Oh…the beginning…It all started back in August 1999. Shane broke his leg in Utah and had to return home because he could no long work. And Nikki embarked on an adventure to a city she had never been to before to start school. Just weeks after we both arrived in the Chico area, we met at the Stake Center for the first time. Needless to say, we hit it off and we’re inseparable from that moment on. Don’t get the wrong idea…it was not your ideal fairytale romance. We started dating, then broke-up, the got back together, the started dating again, then decided to see other people, the got back together, the broke-up again, then and then and then…the saga continued for about 6 years, 9 months (but who’s counting?)During that time, Nikki finished her Bachelor’s degrees at Chico State in June 2002, started the Master’s program in speech pathology in August 2002. She later moved to Fresno in the fall of 2004, then moved to Sacramento in the summer of 2005, completed her Master’s degree at Chico State in December of 2005, and began working in Sacramento as a Speech-Language Pathologist in January of 2006.
Meanwhile, Shane worked at various jobs such as construction, Best Buy, Applebee’s, and satellite installer while attending Butte Community College. After working for other people, Shane decided to start his own business doing home theater and satellite television installations. Shane later transferred to Chico State to later complete his Bachelor’s degree in psychology.
During the midst of completing our education and beginning our careers, we managed to stay in “very” close contact with each other. We tried to date other people and move on from each other’s arms, but we always managed to find ourselves there over and over again. We really did make a true, honest effort. We would tell each other we weren’t going to talk, only email, then when that didn’t work we would say,
“Okay, nothing for 3 months”, when that failed we said text messages and instant messages only…and of course, that didn’t work either. The last attempt we made to cutting off all ties, we decided we were going to be done completely…for real this time!Then…late one evening when Nikki was driving home from a Bay Area dance (an attempt to meet new people), she received a text message from an unknown number that read “You’ve got mail!” When she arrived home, she checked her email and what do you know…Shane wrote an email that started the ball rolling again as boyfriend-girlfriend for the last time! A day went by and as Nikki was responding to his email, Shane impatiently showed up at her door step. After a long talk that night, Shane returned to Chico, making plans that would change our lives forever.
