Written by AWB October 2012 Blogger of the Month, Leslyn Jacks of Leslyn’s Lovely Life.

I can’t believe that October is already over with. It’s probably my #1 favorite month of the year. You just can’t beat that nip in the air, the return of pumpkin spice lattes, being able to wear scarves every day (although I tend to do this in the summer), and busting out your favorite pair of boots. It’s glorious, really.

October is kind of a big deal for me for another reason. Let me give you the back story.

In early 2009, I was in my third year of college, and I was chosen to be a Tiger Tunes host at my school (for those of you who aren’t OBU-ers, it’s basically where you get to perform in front of several thousand people during OBU’s homecoming, and the program is somewhat like Baylor Sing). I had dreamed of being a host since my oldest cousin, Jason, was a host in 1994. I had wished to become a hostess for 15 years, and my dream finally came true. As I glanced at the list of my fellow “ho-ho’s” (hosts and hostesses…. don’t know how this became the name), there was one name that I had never seen before… DJ Jacks. Obviously, I had to go look him up on facebook and creep for a while. A few days later, I saw him and introduced myself, and apparently, he knew who I was. All of the ho-ho’s got together once a week for the rest of the school year to start planning, and we all parted during the summer.

The following school year, we moved in a week early for rehearsals, and we practiced every night leading up to homecoming. I wasn’t looking for a relationship at all. I had just gotten out of a string of unsuccessful relationships, and I was tired of dating the wrong guys. But I vividly remember watching DJ sing one of his solos, and thinking to myself: “Wow, whoever gets to marry this guy is so lucky.” A few weeks later, Tiger Tunes came and went, and I cried after the final curtain call (it was seriously one of the coolest things I have ever done).  After the shows, I figured that DJ and some of the other ho-ho’s would kind of fall off the face of the earth. But somehow, he didn’t.

DJ would randomly text me to ask me a question that really wasn’t too important, or he would call me to ask me a question about TV shows that I was certain he didn’t watch. And then, as I was talking to a freshman after class one day, I got a text message from him. “Hey, what are you doing this weekend?”  “Oh, nothing. I’m just going to stay in town.” “Well, I was wondering if you would like to go on a date with me this Friday night.”

At this point, I started jumping up and down. The freshman thought I was nuts! In my heart of hearts, I wanted to type YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AWRPGHO B@I#T WPOeu aQITNq wpoghI#TNQH TQT (me freaking out on a keyboard). But of course, I had to chill a little bit, so I wrote “Yeah, I think that would be fun.” (obviously, a much cooler reaction than the one that I wanted to give). 

It was three years ago today that I went on my first date with my husband, DJ. I remember him holding my hand for the first time, us sitting in Starbucks, eating at Genghis Grill, standing in line for 2 hours at a Haunted House that we never even went to, him kissing me outside of my dorm building, and having butterflies the whole time. I remember it all like it was yesterday. And after all of this time, the butterflies still haven’t fluttered away.

xoxo

Les