Aaron & Megan

Well, this Friday is the big day! Justin's brother Aaron is getting married! Megan's mom asked me to write their story for the display table at the reception with all their pictures. So I thought I'd share it on here too! We could not be more excited for the two of them!

Aaron was fourteen years old. His eyes were wide open, ready for all the new experiences and adventures that the week would bring on the campus of Emory University that summer in 2001. He had come to attend 'Especially for Youth' or EFY as everyone called it. Aaron had always been a kid that loved to talk, meet new people and socialize. So as he stood there watching all the new people come and go around him he knew he was going to have a week to remember. What he didn't know though, as he watched a pretty, young blonde girl climbing out of her Dad's red truck, was just exactly how important she would be in his future.


It turned out her name was Megan and she was in his very same Stake back home. They shared a little 'EFY Crush' and even held hands that week on Emory's campus. They found themselves liking each other as they got to know one another and continued their newfound friendship even after the week ended and they returned home. Aaron admired the type of girl that Megan was. She was unlike all the other girls out there in the typical teenage scene that he had come across. She was beautiful and classy. He said looking at her one might think she would be high-maintenance. But she wasn't at all. All she had to do was flash her brilliant smile and open her mouth to speak and you knew in an instant, she was different. She was so comfortable to be around and fun and down-to-earth. When she turned sixteen and was allowed to date, he had hoped that he could take her out. He soon discovered that other boys found her to be a lot of fun too and found himself with a lot of competition. He always thought to himself though, that he would like to marry a girl just like her someday, even if he never did get the chance with her.

After they graduated from high school, their lives went their separate ways a little. Megan moved to Utah to attend Brigham Young University to major in Dance. Aaron stayed in Georgia, attending Kennesaw State University and worked to save for his mission. When he received his call to serve in the Lima Peru North Mission, Aaron was excited and ready to go serve the Lord for the next two years of his life. Missionary work was rewarding and kept him busy. Being the outgoing, adaptable guy that he is, he adjusted well to being in a new country, with a new language. But there was one bright spot of familiarity that he always looked forward to. Letters from his friend, Megan, the girl he admired so much. Aaron embarrassedly admitted that he read into every little exclamation point or heart she wrote in those letters. Hoping beyond hope, that maybe, just maybe she would still be around after he returned home, so he could finally get a chance at dating her.

As fate would have it, he did get that chance. When he returned home to the States in early November 2007, one of the first welcome things he heard was her voice on the phone. She was in Utah, but would be coming home for Thanksgiving. They both couldn't wait to finally see each other after the years apart. Megan decided that she would surprise Aaron by coming home a day early. Aaron was sitting in his parent's kitchen when she pulled up in the driveway. His Dad told him to look out the door and there she was, standing there smiling.

They hit it off all over again. Megan had to return to Utah for school though after the break and they soon found themselves, once again, with many miles between them. This time though, letters were replaced with long phone conversations. They found themselves not just hitting it off, but undeniably falling in love with one another. Aaron said after saying his long-distance good-byes to her one night, he sat silent and still for about ten minutes, just absorbing just how much he loved her. In January 2008, Aaron moved out to Utah to be near Megan and attend school. He had wondered before leaving Georgia if all of these feelings and emotions could be real. Was it just a romanticized, long-distance relationship? Was she really the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with? The day he got to Utah and saw her again in person, it was reconfirmed to him immediately, this was the girl.

So on January 31^st after watching her performance at her dance recital, he greeted her with a dozen roses and a smile. He kept her guessing as they drove around Provo as to exactly what he was up to. He pulled into the empty BYU football stadium parking lot and asked Megan if she felt like dancing. It was freezing outside, but Megan being the good sport she is, consented and they hopped out into the frigid, night air. Aaron opened all the car doors and blared their song, "Some Say" by Rascal Flats from the car stereo. They danced around the blacktop together, the only two people there. As Aaron spun Megan around, he quickly fell to one knee and grabbed the pearl engagement ring he had bought her. When she spun back towards him, she was shocked to see him kneeling there, ring outstretched. He asked for her hand in marriage, and she cried in shock. She stared at him and at the pearl ring on her finger. It was just what she had always wanted. Her own name, Megan meant pearl, and she had always had a special love for them. It was appropriate in Aaron's mind that a pearl ring was what she wanted. They were like her, beautiful, classic, and unique. Now here was one on her finger and it was from the man she loved. Aaron stood there in the cold waiting for a response to his question, "Will you marry me?" He asked her if she was going to answer him! She snapped back to reality and excitedly told him "Yes!" throwing her arms around him. They had finally found a way to be together and this time it was forever.

Who could have known as that young man stood watching that pretty, blonde hop out of her Dad's truck that summer day so many years ago, and all the space, time and circumstances that happened between then and now, that Megan and Aaron would end up being joined as husband and wife for time and all eternity. Like the line from their song "Someday we'll look back and say it wasn't just a dream." Looks like this one really came true.