How We Meet
Shay's Perspective:
I had looked at our latest singles ward directory and there was a picture of a blonde girl with a unique name, "Winnie". I asked my roommate if he knew this mystery girl with the interesting name. He said he had met her once, and thought she was nice. Some time went by and I moved to a new place with a different roommate. One night after work, my roommate Mike came home from playing Ultimate Frisbee with some friends and mentioned that he had met an interesting girl name "Winnie," and that she had invited them to go to a Barbecue on Monday night. This time I decided that I had to meet this mystery girl so on Monday evening I drove out to Winnie's grandparent's home to the Singles activity.
When I arrived at the Singles activity, I couldn't find Winnie because she was frantically running around serving all of the guests. I was able to only talk with her for a moment as we were playing volleyball, so I stayed a little later in order to get to know her better. This sounds crazy, but I knew I couldn’t leave without talking with her. I kind of felt like I was guided, and meeting Winnie has been one of the greatest blessings of my life.
Winnie's Perspective:
About a year before I met Shay I found myself purchasing a condo, closer to my work, that was to be built. As I was waiting for the condo to be completed my grandparents invited me to live in their basement. While living with my grandparents I was asked to serve in my church as a Stake Single Adult Chair. In this position, I was asked to host various social activities for single adults in our area. It was at the very first activity, that I hosted, that I met Shay.
I had decided to kick off our activities with a huge "Hot Dog Extravaganza" at my grandparent's home. Since they have a beautiful orchard to the side of their home with a fire pit, horseshoe, and a large grassy area where a volleyball net could be put up, I felt it was a perfect place to have a party. I invited those singles in the area in which I resided. I also ran into Shay's roommate at another activity and invited him and a few others to attend. Much to my delight and surprise, the social was a HUGE success. There were about 75 people who came (I was expecting about 30). Due to the large numbers of individuals, I found myself running in and out of my grandparent's home refilling pitchers of water, grabbing odds and ends, etc. When I did have a moment I tried to meet and talk with as many people as possible to make sure everyone was having a good time and feeling welcomed. It was then when I went to the volleyball area that I met Shay. I rotated into the game and found myself next to him. I turned to him and said, "Hi, what's your name?" He proceeded to tell me his name was Shay. I told him I hoped he was having a good time. Then I was summoned to get more water and had to leave. I didn't really see Shay again until later that evening, at the very end of the event when a large group of people stuck around to play games. Unfortunately I was still playing hostess and was unable to really get to know him then either, but I do remember a group of friends discussed how cute he was and feeling the same way. Luckily for me Shay thought something of me and it didn't take long after that before we started dating. :-) Since that time Shay has become my best friend.....I love him with all my heart!
