Lindsay Lusk


In the fall of 2000, JJ (from Texas) met Lindsay (from South Dakota) while they were both attending college in Oklahoma City. At the time they met, they were only 19 and 18 years old, respectively. Around Thanksgiving of that same year, they started “dating” and even though they were so young, there was one thing they knew - they were either all in or all out.

There was a time during one of their several conversations, that JJ mentioned to Lindsay that he had decided he would not tell a girl “I love you” unless he knew that was the girl he was going to marry. Lindsay appreciated this and over the next few months, their relationship grew.

The weekend of April 27, 2001:

JJ and Lindsay left Oklahoma City to head to Texas for the weekend. They knew that the semester was coming quickly to a close and, since they both planned on going home for the summer, they also knew this meant that they would be separated for a while. They decided to take one last quick trip down to Texas to see JJ’s family before the end of the school year. The week leading up to this trip, JJ had told Lindsay that he purchased her (early) birthday gift and was going to give it to her soon. Actually, JJ told Lindsay this several times - almost to the point of teasing. Obviously, he was very excited about this gift. For her part, Lindsay was excited as well. She was hoping for something “special” either a pair of earrings or a necklace or something of like “importance”.

Once they arrived in Ennis (JJ’s hometown), and after greeting his family members, JJ asked Lindsay to walk over to his grandma’s house with him as he needed to drop some things off there. On the way back to his parent’s house, he told Lindsay that he had decided to give her the birthday present right then and there. Lindsay was excited and was trying to think of what it might be. When JJ pulled out the wrapped present and Lindsay noticed the size of it (definitely NOT the size of a small piece of jewelry), Lindsay was somewhat disappointed. Still excited to see what it could be, she started to open it. By this time, they had made their way to JJ’s parent’s front yard and were sitting on an antique bench.

When she opened the gift, she quickly realized what it was - a scrapbook! JJ had filled almost all of the pages with momentos (some silly), notes and the like of his and Lindsay’s time together. He also filled the pages with photos and a poem or two. Towards the end of the scrapbook, he had a note that he wrote specifically for Lindsay. The noted ended with “JJ loves Lindsay. He loves his best friend”. Lindsay thought this was strange and supposed that JJ did not remember what he had said about not wanting to tell anyone he loved them until he knew he was going to marry them. Anyway, back to the gift. On the page following that note, there were some frog stickers that were made to look like they were hopping across the page (one must realize that Lindsay LOVED frogs). The page said that there was one more thing that JJ wanted to show Lindsay. Across the next few pages the frogs hopped. All the while, Lindsay kept on turning the pages. When Lindsay got to the very last page, a string that had been stapled to the page fell out onto Lindsay’s lap. On the end of the string was something very sparkly! The book simply read “This is the ring he proposed to her with.” From there, JJ got down on one knee and asked Lindsay if she would spend the rest of her life with him. That 18-year old girl said, “Yes”.

Seven and one-half years later, I am so glad I said yes! I may not have realized the magnitude of the decision that was made that day but I do know it was the best decision I ever made in my life! And that bench we were sitting on when JJ proposed to me? It’s in our front yard as a reminder of that wonderful day!

JJ & Lindsay Lusk