The Life and Times of Whitney.

This song has really resonated with me lately.  The Ambassadors performed it at CYC and then I downloaded the song and I can’t stop listening to it.  It’s a simple song about how God is with us no matter what we are going through.  We just have to turn around and He is there.  God created everything beautiful in it’s time, including the rain and the sun.  When we have rain in our lives and everything is dark, and even when we have sun in our lives and everything is going great, we must trust and follow God.  Download this song if you haven’t!

You Will Find Me

When your souls weary
When you find doubt
When you can’t hear me
Lay your troubles down

In your dark moments
When your hearts weak
Bring yourself broken
You will find me

Who wrote the rain
Who wrote the sun in
Who called your name
Where are you running
I’m gonna be there near or far
I’m gonna meet you where you are
Who wrote your name
Who wrote the sun in

When you come thirsty
When the wells dry
When your souls dirty
I am by your side

When your faiths broken
When you can’t see
With my arms open
You will find me

Chorus

You carried all my shame
When you called my name
I am not the same

So I believe it is time to tell my proposal story.  For those of you who saw the last half of it, thank you so much for being a part of that special moment.  For those of you who weren’t there, you can get the whole story now, plus my reactions and thoughts. :)

I came into work on Tuesday morning, February 15th at 9:00 AM just like an other day.  Except, something was a little different.  When I rounded the corner into my little cubicle, I saw a note sitting on my desk that said “#1.”  Now, Travis and I had talked about getting engaged and when/how it would be, but he also told me things to throw me off like, “Oh, I gotta pay off the ring,” and “it could be a couple months, I’m not sure when.”  So needless to say, I was in shock at the earliness of this.  But yes, when I saw that note sitting on my desk, my immediate reaction was, “He’s going to propose today…at least I hope.”  I mean, foreal, the day after Valentine’s Day?  Nothing randomly sweet like a scavenger hunt would make any sense, unless it lead to that something that I had dreamed about for so long. 

My reaction was even more confirmed when I read the letter.  He told me that today I would be going on a scavenger hunt for notes, and that those notes would turn into videos I would watch, and that it would eventually lead to something very exciting.  He also said at the end of the letter, “Today is a big day for us.  Text me when you get this.  I love you.”

My next spot to go was Loyd.  I went up on stage and found my second letter on top of the podium.  Little did I know that I would be proposed to in that very spot 14 hours later.  As I was walking out of Loyd I got a text from Travis complementing me on what I was wearing that day.  I looked around and didn’t see him.  I finally found him in one of the tiny second floor windows in Loyd.  He had watched me come in and read my letter on Loyd’s stage.  Creeper.  I tried to call him and he ignored it and he told me that we weren’t going to talk all day, just text.  The scavenger hunt lead me to the mailroom, my house, back to the admissions office, and then to my school car.  I had to do something embarrassing to get my letter in the admissions office.  Preston and Tad made me sing “Teenage Dream” in front of like 25 people to get that letter.  They recorded it and it was posted on facebook. (Please don’t go look for it)  Usually, I would not be embarrassed about something like that.  But the nervousness of the day and what I knew was happening got to me and I choked and delivered a poor performance.  Also, little did I know, that probably 80% of the people who watched me sing knew that I was getting proposed to that night.  Jerks, haha.

My last scavenger hunt letter was in my school car, and it was because I was leaving for a college night in Hamilton, AL that night.  All of the letters read the same at the end.  “Text me when you get this, I love you.”  I could already feel the anticipation and anxiousness of a 5 hour round trip solo car ride building up.  It would be a LONG DRIVE there and back.  In that letter, he told me that the next letter would come in the form of an email.  I pulled over in Corinth and got gas, and checked my email on my phone.  The email told me that my next instructions of the day would come from a phone call from a beautiful little girl who happens to be Travis’s neice, Halle Dru. Halle Dru called me and told me (with the help of her mom) that I should go to Hamilton, have fun at the college fair, and when I get back go to Crews to the theater.  And then that was it, for the next 5 hours I had to be Admissions Counselor Whitney, and completely remove from my mind (which I couldn’t) the fact that I was in the middle of a wild goose chase for a ” special prize.”

So the college fair came and went and I packed up my stuff and headed home.  I texted Travis and told him that I would be back at 9:30.  Originally, I had guessed I would be back around 10 or 10:30.  So he planned his little shindig according to that guesstimate.  He then told me that I couldn’t go to Crews theater until 10:45.  I got kinda mad and told him that I knew something was going on and I didn’t want to go sit in my house for an hour and wait. SO, he told me that I was going to go hang out at Shell with Preston and some friends until 10:45.  Little did I know that behind the scenes he was freaking out!

I got to Shell when I got back and there was Preston Pinson and Mark Yarbro sitting in at a table.  I walked in and they acted like they thought it was weird that I came to Shell by myself.  I was kind of moody/anxious/nervous when I got there so Preston and Mark did everything they could to entertain me for 45 minutes.  I think I even said something about them having to babysit me for 45 minutes.  Mark ate of whole can of Vienna sausages, Preston bought me Valentine’s Day bracelets and did cartwheels.  It was really funny. 

