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all the way to february 4, 2006. the best thing to ever happen to thomasville occurred on this day. krunkfest ‘06. i helped a good friend, sarah jones, plan the all day music festival that brought in something like 13 bands and over 600 people. needless to say, it was a huge success, bigger than i ever thought it would be. we booked bands from all around the georgia/florida/alabama area, got a few businesses to sponsor things like the band break room, and put on the best dang festival that area has seen. i’m not biased or anything…

you’re probably wondering why i’m recapping something that happened 7 years ago. well, the band Last Year Portrait got booked for the festival and as fate would have it, all of the guys needed a last minute place to stay, so i offered up my parent’s house (i have the coolest parents). 5 sweaty college-aged boys and 1 girlfriend ended up crashing at the sterling’s. this is the only semi-attractive picture i could find from that time period. august 2006. and here’s ike, doing what he does best. february 2006.

at this point in time, i’m a fresh-faced barely 15 year old— seriously, i had just turned 15 a week before. i’ve always been mature for my age and acted way older, but nevertheless, i was 15. enter ike, the drummer for LYP, and also the funniest person i had ever met. he and steven, the bass player, were without a doubt the friendliest of the group. the two of them kept me up for hours telling me ridiculous stories, including one about a dinosaur named Bartlebee who had a gimp wing. i was in stitches all night.

i guess the guys enjoyed their stay, because we kept in touch and they stayed a few more times when they played shows in the area. i always felt the closest to ike because he just has that personality where you feel like you’ve known him for years and you’re best friends. as the years went on, we would see each other a few times a year. he dated a girl in tallahassee, so when he would swing through thomasville we’d hang out. and his best friend married a fellow thomasvillian, so we saw each other a bit more. once i got to college, we ran into each other at UGA games or at shows at the masquerade in atlanta. one night in particular, i was at the dashboard confessional 10-year anniversary show for swiss army romance— i randomly checked facebook during the opening act and saw that steven and tyler powell were also at the masquerade, watching ike play drums for a friend’s band. i texted tyler and he told me to come downstairs, so i left my friends for a few minutes and ran down to see the guys i hadn’t seen in awhile. i hugged both of them, and i distinctly remember steven saying “wait for ike to finish, i know he’ll want to see you.” at this point, we’re both dating other people, so i know steven didn’t mean anything more by it. but i remember thinking, “i wonder if ike ever had a crush on me?” regardless, i stayed around to say hey to ike, and then we all headed upstairs to watch dashboard!

i’m telling this story because today marks 7 years that i’ve known ike thurston. the guy who always made me laugh until my stomach hurt, the guy who was oddly obsessed with his ferret, the guy who i always saw as a cool older friend, the guy who endured the grossest waffle house experience ever with me, the guy who played the drums like no other, and the guy who loved coffee too much. to say that i never had a crush on him would be a lie, but i never thought i would be married to him within a year of dating. although he was a hysterical, friendly, and awesome friend to me for the almost-6 years prior to us dating, he is an even more wonderful, hilarious, caring, self-sacrificing, loving, and sweet husband to me now.

i am so thankful that i married him and get to spend the rest of my life with such a precious partner. i always told him this when we were dating, and it’s even more true today: he makes my life better than i ever hoped or prayed it could be. he awakened something within my heart and soul that no one else could have. he filled holes in my life that i didn’t even know existed, and i’ve never been more convinced that soul mates are real.