Cola Love Story

Sorry not sorry that this is a ridiculously long and cheesy post. I have had a lot of failed relationships and I feel called to write about them to hopefully help other girls in similar situations. Keep a lookout for future blogs about dating and relationship encouragement based on my own failures. But before I get into all of that, I wanted to share my success. To share God’s amazing love story in my own life. So that you can learn more about me and my story and so you see that God has something amazing in store for you. It does get better and there can be a happy ending, but that doesn’t always mean it’s easy. So I will be writing a lot about love in the future, but first, here is my own love story, from beginning to end, with the man of my dreams…

How I Met My Husband

According to Colton, we met briefly in 8th grade at a math contest. Our dads used to work together, and got to talking at this event we were both participating in. Apparently, Colton remembers his dad introducing him to the fire chief and “his pretty daughter.” Unfortunately, Dad was always talking to firemen, so I don’t remember this particular encounter. I remember us meeting in 11th grade, when I first transferred to Cooper High School. Although he was very quiet, I knew who he was because he was first chair varsity trumpet…as a junior! Spring of senior year, we attended a band Bible study together, and he even came over to my house a few times for that; however, we only spoke maybe a handful of times in high school. We really became friends our freshman year of college, due to our mutual friends. I remember us first bonding over our love for How I Met Your Mother while we were eating at Raising Cane’s.

Heart Tugs

Even though we barely talked between 2011 and 2014, I fully believe God was tugging our hearts towards each other. There are a few stories we both remember from high school that just goes to show how God orchestrates things, even when you’re not paying attention. 

Our junior year, we went on a band trip to Breckenridge, Colorado. At the time, Colton was dating a girl and had been for like 2 years at this point. And I was dating a guy I had been with for a few months. I was looking forward to spending the trip with my boyfriend, but he was a sleazebag and hardly acknowledged my existence. So I’m sitting there, alone on the floor waiting to get my room key, and I look over and see Colton with his arm around his girlfriend, quietly and nicely talking to her. And I think to myself, “dang, that is a good boyfriend.” 

Colton thought I was one of the prettiest girls in band, which just makes me blush. Our high school was pretty cool in the way that each organization gets their own homecoming queen nominee, so our homecoming court ends up with like 20 girls of various interests and popularity level, which I think is pretty cool. Anyway, all senior girls in band were put on a ballot and we voted for our nominee. I voted for myself because, why not? I’d at least get one vote, and also I wasn’t really friends with any other senior girls in band at the time. At lunch that day, my friends told me they voted for me and I got all excited, but then learned that my own boyfriend didn’t even vote for me. Like, so many red flags, ladies. Despite him, I ended up winning and was the band homecoming queen nominee! Years later, I find out that Colton voted for me. Even though we weren’t really friends and my boyfriend at the time didn’t even support me, Colton was supporting me. Colton was choosing me. Colton was rooting for me. And he still is.

At the end of senior year, we were on yet another band trip. I was still with that stupid boyfriend, and we were getting off the bus and he slapped my butt. I was appalled. Firstly, he really didn’t do that very often because I was pretty modest and sheltered. Secondly, we were in freaking public, surrounded by people on the band bus. I turned around and said “don’t!” or slapped his hand or something, I don’t remember. What I do remember is Colton was right behind us in line to get off the bus and he mumbled something under his breath about being respectful to women. In that moment, I remember thinking I wish Colton was my boyfriend instead of this idiot. How right I was…

The most intense heart tug, though, was when we first started becoming friends in college. We had this park we all liked to hang out at. We would play basketball and nuke em and sandman and we even had a few Bible studies there. There were maybe 2 or 3 times that I remember Colton needing a ride home, and I offered or was personally selected by him to do so. Each of these times led to some of the most meaningful conversations I’ve ever had, sitting in my truck in front of his house, wasting gas and watching the hours tick by until 5 a.m. Once I even snuck in his house and used the bathroom in the middle of the night, so that was fun. I gave him advice with some girl trouble he was having and accidentally led him straight into my arms, which worked out nicely for me. And, before he got out of my truck, at 5 in the morning, he stopped and asked if he could pray with me. I think he may have held my hands, and it was the most amazing moment of my life. None of my friends, not even the strong Christian ones, had ever done that after a normal conversation. It was powerful and meaningful and definitely left an impact on me and our friendship.

