Yesterday was a special day. Not only did it mark the 2-year anniversary of the day I met Brian… but we were able to spend some time with the person who introduced us.

I was going through a very transitional point in my life during the summer of 2009. There were highs and lows, happy times and sad times. I was reconnecting with old friends and making new ones.

I was separated and getting divorced, I was planning a move to New York City, I was trying to get over someone I had been seeing (but with whom there was just no future).

I was rediscovering myself.

And on August 6, 2009 I had no idea that that evening I would meet someone who would change my life forever.

There was a woman named Krista whom I had become friendly with at my sister’s pool club that summer. She was always telling me about this 5-mile race called the Red Rooster Ramble that she ran every Thursday night… it was low-key, fun, and a great group of people showed up for it every week.

And every week I resisted going because, well, I liked to run by myself.

But on August 6, 2009 I finally relented. I saw Krista at the pool club again, she told me I really should come that night… and only because I had to run 5 miles that day as part of my training for my next marathon, I went.

I met Brian a few minutes before the start of the race. I thought he was cute and sweet – a little shy, but to me that’s much better than in-your-face.

Then the race started. It happened to be the 200th Red Rooster Ramble race, so a photographer from a local newspaper, the Warren Times-Gazette, was there to document the event, allowing me and Brian to have photographic documentation of the night we met.

You can also see Krista next to me (and behind Brian) in a pink top.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Brian and I quickly became close friends. I had a feeling early on that he was the kind of guy I could trust and depend on. Two years later, he has proven time and time again that my instinct was correct.

We get to see Krista every so often, and it just so happened that we were all at the same place yesterday – a swim meet in which 5 of my nieces and nephews, and some of Krista’s children, were swimming. So I was so happy to have the chance to once again thank her for introducing me to my future husband, two years to the day after she did just that.

Cross-posted at our wedding website