Our Story
Here it goes.
Once upon a time, Randy and I were 14 years old. We went to a party at Morgan Coles with a bunch of our Junior High friends. I remember Randy being there, but I don't remember being introduced or anything. I think I knew of him, but hadn't ever been introduced. I felt like I'd always know him. I remember Randy was telling a really funny story about his grandpa, and everyone was laughing. He has always been outgoing and funny and I just love that about him!
This was the party where we met!
I remember meeting Maddy for the first time at Morgan's party and instantly being attracted to her. I asked around to find out more about her. I wanted to impress her, but I didn't want to freak her out. After asking around, I found out that Maddy was "going out" with another guy from our school and I was so disappointed. I started thinking that she was out of my league anyway, but pretty soon she started showing interest in me too! I was so excited!
Randy and I were friends after that, and I had no idea he had a crush on me. Like at all. Of course I was kind of dumb. I was "going out" (remember we were in junior high, so "going out" meant I talked to a boy at my locker and passed him notes for two weeks before we tragically "broke up") with boys, and Randy was my good friend. Don't get me wrong, every girl had a crush on Randy, including me, at some points during Junior High and High School, but Randy never showed interest at all! I always just thought Randy wasn't going to admit to liking a girl during high school, and that was that. Nobody had a chance. Especially not me.
Fast forward to sophomore year of high school. Randy and I were still good friends, we had theater together which I really liked, and I asked him to the Sadie Hawkins dance. I was kind of dating a boy from a different school, and Randy was my good friend and I knew he would be a fun date to the dance. We had fun that night at the dance, and as I walked him up to his driveway he gave me a one-armed, side hug. I walked back to my car thinking, he didn't have any fun at all did he!? But apparently he did.
Sadie Hawkins Dance!
When Maddy asked me to the Sadie Hawkins Dance, I was terrified. To make things worse, she was already dating another guy. She was dating him pretty seriously and at this point in time. She was my friend -one of my best friends, and I loved having her as such a great friend. I didn't want to ruin anything so I tried to play it cool. We had a really awesome night! It was my first high school dance and I had so much fun. However, something felt off. The entire time, I felt like she would rather be with her boyfriend than me. Again, I didn't want to ruin anything so I kept my distance, but I still had an awesome night.
Fast forward to March of our junior year. We'd just had an amazing year in Musical Productions and other classes together, and Randy was one of my very good friends. I had been dating guys off and on, and Randy was always there, being a great friend. One day a bunch of us went to Yogo Togo in Kaysville after school. A few of the boys had been stealing my car keys and driving my car around, thinking they were funny. I did NOT think they were funny. So when one of them stole my keys and ran out to my car, I wasn't happy. I nudged the guy I was somewhat dating and asked him if he could go get my keys back from the boys. He shrugged, and said they were probably fine. I looked up just in time to see Randy jogging out the door, and standing behind my car so those boys couldn't leave the parking lot. He then brought my keys back inside. I was SO impressed. Later that day I sent him a message on Facebook - thanking him for being such an amazing friend, for knowing when teasing was crossing a line, and for always looking out for me. I remember debating whether or not to write it, but wanted him to know how grateful I was.
The day that I went to Yogo Togo to meet up with Maddy was a rough one. Maddy and I were such great friends at that time. She always has had this ability to bring a smile to my face. On that day, I was having a really hard day. I was probably being a dramatic teenager, but I wasn't in the best mood. After school, Maddy asked me if I would come hang out with her and a couple friends at Yogo Togo. At the time, I was sure that she wasn't dating anyone. I knew that she had been off and on dating guys, but I was pretty positive that she was available at the time. It didn't take a lot of convincing to get me to meet up with her there.
I went with a couple of my guy friends and we walked into Yogo Togo and Maddy was cuddling up with one of the guys she had dated previously. From the looks of it, she wasn't as available as I thought. My heart sank and I felt like I was going to cry right there. I was having a bad enough day, and I thought that Maddy was inviting me because she was interested in me. I felt stupid for thinking that she would ever be interested in me. I quietly sat in the circle of our friends and didn't really say much.
