Leanne Rowe, 21, Goodna, Qld
Dragging me inside, my friend Jay, 18, took me to meet her boyfriend, Chris, 23.
'Hi,' Chris' flatmate, Julian Rowe, 23, smiled at me.
'Hey,' I replied shyly. I was 18 and suddenly very glad to be there - Julian was gorgeous!
'We're going on a double date,' Jay told me the next day. 'With who?' I asked.
Jay explained that Julian had asked Chris to set it up with me. I was thrilled, and a few days later the four of us went out to dinner.
'I work on submarines in the navy,' Julian told me. 'My dad's in the navy too,' I announced.
Later Julian started fiddling with my napkin.
What's he doing? I wondered. Minutes later he'd folded a beautiful swan and triumphantly placed it in front of me.
'Thanks,' I said, surprised.
Afterwards, the four of us went back to the boys' place and Julian and I got chatting about everything from Iraq to our favourite foods. Later, he kissed me and handed me a second paper swan.
'It stays here,' he said, placing it on the kitchen table, 'so you have to come back.'
We became an official item. Then four months later Julian was deployed to Iraq. 'I want you to move in,' he told me the night before he left. 'So I know you'll be here when I get back.'
'Of course I will,' I cried.
Julian returned from Iraq after four months, just in time to spend Christmas with me. 'I've missed you,' he said.
A few months later we were having lunch with his dad Laurie, stepmum Sue and my parents Mike and Jackie.
'Why aren't you eating?' I asked as Julian pushed his food around his plate.
'Leanne,' he said bending down on one knee, 'marry me?'
It was as if we were the only two people in the world.
'Yes,' I cried, ecstatic.
Mum and Sue had tears in their eyes too. Even Dad looked a bit emotional.
Seventeen months later we were married in an intimate outdoor ceremony. After exchanging our vows, Julian and I poured twin streams of black and white sand into a decanter to symbolise our union. 'I love you so much,' Julian told me, smiling.
Today, we've been married for four months and we're closer than ever before.
Our special decanter of sand sits on the mantelpiece. It makes me smile every day, but not nearly as much as my two precious paper swans which I've kept in perfect condition since the day Julian made them for me. |