So 10:45 came and I came to Crews theater.  As I walked in, a video message was playing to me from Travis.  He told me he was going to do a count down video from 10 to 1 and how those numbers related to our relationship. 

10-Top 10 reasons why he loved me
9- There are 9 months in a pregnancy, and how he can’t wait to have kids with me
8-We started dating on the 8th day of the month
7-Rhymes with Heaven, he talked about our faith in God
6- was skipped because he messed something up
5-We want to have 3 kids, so there will be 5 people in our family one day
4-I drive a Toyota Rav 4, and he talked about all the times we hung out in each others cars (Our first kiss was in his car)
3- He talked about the quote “3 words, 2 people, 1 meaning”
2-Second chances

1-He pointed at the camera and said, “Well, you’ll see!”  At that point the screen flashed to a sentence that said, “Now get to Loyd!”

My heart was racing at that point.  The whole day had lead up to what was going to happen in Loyd.  I got in my car and went over there and ran inside.  As I walked in, a video I had made him for our 2 year anniversary was playing.  It was pictures, quotes, and our favorite songs.  I laughed and teared up and reminisced, but towards the end of the video I was thinking, okay, let’s get on with this! I’m the one who made the video and I’ve seen it already!  And did I mention that it was around 20 minutes long?  So when it was over, I heard someone walk up behind me, and it was Travis.  He gave me a hug and kiss and asked how I was.  How I was?!?  I couldn’t really even speak. 

Then he said, well, I’m going to play you a song.  He got on stage (there was a stool with a guitar leaning against it at center stage when I had walked in) and played for me “Your Everything” by Keith Urban.  This song is special to us because that is the same song he played to me on our 1 month anniversary 2 years before on that very same stage.  He did a such great job and I teared up. 

When that was over, he got up and moved his stool and I saw the ring box sitting there.  If I wasn’t nervous before, I became UBER nervous right then.  He called me on stage and hugged me and talked to me for a second, and then he got on one knee, opened a box holding the most beautiful ring I had ever seen, and said, “Whitney, will you give me the honor of spending the rest of my life with you, will you marry me?”  I screamed and uttered something in the form of “yes” and we hugged and kissed.  After a couple moments, while we were still hugging, he raised his hand and did a signal and I suddenly heard a burst, I mean BURST of cheering and applause from the center right balcony.  They all had had to be completely silent for the last 30 minutes!

150 of my closest friends, my family, and family-to-be had been there to watch the whole thing.  They all came down to give hugs, take pictures, and congratulate us.  We took a group picture of everyone who was there to remember with Travis and I hold a sign my mom had made that said “We are engaged!”  Travis was even smart enough to have someone take pictures of everything and someone to video it all!

It was perfect.  I mean I couldn’t have asked for anything better.  The perfect proposal, the PERFECT ring, and most importantly the perfect person to grow old with.

Since then, I am still on cloud 9, and replaying everything that happened that day in my head.  I am constantly glancing down at my ring, looking at how sparkly it is in different lighting, and showing it off to everyone.  And even better, I am thinking about what it will be like to say, “Hi!  My name is Whitney Young” 10 months from now.  It does have a nice ring to it. :)

Now, time for WEDDING PLANNING!

The perfect picture for the perfect moment. By Whitney Pirtle.

1. I might meet 14 million kids in one day and maybe remember one kids name.

2. Some people are really hard to get in touch with, even if you call them 20 times in one week.

3. Two words: Be creative.

4. Two more words: Be flexible.

5. Make friends with other recruiters while traveling.  It will ease the loneliness (AKA-eating by yourself at a restaurant) and you can all share awkward/funny stories about your job.

6. Chick-fil-a is my best friend. Probably half of the receipts I turn in are from there.

7. Malls are fun to kill time.  WARNING: Don’t spend too much money! :/

8. Snuggies work wonders, especially in a cold office.

9. Don’t stare at a computer screen too long.  For a break, either take a walk, squirt hand sanitizer at a cubicle neighbor, or throw balls at each other.

10. Don’t talk to Joe.  He doesn’t like people.

11. Avoid conversation with Josh and Blake, they will somehow curve the conversation towards your love life and make you feel awkward.

12. Don’t expect Marco to be in one location more than 5 seconds, and don’t be scared if he starts speaking Italian in mid-sentence.

13. Never eat at Subway for lunch unless you want to smell like pepper and red onions the rest of the day.

14. High school kids will flirt with you, hit on you, and ask awkward questions.  Be prepared for anything.

15. All Preston cares about is doing something mischievous in the office.

16. If relying on a GPS to get you somewhere, make sure the address actually exists first.

17. Staying in a hotel is fun, sometimes.

18. Margo’s computer never works, and people never answer her phone calls.

19. When Joe Lynn is in the office, we will most likely jam to Glee or Disney songs at some point in the day.

20. If someone accuses an admissions counselor of not working and being on facebook during the day, we ARE working.  Kids use facebook more than their brains these days….DUH.

21. Kids will take ANYTHING that is free.  

22. Mrs. Susan knows EVERYTHING.

23. There isn’t really any use in wearing heels, because you will usually be walking or standing.

24. Some people are really nice, and some people are really rude.

25. This job is fun, crazy, tiring, rewarding, and just plain cool.