How the Saunders Family Came To Be

So I thought it was about time to write down how the Saunders Family came to be. I've never really documented how we got together because I've never been a diary or journal kinda girl. I've had every type of diary or journal you can think of, but could never get past a couple of entries. I guess this is as close as it gets. So, I'll do my best to remember details so my children can look back one day and know how their parents met!

Tray's life started on May 4, 1981 in Lawton, OK. His family actually lived in Marlow and are members of the Chickasaw Nation. (Tray wanted me to be sure and tell you that!) Tray and his family lived in Oklahoma for 8 years before moving to Texas when he was in first grade. He started to attend school at Barbers Hill in Mont Belvieu, TX. He spent time playing football, baseball and basketball. When he was in Oklahoma he also wrestled, and let me tell you, I've seen video and he was the cutest little wrestler you've ever seen!

My life started on December 18, 1982 in Muscatine, IA. My family and I lived in Iowa for 5 years before moving to Texas when I was in kindergarten. We always lived in the Houston area until we moved to far east Houston in 1993 when I was starting 5th grade. I also started to attend school at Barbers Hill in Mont Belvieu, TX.

Now here's where you might be thinking, "How cute, they were high school sweethearts!" And here's where I'm going to tell you, WRONG! Yes we were a grade apart and even had a geography class together my sophomore year and Tray's junior year, but I can honestly say that we never spoke a word to each other until after we were both in college. Now here's where Tray's story would differ and he would tell you that I was stuck up and thought I was too good for everybody. The truth is, I was very shy and most people thought I was a B because I was quiet. My story will tell you that Tray was the quarterback and had a, how would you say it....history of "talking to" cheerleaders. In high school I was on the dance team and in the band, so there's 2 strikes against me!

There is a funny story that I have to document because it's so weird to think about it now that we're married and getting ready for our first child. Like I said, we had a geography class together one year. The geography class that we were in was notorious for having all of the "bad boys" in it. We went to a small school so everyone knew all of the boys in the class and the stuff we used to put our teacher through. It was also the last period of the day so it always ended with a ruckus! That year I was an officer on the dance team. It was our first pep rally and we were dancing my FAVORITE dance! It was also our first geography test. When the bell rings for all of the dance team and cheerleaders to go get ready, I take my test to our teacher and tell him that I'm not done with my test but I had to leave. He very politly told me that I had to finish it or I would miss those questions. At this point everyone is watching because I was the only one that had to leave the class and all of a sudden I hear a manly voice from the corner of the room coming to my defense. Who was it? None other than Tray! His response to our teacher was "But if she doesn't leave she can't dance!" Needless to say it didn't work and I huffed over to my desk and finished the test within 10 seconds and left. So that's the story that Tray always likes to bring up to people of how he came to my defense and I never thanked him. He likes to end it by saying that we could have been a couple since then, but I was too stuck up to talk to him.

Anyways, now you might be thinking, "If they didn't talk in high school, how did they get together?" Well Tray graduated in 2000 and went to play football at Ranger College and then transfered to Stephen F. Austin State University after his freshman year. I graduated in 2001 and went on to attend The University of Texas at Austin (Hook 'Em Horns!). So now we're at different schools 4 hours away from each other and still haven't ever talked. Now it's time for a little background info. My sister was 3 grades above me and she started to date this guy when she was a senior in high school and I was a freshman. That guy is now my brother-in-law Joe and one of his best friends was Tray. We all went to high school together and they all later attended SFA at the same time for a couple of years. Is it starting to come together? When Joe graduated from college my sister and him had already been dating for 6 or so years, so he was like family. Naturally I went to his graduation and who was his roommate at the time? None other than Tray! As soon as I got to Nacogdoches from Austin on that May day I guess you can say that Tray and I finally really spoke our first words to each other. And the rest is history! I don't know what it was but all of a sudden it was like we had never seen each other and we were instantly drawn to each other. That night everyone went to hang out at the bar and Tray and I proceeded to seclude ourselves and talk the rest of the night. We officially became a couple about a month later at Joe's party back home. The exact date and time is a debate between us because it was about 11:00 pm on the night of June 12th, 2004, but Tray says it was after midnight when he spoke those words of "Will you be my girlfriend?" Whatever the time we've been together ever since and everyday we find new reasons for why we're perfect for each other!

Our first picture together at Joe's party

So all in all I guess you could say that we've missed some opportunities to become a couple, but God drew is back to each other and as cheesy as it sounds, every time I hear Rascall Flatts "God Blessed the Broken Road," I think of our story. Through high school we never talked. My mom always heard his name at the football games and asked why I didn't like him and we didn't talk. We even had a double date with Joe and my sister one time when we were all in college, and we never talked. Literally, we went to eat and to a movie and even sat in the backseat of the car together and we said maybe 5 words to each other the whole night! Put us in a bar, and we talked! In fact if Tray had written this post, that's all it would say. "I picked her up in a bar." So not true!



Mariel