. Oh, and we love to tell our story, and pretty much in its entirety, so be prepared if you ever ask us the "so how did y'all meet?" question!