Looking back now, it was so obvious that Colton and I were meant to be together. God was working in our lives even farther back than that when his grandfather and my dad were working together before we were even born. No, I don’t believe in soulmates because I believe that we have to work hard every day and choose to love each other to make this work. But God knows what He’s doing, that is very clear. I just wish I had my freaking eyes open back then.

We Caught Feelings

Colton and I first developed a crush on the same night. It was a fall evening in 2014. My roommate, Hannah, and I had our friends over for movies and games, as we often did. Hannah had brownies in the oven, and told Colton to get them out when they were done. I remember him coming back into the living room with a tiny oven mitt stuck on his hand. I still see that clearly in my head and laugh even now. Anyway, so I went to go help him get it off and get the brownies out. Then he stuck a finger in the middle of the brownies! So, naturally, I did the same. Then he completed the picture by drawing the rest of the smiley face. Looking back now, this was the night where we first realized there was something special going on.

How Did I Know

Once we found out we liked each other, we wasted no time getting together, despite literally all of our friends telling us it was a bad idea. This was because we were both pretty fresh out of long-term relationships. But we liked each other, and this time, it felt different.

I’m not saying that to be cute or cheesy; it is the honest truth. I dated a few guys after my breakup just for the fun of it and to see what was out there. I did like those guys, but it never felt real. Once Colton asked me to be his girlfriend, it felt real. In fact, that very night, we found out we had the exact same favorite order of Skittles flavors and I secretly joked that I was going to marry him for that reason alone (back story: my family and I once spent an entire night eating Skittles and arguing about the order of flavors from best to worst and literally all 9 of us had a different order). Our first kiss was in his car on the side of the road. We didn’t talk about much. We broke up after 3 weeks or so. It sucked because he was one of my best friends and things were weird for a while, but in the back of my head, I knew our story wasn’t over. We had just rushed things following our breakups and needed more time to work on ourselves before we tried to figure out the whole couple thing. Yea, yea, our friends were right…

So we stayed friends and eventually got over the awkwardness. We got back together in the fall of 2015 after being flirty and dramatic all summer long. But I was still an emotional mess, plus I had some not-so-great friends at the time who were speaking a lot of nonsense into my life. So we broke up again, but this time, it hurt. I remember crumbling to the floor after he drove away. I remember pacing and crying on the phone with my mom telling her my heart wasn’t at peace about it. I remember calling him up less than a week later, begging forgiveness.

Don’t worry, this is where the story gets good. Spring of 2016, we worked on our friendship. We started reading the Bible together. We started reading this amazing book called The Sacred Search together, because I knew we weren’t going to go back and forth our whole lives. If we got back together again, we were going to get married, no question about it. Side note: if a guy agrees to read a cheesy but very insightful relationship self-help book with you, he’s a keeper. Oh also, we started watching The Office and Doctor Who together and I really think that strengthened our relationship.

In February of 2016, I convinced Colton to ditch out on his responsibilities for a weekend and come to a college retreat my church was going on. We spent 3 days in the glorious mountains of New Mexico, worshipping God, chatting by the fire, taking turns beating each other at ping pong, and just living in the moment with each other, far away from the responsibilities and pressure of back home. As we were approaching the wedding, Colton and I discussed when we knew we would get married, and we both said it was during that trip. I just fell in love with how he interacted with my church friends I had grown up with, with how he sang to God with all of his heart, with his hilarious comments during Catch Phrase in the car, with his smile under the stars. And we were just friends at this point, guys. But I knew that this time we were doing this thing right and we were praying about it and we were trusting God’s timing so that we could last a lifetime.

So on May 4, 2016, he asked me to be his girlfriend one last time, and the rest is history (also written out in detail in the following sections, haha).

I used to have a fantastic love story all planned out in my head about how I would meet and marry the man of my dreams. He would see me across the way and be struck with the arrow. He would do adventurous and exciting things with me. He would never make me cry. But real life isn’t like that. Most of our lives are spent on mundane weeknights. Humans are flawed and they make each other cry. Dream guys don’t exist. So here’s my advice for reality…

Marry your best friend. I know people say that a lot and movies make it seem like you suddenly look at your best friend differently and then it’s all smooth sailing from there, but no. That’s not what I mean. I mean, marry the guy who works at being your friend. He is there for you when you are sad. He brings you a Sonic drink to cheer you up. He joins in some crazy Baptist college retreat to spend time with you. He reads the cheesy books and watches your favorite shows and honors and loves you, without even being your boyfriend. He tries his best and works hard and prays for God’s blessings in your life. He chooses you each and every day. That guy is your best friend. And he will be your best friend, for better or for worse.

