Jamie & Vince

Posted Monday, February 01, 2010 4:17 PM

My fiance and I go way back -- to sixth grade, to be exact. He was the annoying guy who always wanted to be the center of attention (while secretly being very smart and funny, which is why I liked him too!) and I was the smart girl with lots of friends, so our paths crossed lots of times. 

In middle school, he called me his "wife" (foresight, right?), and we had the usual 13-year-old spats. But then came the end of eighth grade and, therefore, the end of us as we went to different high schools.

College called us in different directions as well, but when I was in my third year of pharmacy school, I got a Facebook message from -- guess who -- my eighth grade "husband"! I was so excited because he was now an adult version of the funny, caring guy I had gotten to know 10 years prior!

After months of daily phone calls and catching up, we decided to meet back up. I remember our official "first date" (since we were too young to date back when he was my "husband"). It took me three hours to pick an outfit and get dressed! Something in the back of my mind told me that this might have been meant to be (I mean, it had been 10 years!). We went to Georgia Brown's and he brought me a present. Dinner was wonderful; I don’t even remember what we did afterward. I was just so in awe of this person that I had known as my middle-school boyfriend (but who had been still somewhat annoying) had turned into this charming, funny guy!

Needless to say, it morphed into what we have now: a wedding this October. Through the rest of pharmacy school, tumultuous jobs, ups and downs in our lives and our relationship, we realized we wanted it no other way -- together for the rest of our lives.

On Christmas Eve 2009 he tricked me into thinking I had a gift upstairs, and asked if we could start a new tradition of opening gifts on Christmas Eve. He said, "I got you something you needed." I thought it was these fab Kate Spade glasses I’d been wanting. When I guessed that, he burst out laughing, so I got confused and headed upstairs to open my gift. While I was walking away, I heard him call my name, and I turned around and he was on one knee smiling at me with the most beautiful ring! I immediately ran and hugged him.

I'm marrying my best friend -- who could ask for anything more?