.our love story-part three.

.our love story part one here.

.our love story part two here.





.ice skating.

.the date that left us liking each other...but not doing anything about it.

.february came around. my birthday month, as well as andrews best friend emma. she was SO fun to be around, and so bubbly. she was having a "byu football" party because it just so happened one of the big games ended up on her birthday.

.february 5th.

.she had invited a 6-7 friends over to eat and watch the game, and just hang out. 

.andrew had offered to transport me to the party and back. so up we went to emma's house. 

.we had such a blast. just being normal teenagers. hanging out in a good environment, with no worries in the world. laughing and enjoying our time together. 

.on the way home andrew had pulled over into the school parking lot. my heart started pounding out of my chest. "what was he doing?" i thought. 

.somehow he mumbled out the words "will you go out with me" ...of course i said yes, and we drove the rest of the way to my house holding hands.

.february 5th is special to us now. not only is it a special day for us and "when it all started" but its the birthday of a very special friend whom we love, and miss dearly.

.we continued to date throughout the remainder of his senior year. we went to prom, we went on dates, we hung out at basketball games. we hung out at his house, at my house. 

.he actually got grounded shortly after we started dating. he had told his parents he was going to drop something off at my house and come straight back home. he didnt have his phone on him, and an hour or two had pasted. they began to worry, and could not get ahold of us, and him. they drove looking for his car in ditches, on the side of the road, etc, all the way to my house. they knocked on our door, and walked in finding him sitting eating cheesecake with my family. he was grounded for 2 weeks. whoops.

.andrew graduated in june, and decided to go to byu for the summer. i drove with his mom the 12 hours to utah. got him all settled and ready to take on the "college life" and drove the 12 hours back with her. .i must have been too "in the moment" when i said yes to going with them to utah and back and not realized i would have a 12 hour drive back. alone. with only debbie. and no andrew. i still remember the first 10 minutes into our drive back to washington when she said, "so whats your intentions with andrew?" 

.i about died. thankfully the drive home ended up being really nice.

.the time came when andrew received his mission call. 

.Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.

.our time together was growing slim. we tried planning something every opportunity we could when he didnt have things to do to prepare for the mission. there was a fun little get together where all the school was invited. it was a concert (all the boys attended our school who was in the band)...and so we figured we would meet there. 

.i was at my best friend's house ashley....and we had planned to meet andrew and emma at the concert. emma was going to andrews house and they were going to drive over together. i remember talking to andrew on the phone before drive over to make sure we were on the same page, and they too, were planning on meeting soon as well. i heard emma's voice in the background yell "hi tasha!" and i dont remember why, but i ended up hunging up the phone upset at andrew for some reason. 

.we left and drove over to the concert. on the way there the road was blocked off. i saw firetrucks, ambulances....i remember thinking there was SO many of them. i also remember the pit in my stomach, that i just pushed aside. we pulled into the driveway when we saw andrew's brother walking quickly to his car. we ran after him asking him where he was going.

.i still remember the sick feeling that came over me, and feeling like i was going to puke, when the words came from tylers mouth

"andrew and emma were in a car accident just outside our neighborhood."