I wanted to tell our story, but I wanted to do it a little bit differently. I decided to write my version of what happened, and then have Harv write what he thought. Easier said than done. But after all the DVR-ed episodes of Avatar were watched, and a promised bowl of chocolate pudding, I actually got Harv to sit down and write his version. It's a little long, but I'm really happy with how it came out.
Behold, he said, she said..
He says...
I would say the initial meeting was anything but love at first sight, it was our junior year and some friends and I went to watch Silverado women’s soccer play at Coronado high school. I’m pretty sure I was there for another player but after the game while talking to some of the girls I knew on the team I was introduced to Karla Lee. She was sweaty and gross; hair pulled back in pre-wrap and had a mouth like a truck driver. Talk of the girls reverse came up and a mutual friend had recommended that Ms. Lee ask me. Not much more was said and I left shortly after and didn’t think much more of her. A few days later, Karla asked me to the girls reverse but we would not be going to the dance, we would be going to California and Disneyland instead because Karla had a soccer tournament. We would go as a group. Me and a buddy of mine Karla, Kayla, and two other girls… oh yeah and Karl was the chaperone. During the trip I constantly tried to put my (what I thought were irresistible) moves on Karla and she was just not having it. You see the buddy of mine that also went on the trip had gone to school with Karla since they were young and Karla had a secret crush on him. Needle
ss to say the trip was a
mess and by the drive home everyone hated everyone and I don’t think I talked to Karla for at least 6 months after we got back.
So we fast forward and it is now a couple moths into our senior year of high school. It was a Friday night October 10th and I was at my best friend Matt’s house and we were trying figure out what kind of trouble we were going to get into for the night. I began to go through the long list of female phone numbers that I had in my cell phone (maybe 20 but in high school that seemed pretty spectacular) and that is when I came across Karla’s name. I stopped and laughed and figured what the heck. To my surprise she answered and told me she just got done with her sister’s birthday and that I should come pick her up because she lived around the corner from Matt. So I did. Matt drove his own truck so that I could work my charm. I don’t remember where we went or ended up, but I do know that for a couple hours we drove around joking around and having fun. I also know that night I fell for the girl that was nothing that I normally was attracted to. She was simple, wore soccer sweats, didn’t wear make up, and quite honestly didn’t care what anyone thought about her and that’s the night the chase was on.
Throughout our senior year I considered Karla my girlfriend but she insisted to her family and everyone else that we were just friends. We talked every night on the phone we hung out on the weekends, but she was always a little distant. She was work and made me work. I guess it was the thrill of the chase that I stuck with it and by the end of high school she was my girlfriend. Just in time for her to leave for college. That summer we were inseparable. We were just two kids in puppy love.
The summer flew by and next thing I knew it was time for Karla to leave for school. I accompanied her family down to help send her off. We said our goodbyes I got a quick kiss and she was gone. I buried my head in a pillow and am not ashamed to say that I think I cried from Flagstaff to Kingman, which is about a good hour and a half. I would return in two or three weeks and that would continue on for four years. It was difficult being so far away but I got a second phone just for her so we could talk whenever for as long as we could. I started my real estate business and that kept my mind pretty occupied during the periods we were apart. We had our ups and downs and I do mean some downs, in which poor decisions were made, but we stuck together and our relationship lasted to everyone’s disbelief. I would go down for every couple of weeks and she would come home when she got a break from soccer. That was our relationship but it worked. The day Karla walked across the stage at her graduation was one of the happiest days of my life. We had made it and she was moving back home for good!
It was during Karla’s senior year while having a conversation with my mom Carol about knowing when proposing would be right. She asked me how Karla made me feel and I remember mumbling a bunch of crap but the last words that I said were I couldn’t imagine my life with out her. At that point she stopped me and said say no more. She said you know you love someone when you could never picture your life with out that person again and the thought of not having them scares you to death. She was right.
Karla and I had discussed marriage a lot and I knew the kind of ring she would want. A big One! I had one custom made based on others she had showed me and when I thought she least expected and it was just her and I, I got down on one knee and asked her to spend the rest of her life with me.
I must admit when she asked me to sit down and write our story I wasn’t to excited and it seemed like a ton of work. But as I sat here going through the memories and remembering the events that got us to were we are I’m excited to think that a lifetime of memories are still ahead of me with the love of my life, the person that my world rotates around, and the best friend I could ever pray for.
She says...
Love at first sight? Eh, not so much…
I was the girl in high school that couldn’t have cared less about who was dating who or who had hooked up with so-and-so. I had my best friends that went to different high schools and we did our own things on the weekends, none of which involved anything to do with other high school friends. And “own thing” usually meant watching Disney channel movies, drinking Slurpees, and bean-ing peoples yards while they were enjoying a nice vacation. But that’s a whole ‘notha story.
Enter Hillary. One of the “popular girls” that happened to play on the high school soccer team. She wanted to introduce me to a friend of hers after a soccer game one high during my Junior year. Much to my dismay, I obliged, mostly to get her off my case. I had heard about him before, he had quite the reputation. We’ll leave it at that. So she introduces us, we talk, and go on our merry ways.
This is where things start to get a little hairy. We’ll go with the abridged version…
I took him to GR (Girls’ Reverse, a formal dance where the girls ask the boys) our Junior year, 2002, and it was a disaster. DREADFUL. TERRIBLE. DISASTER. We didn’t talk again for quite some time. Then one night, I see him driving through my neighborhood, window down, music blarin’. Oh God, here we go again. He stops in the middle of the street and I slow down to see what he wants. To take me on a date? Seriously… I thought I got rid of him once already. Once again I hastily oblige, thinking I may be able to come up with a good excuse when he calls. No such luck, and after a barrage of phone calls in a short period of time, I am forced to actually hang out with him. Maybe just one date will make him
remember how much he hates me. My family is going out to dinner for Krista’s birthday, and I tell him he can pick me up after that. October 10, 2003. If you would have told me then that the boy that I was getting picked up by was the same boy I would marry on that exact date 7 years later, I would have slapped you in the face. No way.
The rest is history. It was no walk in the park, not even close. We went through everything your typical high school couple does. Then when I decided to go away to college, much to his disappointment, we wanted to try and stay together. Oh brother! Sacrifices had to be made for it to work, and at times it was extremely difficult. After the initial shock wore off and we got into a routine, it wasn’t all that bad. Of course, it would have been better if we lived in the same area code, but we made due with what we could. And it helped that he made the trek to good ol’ Flag-hole every two or three weeks. It was during this time that I truly became a believer. He was so supportive of me and my decision to move away to play soccer go to college, even though I know he would have rather had me stay in Vegas. After millions of minutes talked on our cell phones, thousands of miles traveled on his numerous different vehicles, and all the uNnecessAry Drama in between, I graduated in May 2008 and moved back home to Las Vegas.
Getting engaged was something that we had definitely discussed, but I had made it very clear that I wanted to be living in the same state as my fiance. Nevertheless, on February 15, 2009, he proposed, in true Harvey fashion. Words can't describe what he means to me. Yes, sometimes he drives me nuts. And other times, he is quite the dork. But that is why I love him. Let the wedding planning begin...
But I will give you a hint.