During this time, my guy friends thought it was funny to steal Maddy's keys and drive it. They were really good guys and I knew that they wouldn't hurt her car our do anything serious, but a car is an expensive thing to be messing with. The guys snatched Maddy's keys and took off outside. She told them to stop, but they wanted to mess with her. She turned to her boyfriend and asked if he would stop them and he didn't! I could tell it was bothering her so I got up and chased after them. They had just gotten into the car and were planning on driving it. I ran and got behind so they couldn't go anywhere and convinced them to give me the keys.
I was mostly annoyed. I didn't want anyone to think that though. In fact, I was doing a very good job of concealing that. I didn't show any frustration or anger to anyone. Then I took the keys back to Maddy and she said thanks. That made me want to scream. The thing I wanted more than anything was to be the guy that got to take care of her. I wanted to be the guy that she turned to for help and the guy she was turning to wasn't doing anything! So I left. After I gave Maddy the keys I left Yogo Togo and went home and felt bad for myself. After all, I was an emotional teenager. I sat at home and told myself that I was going to stop wasting my time chasing after Maddy Richards. She didn't even see me! I didn't even know why she invited me to Yogo Togo in the first place.
I know I was dramatic, but this was a serious thing for me. I wanted to date her SO bad. After I had felt bad for myself for a couple of hours, I got onto Facebook to kill time and I saw that Maddy had messaged me. This is what the message said:
Randy--just so you know i love you quite a lot. thanks for being such a gentleman today! and every day....i know the other guys are just kidding and its fun, but i'm happy to know that randy will always be nice:) so thanks!
Pretty normal message, right? Well......it killed me. I started crying. I didn't know what to do with myself. She was always with some other guy, but she did see me. I was something special to her. That night, I convinced myself that I was going to date her. I was going to go for her until she told me that she wasn't interested or until she was married to some other guy (keep in mind that we were like 17 years old)
Fast forward again to just a few weeks later. It was summer, and it was a great summer. Randy and I started hanging out more and more, made some runs to get Frosty's at Wendy's and talk about the next year of Musical Productions, summer, and everything else. I had just said goodbye to another guy who was off on a mission, (I know, I know. I was horrible) and was kind of not super interested in that guy. I wanted to go on dates and have fun that summer. And Randy was my great friend who was super fun to spend time with. I was starting to bug him about who he liked. I had asked him off and on during our friendship, and his answer was always the same...no one. I didn't buy it. So I kept asking. I was bugging him about who he liked alllll the time. I was starting to like him, and I wanted to know if the feeling was mutual! So he started giving me hints. I narrowed it down, and finally announced who I thought it was. I didn't know, but he thought I would narrow it down to only myself. And I didn't. So he assumed I didn't want it to be me, and that he shouldn't tell me it was me. So, he agreed that it was this other girl. And I was sad, but I had to get over it
I continued to hang out with Maddy every once in a while. She was very interested in finding out who I liked. I was afraid she would find out that it was her that I liked. I didn't want her to think I was creepy and I certainly didn't want to ruin our awesome friendship so I generally avoided the subject.
One day, she asked me if the girl was in one of the classes that Maddy and I were taking together. I honestly answered yes. Then she asked if the girl was dating someone at the time. I said yes (because Maddy had just sent off another missionary and I assumed that classified him as her boyfriend). That only left two girls in the class that weren't her. I realized that she didn't consider herself in this group and assumed that she didn't even think about us being together. I was in a tight spot and kinda tried to change the subject, but Maddy and decided that she knew who I liked and it wasn't me.
The rest of June and July passed with Randy and I hanging out a lot, him stopping by to visit me at work, me teasing him about wanting to be with this other girl, and me sort of dating another boy (yet again, so sorry Randy). On the 4th of July, Randy's best friend called and asked me to go to the fireworks, as Randy's date. I was so confused! Why hadn't Randy just called me? He probably didn't even want me to go. Randy got on the phone and we talked for a second, I was teasing him and telling him he didn't have to take me on the date, that he could take that other girl that he liked, etc. Randy just insisted that he wanted to go with me, and they'd be there to pick me up later that night. We went to the fireworks and had an amazing time. For a split second during the show, I thought he was going to hold my hand. But he didn't. We had an amazing time, but the whole night in the back of my mind I was wondering about this other girl.
