Ethan and Bekah Martin

by Bekah

Six years ago this week, my life was forever altered by someone I didn’t know. Someone I thought didn’t exist. Someone I swore had died at birth.

Until I met him.

“Mom,” I announced two seconds after I laid eyes on the boy, “I’ve found the man I am going to marry.” If this seems fast to you, imagine how my mother felt. In one brief second I went from spouting math equations like, “Singleness equals happiness and marriage equals bondage,” to asking, “Where’s the church and the white dress?”

I had no idea this story actually began nine years earlier. He told me about it that day, on our first date. The air was chilly and crisp, the smell of fall hung thick in the sky. “I met you once before,” he said as we walked. “Nine years ago.” Then he said something that made me reel: “I had a crush on you.” Wait a second. Nine years ago. Was he kidding? That would make me fourteen years old. Do you know what I looked like when I was fourteen? Skinny. Scrawny. Sick. Relentless seizures. Mind-numbing medications. Barely able to put a sentence together. He had a crush on that? It sealed the deal in my mind.

“Will you marry me?” I asked. Not really. Not out loud, anyway. But my heart was in awe. This boy looked beyond my skinny, my scrawny, my sick. And he loved me. Just the way I was.

It’s been six years, and I love him more every day. Sometimes I have to pinch myself. Is it true? Is this the man I didn’t know? The man who didn’t exist? The man I once claimed had died at birth? I guess you can see how happy I am to be a fan of the new math. It goes something like this: Singleness equals sadness and “marriedness” equals happiness. But only when you’ve found the person who loves you from the inside out. Happy meeting-day anniversary, Babe. I love you.

Bekah Hamrick Martin, daughter of Randy and Merry Hamrick, was homeschooled in Fayetteville. Ethan supported her dreams as her “Patron of the Arts” while she majored in the obsolete field of journalism. Her first book, The Bare Naked Truth: Dating, Waiting, and God’s Purity Plan is now available for pre-order from Zondervan/HarperCollins.
Ethan Martin, son of Bill and Sue, grew up homeschooled in Weddington. He attended UNCC and is now the director of engineering at Powerboss, Inc., in Aberdeen.
Ethan and Bekah were married on August 4, 2007.