Haaaaave you met Tyler?

On May 8th I started officially dating one of the greatest guys I've ever known. But I want to share some background story. Because we are pretty freakin' cute. 

I sat in the "cool corner" of our Beginning French class with my friend Natasha. The boy in question perched diagonally across from me, conveniently located beneath the clock for easy glance-stealing access. During one of Natasha and I's many discussions about the male species, I piped up, "Hey you know who's pretty cute? That guy across from us in French!" She stared at me, mouth agape, "He's gay." "No! Not him. NEXT to him." 

During our next class she nudged me, "yeah, you're right. You should ask him out!" HAHAHAHA since when has that ever been Taylor Arceneaux's style? If you guessed never then go get yourself a cookie. You deserve one. I responded with an "are you dumb?" eye roll. She picked up on it and whisper-yelled (did I mention he was only maybe 13 feet away max?), "okay then email him and pretend like you don't understand what's going on in class!" Too bad I understood French pretty darn well. I wasn't about to play dumb for a strange guy. 

But lucky, lucky me, I woke up to an email on April 22nd. 

When I first saw his email address in my inbox my heart sank because I figured it was one of those mass emails pleading for notes from everyone in the entire class. But then, I realized it was just to me. So I sprint skipped down the hall to Natasha's room, yelling the entire way. I texted him before heading to the gym to work off my excessive excitement. He responded(!) and we ended up studying for our quiz at the Union that night. I started arriving at French earlier than usual, hoping he would be there so we could talk before class started. Class began at 9:30...I'd aim to be sitting on a bench outside the door by 9:15 at the latest (just realized that this story is starting to sound more creepy than cute). 

We texted minimally and I would set a 20-minute timer to remind myself to respond to his advances in a non-clingy-fast-texter way. Natasha rolled her eyes at my antics, but they paid off. 

The very first thing Tyler and I did together outside of studying French was attend LifeChurch together.  He invited me to the 10 o'clock service with him on April 29th. I didn't hate it. The value he places on spirituality is special to me. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. The following week we did something together every single day: watched the Thunder game Monday, Lunch Tuesday, Movie Wednesday ("The Shining" paved the way for an arm around the shoulder situation. Thanks Jack Nicholson.), official dinner and a movie date on Thursday (hilarious story accompanies this one), and Friends watching session on Friday. Followed by a first kiss. 

This guy is incredible. Every second I've spent with him since April 22nd has been perfection (anyone puking on their keyboards yet? Mission accomplished). 4 months have passed since he asked A Very Lucky Girl out and I've never been more thankful for OU email and the french language. Moral of the story? Check your email and take a foreign language. You might find a Tyler McKee. Or a close second.