natalie & jordan
are getting married!
How did we meet? Honestly? Against our will. It was 2002, and there was a new athlete clinic for a sport called 'power soccer.' Neither of us wanted to go - Natalie thought it sounded stupid and Jordan was afraid to get out of his shy bubble. Fortunately for us, our parents forced us to go. We quickly realized that power soccer was pretty awesome and instantly forgot about any previous hesitation. We became teammates and stayed that way for the next 17 years.
In August 2019, we traveled to Brazil with Team USA, and it was during that trip that Jordan finally realized, "hey, this girl is a lot of fun to be around and pretty darn cute too." Jordan played it cool for a few weeks in his pursuit before working up enough courage to ask Natalie out on a date. After that first date, we quickly realized something more than friendship was forming between us. The universe brought us together as teammates and now we choose to take on the world as lifemates.
I may or may not have ruined Jordan’s first planned proposal when I accidentally saw some of the details in a text message to my mom. I also ended up with a full-body rash that weekend from a reaction to an antibiotic so Jordan went back to the drawing board.
A few weeks later, I got a text from my best friend’s girlfriend, Quiana, asking Jordan and me to go on a surprise double date at the zoo. She said we had to be there at 9 am on Father’s Day - immediately I texted her some excuses about not being able to get up that early meanwhile Jordan was texting her to tell her I was making up excuses and I indeed could get up that early. (I hate waking up early, lol). I was a little suspicious, but they talked me into it by telling me it was the only time for a special flamingo show which I know is important to them so we showed up at the zoo bright and early.
Almost right when I got out of the van, my friend Victoria saw me and ran over asking what I was doing there. As we were walking in, I heard them talking back and forth about how it was a sweet date idea and she was so excited so I lost my suspicions. When we got inside, Quiana told Victoria that there were two interactive shows we could go to - the flamingos or the elephants. When she picked elephants I should have figured it out since that was the whole reason we were going, but I just laughed and followed along.
As we were walking toward the elephants, a lady with a clipboard said “Are you looking for Carol?” I said no, but apparently, we were. She read out names and had us sign waivers. I was thinking Oh wow, Quiana went all out for this. Carol took us back behind the zoo to a special elephant area.
Afterward, the zoo keepers told us we could take a picture with Tombi and the new painting. They told Jordan and I that we could go first which I thought was weird since it wasn't for us, but I went with it.
On the back of the painting, there was a sign that read “The only thing bigger than this elephant is my love for you. Will you marry me?” I looked over at Jordan who pulled a ring box out of his lap and handed me the ring.
Afterward, Victoria had previously made a bunch of signs for us to wear on our chairs and in different areas of the zoo to celebrate. It was a beautiful and perfect day!
