By Amanda Belknap
THIRD PLACE
Chris and I met at Iola High School in 1999 on my first day of my freshman year. He was a junior and came running in, jumped up on a table, and yelled out something random that I don’t remember.
I was a quiet nerd and he was too wild.
We became friends a couple of years later through mutual friends.
Fast forward to 2009. We had both been married and divorced, and we started talking again and began dating.
The night I knew he was the one was when I first introduced him to my two toddlers. My 3-year-old daughter got sick, so I handed him my 2-year-old son, so I could take her to the tub and clean her up.
A few minutes later from the living room, I hear, “Um, you’ve got another one.” Chris carried my son into me. They were both covered in vomit.
Chris was so calm and made jokes as we worked together to get them cleaned up and into pajamas.
Most guys would have run after being covered in toddler vomit, but he didn’t. I knew then that he was the perfect fit to our little family.
