Thoughts From The Heart: A New Engagement

In December, my oldest son, Anthony (Tony) got engaged to his girlfriend, Meredith.  Some of you will remember Tony crawling around the office 20 years ago.  Here is their story…

Tony was the nerdy guy who had a couple of really close friends growing up.  Mostly people didn’t get him and as someone who wasn’t very social, they missed out.  We always told him, when college comes around you’ll find your crew and people with similar interests.  When he got to Baylor University, he met his roommate, they hit it off and his friend crew expanded.  Now, he’s an Astrophysics major and applying to grad schools for his PHD.  He is the president of the Tabletop games club, which is where he met Meredith.

Meredith was born in Alabama and grew up in Texas.  She loves animals and word games and was a Journalism major at Baylor University.  She was invited to the Tabletop Games club where she took notice of Tony.  Soon after, they began dating and have been for over two years.  They’ve been active members of this social group throughout their college career.  She has visited us the past two New Year’s and we are excited to have her join our family.  She has a heart of gold, cracks jokes and laughs with us and has an expressive smile.

Part of what is special here is that Tony doesn’t talk much.  So when he came home for Spring Break a couple years ago, he said to Faith, “You know how you always ask me if there is a special someone and I’d let you know when there was…”  We knew Meredith had to be someone special for Tony to open up about.  When he came home this past December, he spoke with Suzy and Faith about his plans for the engagement, asked if they would handle the set up, and all went perfectly.  There is a little gazebo along the Farmington River Trail, where they placed some flowers, lights and candles.  It was just the two of them (with Suzy and Faith hiding in the bushes), so it was a special private moment for them.

It is a great feeling to watch your kids find the love of their life.  This life is all about connections and unconditionally loving another.