4 years

Last Thursday (June 8) was our 4-year wedding anniversary. Wow. In some ways it seems like yesterday that I was a single college gal living with Janelle on 5th South at Covenant...and in another sense it seems like forever. Because in a very real way, I do not remember who I was pre-Ryan. Yes, it still does sound weird when I hear myself say "Hi, I'm Emily Moody" instead of "Hi, I'm Emily Boatright" but those of you who know me best and have known me the longest will definitely agree that I became the person I am today when I met Ryan. I can honestly say that I had a Ryan-shaped hole in my heart and life and when I met him, dated him, became his fiance and finally married him, that void was filled. In pre-Ryan days, I was lonely, extremely dramatic (yes, much more dramatic than I am now, if you can believe it!), and somewhat emotionally unstable. :) All of that changed the day I met Ryan, in July of 2000...

It was a Sunday night and I had just returned home from vacation in Orlando, FL with the Boatright clan (it was the summer between my junior and senior year of college). 8 days of Disney World, Sea World and all the other "Worlds" that put Orlando on the map had exhausted me beyond belief and needless to say, I was in the mood for some quality time with non-family members. :) So when my high school pal Melanie Consos called me that night asking if I'd like to join her and some friends from church at a coffee house downtown, I agreed. I was tired, sunburned and not ready to return to work the next day but I decided to go anyway, in need of some college-age friend time/activities. So I arrived at the coffee shop and to my surprise, there were 2 strange guys there with Melanie and her church friends: Ryan Moody and his friend Jeb Beckum. Ryan and Jeb were invited to the coffee shop by Melanie's friend (can't for the life of me remember her name!) because this chick had a crush on Ryan (Ryan and Jeb had just arrived in Savannah the week before from Macon and were about to start their 3rd year of medical school). I remember the first time I laid eyes on Ryan...I thought to myself "That guy is kind of cute but he has a big mouth." And then when he stood up, I thought "Oh, too bad. He's WAY too short for me" :) (turns out I was WRONG about that!). Anyway, as the night progressed, I realized that Ryan was "into" me and not so much the girl that had invited him that evening. And I, thinking he was too short and just coming out of a not-so-great relationship with a guy from Covenant, was not too thrilled about the idea. So I tried to maintain maximum neutrality and not give him any encouragement whatsoever when Melanie and I left Ryan and Jeb that night. However, Ryan was not to be deterred. :) He looked up the number to the YMCA where I was working as a lifeguard and called me the NEXT DAY, a mere 12 hours after we said good-bye the night before. I thought, "this guy is such a stalker. NO WAY am I going out with him." So when he asked to me attend his White Coat Ceremony (some fancy party for 3rd year med students) I said "no way." I also said "no way" when he asked me to attend a birthday party for one of his friends (he was posing as a stripper for that party, jumping out of a cake wearing only scrub pants but that's another story), a movie with just him and some other dinner party. One time I even told him "I don't go out on dates alone with just me and a guy" (what a crock). So needless to say, Ryan was not too happy with me. But then, after rejecting him so many times, I felt bad and decided to invite him to an RUF pool party we were having one night (there was one "date" in the middle here when I made Ryan go out with both Melanie and I but I'm skipping some things for the sake of shortening this already-too-long story). I mean, he was new to Savannah and I should at least be nice to him, right? (My mom actually lectured me for not giving him a chance and coerced me into inviting him to this party) :) So anyway, Ryan attended this party with me and we had a blast. All my friends liked him immediately and I had to admit that he was fun. So when he asked me out AGAIN that night, as we were leaving the party, I said yes. We went to a nice Italian restaurant in Savannah and out to the beach to talk and it was the BEST first date I had ever been on. We hit it off and talked the entire time. Incidentally, it was this night that I found out Ryan's last name. We were in his car, driving out to the beach and I happened to look down at his console and saw his hospital ID badge...Ryan Moody. And I said, "I just realized that I didn't even know your last name until just now" and I remember thinking "Moody...That's an interesting name." And as it turns out, one day it would be my last name as well!

So we had a great first date and continued seeing each other almost daily for the next few weeks until I went back to college . After I had been back in Chattanooga for 2 weeks, I realized that I missed Ryan terribly and didn't want to be apart from him. I told Janelle sometime in that first month of our senior year, "You know, I think he's THE ONE." We survived my stressful senior year in which I was the senior class president, trying to keep my grades up to graduate with honors, work full-time and buy a car and Ryan's stressful/crazy 3rd year of med school, working himself to death in his first year actually in a hospital, all the while studying for boards. We saw each other about once a month, talked on the phone constantly, exchanged many letters and fell totally in love. It was the night of the senior class banquet, the day before my graduation from college, when Ryan told me he loved me and though I'd known this fact for some time, I realized that one day I would become his wife. So skip ahead a few months to October 13, 2001 - we got engaged on a pretty fall day on Cumberland Island (nature reserve beach/island a ferry ride from St. Mary's, town in near Savannah). We had a relaxing engagement with me working part time at Veritas Academy teaching first grade and Ryan enjoying the easy life as a 4th year med student. But that would all come to an end soon. We found out Ryan matched at UVa on March 31 and went to Charlottesville 2 weeks later to find an apartment. We found the apartment and moved our stuff to VA on Memorial Day week-end, Ryan graduated from med school the next week-end on June 1, we got married the next week-end after that on June 8, went on our honeymoon the next week and on June 18, packed up the rest of our stuff and our wedding presents in the Rodeo and the Corolla and drove away from Savannah as husband and wife, residents of the state of VA. Ryan began his intern year 4 days later and so began the hardest year (years, really) of both of our lives: Ryan as a 1st year resident and me as a lonely new wife. But God was so faithful and our love was so strong that we made it...and are here 4 years later stronger and closer than we ever could have imagined as a result of those 3 years in Virginia. And now we are back home in GA and have a son! Life just keeps getting better for us. :)

I do have to say that it has been the best 4 years of my life. Ryan is my best friend and I couldn't ask for more from our marriage or our life together. Thank you, honey, for a wonderful 4 years. I can't wait for the next 40! :)


Quote(s) of the Day
Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave. Martin Luther

There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage.
Martin Luther