Our Story
How We Met..
Ashley and I always knew who each other were throughout high school but we never really interacted until Senior year. I was a part of the "dumb jocks" crowd who cared more about the Cincinnati Bengals' chances of making next year's playoffs (always slim to none) then anything else. Ashley was the smart dancer who was involved in every extracurricular activity that she could squeeze into her schedule. The events that brought us together can only be described as fate.
At the end of our junior year at Woodside High School, Ashley ran for and won the position of Student Council Association President for the following school year. When school started up back in September, Ms. Mercy Lewis, the teacher who was in charge of S.C.A. (and Ashley's aunt) came up to me and asked if I was interested in becoming the S.C.A. Treasurer becasue no one had run for that position. The fact that I was failing Algebra at the time and needed to take off my socks and shoes so I could use my toes to count to ten seemingly didn't dissuade her from trusting me with the group's fianances. Through various S.C.A. meetings and events, Ashley and I got know each other very well.
One of the events that we organized was called "Operation Turkey Drop" and it occurred in early November 2003. In "Operation Turkey Drop", the S.C.A. asked for and collected hundreds of frozen turkeys to help feed the homeless Thanksgiving dinner. We then personally delievered all of the collected turkeys to a church located on Ft. Eustis (an army base near our school). Ashley and I, along with two other volunteers, Angie and Zaid, rode back to school with Mercy. Along the way, Ashley and Angie discussed going to see "The Cat in the Hat". This is when I, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation, decided to include me and Zaid in their plans.
So the next night, the four of us went to the movies and Ashley and I had a good time hanging out together outside of school. This led to a lot of flirting in the hallways and late night phone calls. Eventually Ashley got curious about where this was all going and what my true intentions were so she went to the best source of information that was available to her, my best friend (and best man) Damien. So then Damien comes to me, tells me all about his conversation with Ashley, and encourages me to ask her out and tell her how I felt. Though nervous, I agreed. So soon after, I invited Ashley to go watch the Woodside girls' and boys' basketball teams play at school.
So there we were, sitting up in the stands, awkard and uncomfortable. We both knew what I wanted to say but yet I was still having difficulty finding the right words. But at halftime of the girls game, I finally worked up the courage to tell her that I liked her.
The rest, as they say, is history...
How Shawn Proposed..
My proposal to Ashley wasn't very romantic. I didn't do anything sappy like place Hershey kisses all over her floor and fill her bathtub with flowers and then said "now that I've kissed the ground you walk on and showered you with roses, will you marry me?" when she asked me what the heck was going on. And I didn't do anything creative like send her a wild goose chase all over the place, with each new location providing a new clue until she eventually found me kneeling with a open ring box in my hand. No, my proposal was very boring in camparison to those two.
The weekend before Valentine's Day 2006, Ashley and I drove up to stay with some friends at Virginia Commmonwealth University in Richmond. I had previously bought a white gold solitaire diamond ring with the idea of eventually proposing to Ashley when the time was right. Well for some unknown reason, I decided to bring it with me on our trip. I guess I thought that we might get a free moment alone somewhere romantic where I could do it. For future reference to anyone who cares.. downtown Richmond is not the most romantic place to visit so I wouldn't recommend anyone following my lead. Needless to say, my plan was shot pretty quickly. However I still had the ring and was fearful that Ashley would find it so I kept it in my coat pocket the whole weekend and wouldn't even let Ashley get near it because I was afraid she would see the outline of the box.
On our drive home on Sunday, I was quiet because I was trying to formulate a new plan. From prior experiences, I knew that it was usually very obvious when I was deep in thought about something so I tried to act normal but I don't know how well I did. I decided that after we got back home and settled, I would ask Ashley if she wanted to go for a drive. Then I would take her down to the Yorktown beach, where they have benches along the water underneath the Coleman bridge. On a Sunday evening, I thought that the area would be quiet and seculed. And I decided that after we sat there for a few minutes, I would take out the box, drop to one knee, and propose. The plan sounded romantic to me and I thought that nothing could mess it up. Mother nature proved that she could though because it wasn't long before the rain came pouring down.
Frustrated, I went to Ashley's house. I should have just thought "this just wasn't the time to do it, I'll wait until another day" but I couldn't. I'm a stubborn guy and when I get focused on doing something, I have to do it right then. That ring box was burning a hole in my pocket. So as I got up to leave that night and Ashley walked me to the door, I looked her in the eyes, told her how much I loved her, and proceeded to tell the whole story. When I finshed, I took the box out of my pocket, dropped down to one knee in the foyer of her house, and asked her to be my wife. Of course she said yes (otherwise me typing this all out would be pointless).
So that's our story of how Ashley Wade and I went from boyfriend and girlfriend to the future Mr. and Mrs. Shawn Coleman. Like I said in the beginning, it's not the most romantic story but that doesn't really matter to me. What mattered then and matters now is that when I asked her to marry me, she said yes.
In my defense though, I did try to make it up. The next time that we were out at Yorktown Beach, I proposed again to Ashley the way I was originally planning on doing. But because I had already done it once, I know that it doesn't really count. I do find it ironic though that the place where I had planned on proposing to her (at Yorktown Beach) is only a few yards from the location of our wedding reception at the Freight Shed.
