How I became a Kirby

By special request:

6th grade - At my friend Brandi's birthday party I am paired up to dance with her friend Matt, who lives in her neighborhood but doesn't go to our school.

9th grade - I go to Vacation Bible School with my friend Melissa and we're put in groups. I recognize the guy sitting beside me -- it's Matt from the party. He says I have a great memory and claims to remember dancing with me too. We both are "dating" other people.

10th grade - Matt transfers to my school and second semester we have English together. He signs my and my friend Rebekah's yearbooks practically identically -- both include the phrase "You're a great girl" -- but in mine he underlines "great." Rebekah and I debate whether there's hidden meaning. Still dating other people.

Fall 1996 - My on-again, off-again boyfriend and I break up for good when he moves to New York for college. My family runs into Matt's family at lunch after church and I point out Matt to my dad as the guy I want to marry.

Christmas break 1996 - I hear that Matt and his girlfriend have broken up.

January 1996 - I join our school's first women's soccer team. I am terrible at soccer; I play fullback because I can run but need to have minimal contact with the ball. Matt is the assistant coach. We run the cross-country trail together before practice every day.

February 1996 - My friend Ana tells Matt that he's the only person in the school who doesn't know that I have a huge crush on him.

March 1, 1996 - My friend Justin tells me that I have 72 hours to ask Matt out, or he's going to do it for me. That afternoon the FCA group leaves for the N.C. mountains on a ski trip.

March 2, 1996 - Matt and I flirt and ski and the whole group goes line dancing after dinner.

March 3, 1996 - On the van ride home Matt puts his arm on top of the seat, then suavely lowers it to my shoulders. Back in Vass, we hang out at Rebekah's house, have our first kiss, watch Carolina beat Duke, and decide to be boyfriend and girlfriend. Matt loves the anniversary date, 3/3, because it's Grant Hill's number.

May 1996 - First prom together. Black dress, blue Buick, "Wonderful Tonight."

Fall 1997 - Matt and I decide we'll attend the same college only if we both get into Stanford. We don't.

Spring 1997 - Second prom together. Silver dress, black Mercedes, "Getting Jiggy With It."

1998 - Matt spends the summer in Santa Cruz, Calif., and I take summer school classes. We write letters and talk every Sunday (neither of us has a cell phone).

1999 - I spend the summer in Queens, N.Y., and Matt and Jacob roadtrip to California and back, stopping along the way to visit people. Matt surprises me by showing up with some friends in Fort Collins, Colo., one weekend when I'm there. I have cut my hair short and he hates it.

2000 - Matt lands a two-semester co-op position with Ericsson, which means he'll graduate in five years, not four. He starts researching the four C's.

2001 - Matt and I go to the beach the weekend before I leave for a summer internship in Ashland, Ky. The first night we're there we take a looooong walk on the beach and he proposes.

May 25, 2002 - We have a simple, gorgeous garden wedding. I laugh, Matt cries, it's perfect, except that the cake is ugly, but that's my fault because I delegated it to a bridesmaid. (People still tell us it was the best wedding they ever attended, and we happily agree.)