he can fix anything, has the cutest laugh, cooks the best pancakes you've ever eaten, and owns the greatest pair of listening ears on the planet.
i remember the exact day that i decided i would marry this boy. we had been working together for a couple of years and had a pretty friendly relationship- i even put him in my "top twelve" on myspace. he was quiet and got promotions really quickly; i was loud and clumsy and always tried to be funny. one day our friend jessie asked zach what he really wanted most out of life. his answer: "to have a family that loves me."
boom. i was a goner, just like that. there were just a couple of obstacles in my way: i was dating someone else at the time, and he had taken a liking to only the most beautiful girls at the store. so, naturally, i accepted the challenge that lay ahead of me and devised an evil plan to win his heart by casually "accidentally" bumping my hand into his bottom about once a shift and progressing from there. from february to june i spent my workdays tapping his bottom, forcing him to hug me good bye, and saying extremely embarrassing things to him in front of his friends (i still thank him to this day for not filing a harassment complaint on me). that summer zach asked me to hang out with him outside of work. we went fishing, followed by eating pizza and watching the first ten minutes of UP! in the rain. i thought it was absolutely magical... until he never asked me to hang out with him again.
a couple months later after starting college and getting settled into this amazing experience without hearing too much from him, zach asked if i would go on a date with him. a real-life, actual date! i tried to play it cool but oh boy was i excited. we went to dinner and a movie and i did all of the talking. he paid, we did not even hold hands... and he didn't speak to me for a couple of weeks afterwards. confused and tired, i told the Good Lord that maybe this wasn't the real plan and started to think that it would be impossible to make this prince fall in love with me.
from september to december, zach and i were put in several awkward situations by our friends. we were forced to sit next to each other at the annual work christmas party, had our phones stolen and texts sent with very strange messages to the other, and only talked about things that were not dating or fish or pizza. that is until one day when we decided that we would exchange christmas gifts out of the blue. i had five days to come up with a gift that would sweep him off his feet. i thought long and hard about it for three days, then spent the final forty-eight hours knitting my fingers off to make him a hat in the shape of a fish. he gave me a heart-shaped necklace.
i was spending the next three days trying to figure out what the heck a heart-shaped necklace was supposed to mean when zach asked me to lunch before he was scheduled to work. we ate sandwiches and talked about nothing in particular and i decided then that if that heart-shaped necklace meant something, today was the day to find out. when we walked out to our cars, he leaned against the side of my car and asked, "will you go out with me?" heck yes! my knitting and butt-touching skills had finally paid off! i asked him if i were allowed to hug him, to which he generously permitted a solid one-armed hug. i raced home and ran into the kitchen where i announced that zach bryant and i were going out. that's when i realized i didn't know what his interpretation by "going out" was. nevertheless, i was on cloud nine. he later sent me a text asking me to stop calling myself a crazy cat-lady that was destined to be alone forever. i still find myself changing every word to top ten hits to "meow" sung in various pitches.
since my year of casually seducing zach, we've been through all of the ups and downs that traditionally occur with long-term dating. and that's okay. he hung by me when i was on top of the world with all of the friends i wanted and three great jobs and living the ultimate college dream (and, to be honest, that was when i was the most lousy girlfriend). he held me when i was at my most extreme low when all of those things i esteemed to be making my life worthy were plucked out of reach and reminded me of God's glorious purpose for me on earth. he has let me vent my frustrations, seen my ugly cry more times than we'd both care to admit, held me accountable to be a better person, let me travel the globe with many lectures about safety, tickled me when i was angry about nothing at all, and taught me all about patience. he has worked incredibly hard to reach his goals and encouraged me to keep working diligently towards my own. he holds conversations with my dad like a champ and teaches my grandparents how to use technology on a regular basis. he has listened to countless stories about people that he does not know and pretends to remember every person i've introduced him to. not to mention, he is the best adoptive father to our six hens and two ducklings and has a heart of gold.
i'm also the luckiest girl in the world to be able to one day call this boy filled with more unconditional love than i have ever seen my husband. when i prayed for my future husband as a little girl, i never would've imagined zach. and thank goodness that little girls don't get everything they want. sometimes real-life is exponentially better than your dreams.
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