Our Story
Part One:
I saw him first. The summer of 2000, I was at James & Laura Dunlap's house in Cedar Hill with my sister. Adam, James, and another guy came in the house after everyone was asleep and woke everyone up. That was the first time I saw Adam. That next year I was a junior at Cedar Hill High School. I saw Adam roaming the halls the first day of school wearing his funky clothes and spiky hair. I loved him and had never even spoken to him. Through some friends, I found out he was a newly single guy. I couldn't have been happier. The very last period (7th), I walked into my Spanish 3 class and couldn't believe he was there. He was sitting on a retro looking couch against the back wall of the room. The first thing he said to me was, "I really like your skirt." My palms were totally sweating; I remember just feeling very bare and nervous with the whole situation. After that we got to know each other more and more. Adam and I would sit on the couch and talk about movies and music, and of course do our Spanish work. We also came from very similar backgrounds which gave us an immediate connection. Later, Adam said that the scent of my presence was very familiar to him. Not long after that Adam asked me out. I was nearly 17 and hadn't been on a date or even had my first kiss yet! Our first date was like a dream. Adam's brother Jeff won tickets to the Requiem for a Dream movie premiere in Dallas and gave them to Adam. It was a unique and dark film, like the bond we had from then on. We went on a few more memorable dates throughout the 2000-2001 school year and summer. I had my first frappicino with Adam at the Coffee Beanery in Grand Prairie by the movie theater (where Cedar Hill kids used to go). We were never considered boyfriend & girlfriend, it wasn't the right time. We were both busy and Adam was graduating early with acceptance into UNT; The college that I wanted to go to. Coincidently enough, I went to the UNT Open House at that same time as his ex-girlfriend. I saw him again that summer but very briefly. I was upset that we hadn't developed into more of a relationship, but Adam didn't want to corrupt my innocence. I thought of him a lot. We both never forgot the impact we had on one another.
Part two:
I had endured the harsh smack in the face of life. I had been asking people who went to Cedar Hill in a casual manner, "What ever happened to Adam De Baca?" I had a gut feeling he was still at UNT, if not in Europe. That's exactly where he had been. I looked, and looked, and looked again and again on the internet, but I couldn't find him. I dug out my old day planner and found his number. I had a feeling his mom's house would be the same number and I tried it. Someone answered (it ended up being Jennifer, his younger sister). I asked if an Adam DeBaca lived there and she said, "Yea kinda." I told her I was an old friend from high school and wanted to get a hold of him. She said he was moving to Washington in a week and didn't know when he would be back at the house before then. I gave her my number, and quickly the conversation was over. I knew I had to at least see him before he left. I never got a call. I was really surprised. I knew he would have been happy to hear from me, we liked each other a lot. Finally one day, while listening to the Tribe Called Quest (Love Movement CD) that he gave me, I thought to look on myspace again. What's another try? I was sure he would be under Kendall's friends (another Cedar Hillian). I scrolled the pages frantically, feeling helpless at the sight of all the names and faces. Finally, an Adam. But it couldn't be him...I already looked. But it was! It was a picture of him in Mexico at a pharmacy. I browsed the rest of the pictures....yep! Nobody has that distinctive jaw, big lips, and big brown eyes like him. I read the rest of his profile and knew it was him...but he was different. His words were so educated and worldly. He had been to Europe, just as I suspected! I didn't even come close to hesitating to write him, even though his profile said that he had not been on myspace since January and it was July. I made it short and sweet...and then I waited. The next day I went to work at the modeling agency I worked at and daydreamed most of the day, checking my myspace with my friend Jessica every 20 minutes or so. I remember getting home after that long day, grabbing a Diet Coke from the fridge, and sitting at my dining room table to check myspace to see if he had written me. I couldn't believe my eyes, he wrote me. He gave me his number, and said that we most definitely had to meet up before he left. He wrote he was very happy to hear from me. But I had given him my number, I waited one day and then decided to call him. Our voices both sounded different, more mature. We had conflicting schedules but we decided to meet on a Wednesday night in Dallas. His family was having a good-bye night for his departure and it would be a great way to break the ice. Every night until then we talked between 2 and 6 hours with each other. Something both of us are not notorious for, we hate talking on the phone. I had a new model recruit presentation and I wouldn't get out of work until 8 or 8:30 p.m. I had to race home, shower, change clothes, do my hair, and drive to Adair's Bar ASAP! I got there around 10:15 p.m. and nervously parked the car. He was guiding me on the cell phone to where the place was and then we saw each other. We were both speechless and really nervous with big smiles on our faces. We hugged for a few minutes and I wanted to cry, but I had to meet his family. What a big tease. I get to see him again, meet his family, and then he's off to Washington. But by the time we were heading home with Todd in tow, we both knew. That night we went to Jeff and Brielle's house and all three of us fell asleep there. Adam and I talked that night about me possibly going to Washington with him. That morning I woke up and realized I was scheduled to shoot a "singles commercial" (oddly enough) in 3 hours. I had to get ready and head to Las Colinas in morning traffic. Adam was running late to work also, heading to Denton with Todd. We both quickly said goodbye because we knew we were going to be together again. That entire day I thought of how to quit my job and tell my family without them thinking I was a complete nut-case. After the initial shock, they knew what I was doing and trusted my judgment. One week and a day later, Adam and I left for Washington State. Both of our cars contained all of our possessions, mostly clothing and books.
Adam asked me to marry him on Valentines Day in Trout Lake Washington. He asked that we get married Valentines Day 2008, and we agreed the day after Valentines would be a day just for our wedding.
** On our last date in the Summer of 2001, before he left for UNT, Adam said he knew that I would be the perfect girl for him to marry one day. We both knew then that we needed to experience things alone first, it was hard for me. I just wanted to be with Adam. Maybe because I felt safe around him, or I knew I was in for a turbulent next few years. Whatever the case may be, we are together again...but this time in paradise and for good. **
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