This is our story of how we met and fell in love. It’s written by Caleb, the storyteller, and edited by Margaret, author of the color commentary. [A good collaboration– don’t you think?]
Our story began in a unique way on September 24, 2011 when we met in the lobby of Caleb’s dorm to be characters in a mockumentary that some friends of ours at school produce weekly on YouTube. [Usually costuming for “The Seminary Show” is fairly casual, but when Caleb heard Margaret had agreed to be on the show had dressed to impress.] This episode was ironically about dating and relationships. Margaret played a character that was head-over-heels in love with Caleb. We filmed our scenes together and by the end Caleb was in love with Margaret. After a sleepless night, on Monday, September 26th Caleb asked Margaret if she’d like to “go for coffee sometime” in the building where they’d had a class together last Spring. Plans were made to meet at DuPont Circle.
[Margaret wasn’t sure she was ready for him to pick her up at her house quite yet. In fact, just in case their date didn’t work out she had tickets for a speed dating event that night!] Her tickets went to waste because what was supposed to be a short conversation over coffee turned into a 5 ½ hour date which included a walk around the city and dinner.
For our second date, we celebrated Margaret’s birthday. [Caleb had done his research on Facebook and brought Margaret white roses, her favorite flower.] The next day we both went home to see our families for Fall Break, but our thoughts were elsewhere and every night (often for several hours), we talked. It was the best part of each of our days. At the end of that week, we came back to Wesley as an official couple. A few weeks later, right after a dinner date at “We the Pizza” Caleb [finally] said “I love you” and quickly Margaret responded with the same. We spent as much time as we could together and enjoyed many fun dates and times together.
And a light snow began to fall making our engagement all the more magical!
In November for Thanksgiving Break, Caleb insisted on driving Margaret home and to Margaret’s delight met her family. We had a wonderful weekend together and enjoyed seeing different parts of South Georgia. On Sunday we attended Margaret’s dad’s church together and after church Caleb drove home to Tennessee. After Thanksgiving Day apart, Caleb journeyed back to Georgia to pick up Margaret and bring her to see East Tennessee and meet his family. During the visit, Caleb showed Margaret his old stomping grounds and then with his family we put up Caleb’s family Christmas tree.
At Christmas, Margaret introduced Caleb to her best friends from college and her favorite place in the world, Broxton. In Margaret’s purple room at her grandparent’s Broxton home, Caleb asked Margaret’s parents for Margaret’s hand. Margaret’s grandmother then gave Caleb her engagement ring to give to Margaret. [Margaret wasn’t supposed to know that all this happened, but her parent couldn’t keep the secret for long.] On January 20th, Caleb walked with Margaret to DuPont Circle and knelt in the same spot where we met for our first date and asked Margaret to marry him. When Margaret said “yes”, Caleb slipped her grandmother’s ring on her finger. [(Just like the first time we met, the proposal was captured on camera by our seminary friends.] During our leisurely dinner at the Melting Pot, we called our parents and grandparents to share our joy. [In a beautiful twist, Margaret’s parents were waiting for the news in Broxton.] Magically it began to snow as we left the restaurant and our friend helped capture the moment. Caleb planned the perfect next day to celebrate: a day trip to New York City on the train to see “The Lion King” on Broadway. [This was Caleb’s first trip to NYC!] It was a special weekend and we have so many wonderful memories.
In October 2012, we were married in Broxton [and an already special place became even more special]. Now we are enjoying living as newlyweds in our little apartment in DC. [We revisit the special places around the city very often to relive those joys.] In May 2013, we both will graduate from seminary. We’re not certain where God will lead us next, but wherever we go we thank God that we have found a companion for our journey.
-Caleb and Margaret, aka “The Fragwells”
Daily Musings on Life Together 