Huck

You all wanted to know about Huck when I did a poll back in April about blog topics. I thought there wouldn’t be a better day for that blog post other than his birthday! I’ll do my best to limit this post to under multiple pages but when you’re dating someone like Huck, that’s really hard to do. He’s not a big fan of attention being on him but when I told him about this post he was actually happy about it.

I’ll start with a little background first. We became friends our senior year of high school after one of my friends ditched us when we were supposed to go to a school-related training together. My friend was supposed to drive the two of us but when we backed out, it was just Huck and I. I was SO NERVOUS. I hadn’t actually talked to him since freshman year when we were on a double date (I wasn’t with him, my best friend was!) and I had no idea what to expect. I had to drive us 30 minutes away for the training because, at the time, he drove a jeep that got like 8 miles to the gallon. At the time, Macklemore was really popular so I figured he was someone who followed the trend and I put on Macklemore Pandora when we got in the car, man was I wrong. We ended up listening to Taylor Swift and I think that’s when I thought he was either really weird or really cute. Our friendship started from there, we’d hang out occasionally, text about random school related stuff and grab Starbucks before we went for a drive. I was falling hard but convinced he had no interest in me. He kept asking our mutual friend, Cortland, who ditched to tell me he was interested. Cortland kept putting it off for months in hopes Huck would do it on his own. It took a few months but we eventually told each other we liked each other (remember we were in high school so it was really awkward) and it was right around the time Lacross season started. I went to every home game and cheered him on from the sidelines and we continued our high school relationships until high school was coming to an end and we were both getting accepted to colleges. We had an awesome summer and then parted ways to different schools.

Y’all, it was so hard. Our relationship was still new, only about 8 months in, we were 2 hours apart, our schedules were so different but we did it. He was at Bridgewater College for golf and I was at Radford University studying Communication. We made sure that every day we set aside a time to talk on the phone, not text, but actually talk either on the phone or through Facetime. Since the very beginning of our relationship, we both made sure to make actual time for each other where we focused on each other. He ended up transferring to Radford the following year and we did the college relationship and just “finished” our first-year post-graduation.

Now that you know our back story which is still continuing you should know my favorite things about him.

1. When he does something, he does it with his whole heart. When he really loves what he is doing, you’ll know because he focusing so much on it and does it till it’s perfect. Whether that’s building a computer, perfecting his golf swing, making time for me, making time for his friends, his family, and making time for himself. He is so so good at giving people his full attention when he’s with them.
2. He’s smart. I joke that if he doesn’t know the answer, no one will. He has a passion for learning things that he cares about, like space, technology, trends, marketing and so many other interesting things. 9 times out of 10 when I have a question, I ask him. For the most part, he’ll explain something to me in a way I can understand and I appreciate it so much.
3. His love for his family is amazing. All families have their little fights, disagreements or arguments but at the end of the day, we love them. He does this so fully. I don’t just mean his parents and sister, I mean the whole clan. His aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, mom’s cousins, mom’s aunts and uncles. Every single one of them. I haven’t seen a family like theirs that is so close and so intentional before and it’s honestly so beautiful. His family is so important to him and they love so well. His family welcomed me in so strongly.
4. Not only does he love his family well, but he loves me well too. He always has and it blows my mind as the years go by just how much he loves me. I thought he loved me when we were first dating before anything in our lives was actually happening but over the last 5+ years we’ve gone through so much and he’s been there every step of the way. He distracts me when I need to stop thinking about something, he listens to me when I need to talk, he hugs me when I need to cry, he teaches me how to play his favorite video games and laughs with me about how bad I am. He takes it all in when I get mad about dumb things. He takes me to get ice cream pretty much any time I ask and makes me try new things. He makes me feel gorgeous even when I’ve just left the gym a sweaty mess. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is he loves me for me.
5. We’re opposites in so many ways. I love pickles and he hates everything that involves vinegar. I love summer but I definitely love the cold too, he loves the cold. He loves the beach but his ideal temperature is 40 and below. I fill up a cup of ice water at least twice a day and put ice in my coffee and sodas, he doesn’t like ice. No one in his family uses ice. He’s all about lukewarm beverages and the thought of lukewarm juice makes me want to gag. I’m a communicator, I love learning about non-verbal body languages, new writing styles and meeting new people. He loves numbers and trends. He watches Mad Money, pays attention to the stock market, and just built a computer. It all goes so over my head but I think it’s so cool that he knows about all of it. Opposites really do attract.

Throughout college, he took me to so many places where I got to experience things I would never have if it were my own choice. We (he) drove to Florida our freshmen year of college, stayed with his sister for a night, then we piled into the car to drive 4 more hours to sleep in a tent (the back of his mom’s Tuscon) and watch a race. This was Sebring, and to this day, that’s still been my favorite trip! It was a learning experience and we definitely got to see if we would drive each other crazy after being together for 4 days straight camping (that means no showers, just wipes) and it was the best! The next year he took me to New York and it was my very first time. His cousin showed us around and his aunt hosted us at her home in New Jersey! We were exhausted by the end of the trip, but it was so much fun! The following year we went to Pawley’s Island where the New Jersey aunt had moved with her husband and it was so relaxing and filled my beach loving heart! We also went to Clemson games where we stayed with his other aunt and uncle! Each game was different, including a game that just down-poured the whole time and I honestly can’t wait until the next time we go!

Those trips were amazing, they were bigger than I would have thought and I will always remember them! We took other trips more consistently, like going to visit his grandparents in Harrisonburg, where we would also visit more of his family. He came to the beach with my family one year and our cousin’s river house another year. We made going to Nascar races at RIR a yearly thing and ice cream dates are our most common type of date. Every year I go with his family to Harrisonburg for New Years and it’s become my absolute favorite Holiday tradition. I love our trips and I can’t wait to see where else we’ll go together!

This man has taught me so much about myself, new things, life In general and things I really didn’t think I would care about. He’s showed me amazing patience, forgiveness, love, determination and how to just be myself and not care what other people think. I’ll be forever grateful that my friend backed out of taking us to the page training almost 6 years ago! I love you, babe!