He Popped the Question

Colton and I celebrated our first official anniversary on May 4, 2017 (May the 4th be with us). On May 5, we planned to go hiking at Palo Duro Canyon. I had been wanting to go hiking for several months, so he picked me up from class, we got lunch, and then made the trek to Canyon, TX. Colton had the trail all picked out, so we drove through the canyon and then began our hike. I was a little bummed, because the trail was surrounded by trees, so we couldn’t see the canyon at all. Plus, it claimed to be a riverside trail, but there had been no significant body of water throughout our walk. About halfway through the trail, Colton veered off the path a little bit and led us to a cliff overlooking the canyon and a little river. We stopped for a few minutes and just enjoyed the view. Then he started babbling a little bit, asking if I loved him over and over. Of course, silly! He said he just felt bad because we had to wait a while to get engaged. I told him it was all right and I would wait as long as I needed to. “Well, you don’t have to wait anymore,” he said, fumbling with his pocket. It all started to click in my head as he got down on one knee. “Will you marry me?” Of course I said yes and leaned down to kiss him. He placed the gorgeous ring on my finger and told me there was another surprise. Out popped Mikala and Jake from behind a bush where they had been filming the proposal. “But wait, there’s another surprise. I made reservations at Cagle’s tonight for the two of us.” I was so excited and beyond blessed to have such an amazing guy! So we made the trek back to the car, and on the two hour drive home, I called several friends and family members. They were all shocked and excited and couldn’t wait to see me. Later, Colton and I showed up to Cagle’s and as the hostess prepared our table, I glanced at the reservation list. Vaughn. 7:00. Party of 2. The hostess led us to the back room and as soon as I crossed the threshold, I saw my parents, my siblings, my future in-laws, and my best friends all yelling in celebration. I was completely overwhelmed with joy and love! I had a teensy inkling we may have been getting engaged around our anniversary, but I had no idea my family (from all across Texas) would be there to celebrate with me! Turns out Colton had been plotting and planning for a few months to make sure that day was perfect for me.

We got Hitched!

Colton and I tied the knot on June 2, 2018, in our hometown of Lubbock, Texas. We got married at Llano Estacado Winery because it was a gorgeous picture of our South Plains home and, what can I say, I love wine. The girls sipped champagne and helped me into my gorgeous black wedding dress, because I’m cool like that. Meanwhile the guys struggled over bowties and keeping Colton away from the window so he wouldn’t see me slip by for pictures. The West Texas wind was an unwelcome guest, but it wouldn’t be Lubbock without it. We got good photos anyway. Colton and I held hands across a wall and gave each other letters before the ceremony. His made me tear up and then laugh so hard I doubled over. Mine were 4 letters written from 2011 to 2018. What’s ironic was I wrote the first letter “to my future husband” just a few short months before I met Colton in high school. Then 2:00 came and before I knew it, I was behind a wall with some of my closest friends in the whole world and my father. I specifically remember all of their happy faces smiling back at me and giving me a thumbs up before I walked out. I saw the large crowd for half a second but then Colton came into view and it was only him and his perfect, smiling face. All that mattered was that I was walking down the aisle to my forever love and all was right with the world. Dad gave me away and the pastor prayed. He did a mini sermon on marriage and threw in a Star Wars reference. We vowed our vows and tied our knot and prayed over each other and exchanged rings and it was all so perfect. We kissed and were pronounced Mr. and Mrs. Colton and Keela Vaughn and danced back down the aisle to more pictures and our beautiful reception. There, my dad and I surprised everyone with our rehearsed father-daughter dance, we heard wonderful speeches from people we love, and we drank delicious wine. What a wonderful day to spend with the people I care about most, celebrating my love for the greatest guy in the world.

One Year+ Later

Shortly after the wedding, we moved to a new city and started new jobs and Colton went back to school. For the first year, we had no friends in the area and we didn’t really love our jobs. It was hard, but I got to come home to my best friend every day, which made it all okay. Luckily, within the last month, we were able to upgrade our job and housing situations, we have made great new friends from our church, and we are not complaining about our days as much. Married life is not always easy, but it is amazing. People advised us to do date night once a week or once a month, but it’s date night every night when we get to cook and eat dinner together, complain about work together, play video games and watch Netflix together, and really just do life and serve God and love each other together. I am beyond blessed to have him in my life and I can’t wait to see what’s next!