The Fourth of July date was SOO FUN! I wasn't planning on going on the date because I thought it was too soon to ask Maddy, but my best friend took over and called her for me. I had to summon the courage to ask her and then things kinda fell in to place.
Late July all the boys started talking about homecoming, and who they were going to ask. I told Randy that the girl that he'd told me he had a crush on had just broken up with her boyfriend, and he should ask her to the dance. "Maybe I will" he said. My heart sank. Randy and I went on trips to Orange Leaf and he came to Cherry Hill to visit lots, and our friendship got even stronger.
Then one July day, I was supposed to go to the movies with a boy. He had been blowing me off a lot, and on my way to the theater he called to tell me he wasn't coming. I was disappointed and somehow the conversation evolved into us deciding not to see each other any more. I was so sad and wasn't sure what to do. So of course, I called Randy. I was crying on the phone and was quite frankly a hot mess. But he told me to come over to Spencer's and hit tennis balls with them, so I did. I cried to Randy for a little bit, and he was so comforting and just an awesome friend. I started realizing that day that I really liked him, but I was sure that he liked this other girl.
At this point, I was ready to be with Maddy. I had been waiting for a chance for so long and I finally had it. However, I had to be considerate and make sure that she was ok. She had just gone through a huge break-up so I just played it cool and made sure that she knew I was there for her.
Just a few days later, Randy and I were at Orange Leaf and I was bugging him about the girl he liked. He told me he didn't like her, and I was shocked! I said, "Well whoever you ask to homecoming, that's the girl you like." His response was "I don't know...." and I kept bugging and bugging until he agreed he would ask the girl he had a crush on to homecoming. Later out of the blue, I got a text from Randy's best friend. Spencer asked if I would ever want to go to homecoming with Randy. I knew I liked Randy and I thought that maybe, just maybe, I had a chance. So I told him, "Yes, I would die to go to homecoming with Randy." That text changed everything.
Us right after we started dating
After a couple of days, Spencer texted me to ask me who I was going to take to Homecoming. I was still going to play it cool to make sure that I wasn't too forward so I told him that I didn't know who I was going to ask. Then he told me I should ask Maddy. I was shocked. I guess he knew all along. I told him that I wasn't going to because I didn't think she wanted to go with me. Then he forwarded a text to me from her. I still remember screaming in my pillow with excitement. I was on top of everything and now I just had to show her that I was worth it.
Another few days after that Spencer made a Facebook status that said "However many likes this gets, that's how many girls Randy Low will kiss." Randy was NOT happy. He was actually freaking out, a lot. Well, 118 likes later, they created a Facebook event for Randy to kiss 118 girls on a True Dart night. Randy was NOT having it. He would talk to me and be SO mad and worried about the whole thing.
My best friend did this whole true dart thing and I had made the choice to avoid it. I was NOT going to go. Especially since I wanted to be with Maddy.
Well August 13th came. I was working and had decided after I got off that I would go to the True Dart night and see how it all went down. Randy came and saw me at work, and I asked him if he was going. He said NO WAY. And I said, oh bummer, I was planning on going. Well Randy changed his tune pretty quickly. We drove over to Davis and I was shaking. There were tons of people there for True Darting and I was sure that Randy was going to bail. But he didn't. He walked right next to me, and we snuck up to the D. Randy walked through it and turned around. I distinctly remember everything about that moment. I looked up and saw Randy, he said "You ready?" and then he kissed me so fast that I almost missed it. He pulled me through the D and that was that. The beginning of the rest of our life. Randy only kissed one girl that night, and I was lucky enough to be her.
First picture of us together when we were actually dating
Randy and I held hands later that night, I guessed that he liked me during a guessing game a few days later (I was bugging him about who he liked and he told me to guess, I said I was scared to, then he said "if you're scared to guess, you know who it is.") He asked me to homecoming a few days after that, and then told me he loved me in a text a week into our senior year of high school.
Homecoming
This love story with Randy is my favorite thing in the whole world. It was a long and winding road to get there, but I have never regretted a single moment. I wouldn't change a thing.
Thanks for being my crush, my high school sweetheart, my missionary, my boyfriend, my fiance, and now my husband. I love you Randy Low!