Love at....a Later Sight

As our wedding approaches, we thought we'd share some stories with you all about our courtship (fancy word, huh). Let's start at the beginning.

Megan & Matt met about three years ago when Megan moved to California and began living with her wonderful relatives, the Carlino's. Within a few days of her arrival, her younger cousin Jack decided to throw a party (sorry Jack). There is where his funny, curly haired best friend Matt met Megan for the first time.

Matt and Megan continued to run into each other at the Carlino house, both in passing and at small gatherings out in the backyard that usually included a fire in the fire pit and Lynn Love strumming away on the guitar. The two had a casual friendship, which didn't escalate to more until almost a year after they met which coincidentally coincided with Matt chopping off his intense Velcro afro. Once they did decide to move their friendship to the next level, it was very surprising to family members, most specifically Jack and Lynn Love (I'm sure they'll tell the story at the wedding).

About a month after Matt and Megan began dating, Matt left for Navy boot camp. Just after their relationship began, they couldn't talk to each other for two whole months, and Megan had deep reservations when she flew out to Great Lakes, IL to see his boot camp graduation. "Can I really be with someone in the military," she thought.

As it turns out, your heart doesn't care what your head is thinking. Crazy, right? Matt and Megan endured a long distance relationship because of boot camp, A-School in Florida, and a permanent duty station in Lemoore (cow country) California for about a year until they finally decided to make it official and "put a ring on it."

And now, here we are, just a few short months away from our wedding. Matt and Megan live in Lemoore, where they often complain about the cows, the bugs, the heat and the military, yet find solace in each others company. It's amazing how much a relationship and a friendship can grow when there's no one else to talk to but the Navy and cows :)