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Maria tells the story a little differently. She won the best-dressed contest that night in November 2001. She says Josh denies following her around, but he appears in the background of all of her photos. “Don’t tell him that,” Josh says from across the room. A friend of Maria’s knew Josh, so the pair offered him a ride at the end of the evening. “He said, ‘No,’” Maria says. “But then he walked to the car. He said we were supposed to ask twice.” The two met again in the winter at a basketball game, and Josh says they were together 24/7 after that point. By the next summer, the couple wanted to marry. Josh says he did not even tell some of his close friends so they would not try to discourage him. But they could not keep their plans from their families or the football coaches. “They have all been there,” Josh says. “They know the challenges and wanted to make sure I was doing things for the right reasons.” Maria says some friends and family were shocked, and others were happy when she told them about the couple’s engagement. But she says the best encouragement came from couples they did not even know. |
Josh and Maria met one couple at Red Lobster who were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. The couple had married when they were 19 years old. “They gave us a more positive outlook on getting married,” Maria says. “We will experience a lot of things together, and we are growing older with each other.” Josh says marrying Maria actually made it easier for him to be a student athlete. “I could put down chasing girls,” Josh says. “I had no distractions, and I didn’t have all of the drama with relationships. The quarterback always falls into a lot of stereotypes where he’s got a lot of women or goes to a lot of parties. Now, I just had one girl to please.” Josh says the marriage has had its rough spots, but he and Maria see them as more challenges to help them grow. “It’s made me more of a person,” Josh says. “Every marriage has problems, but the greater the problems, the stronger it makes us. It gives me confidence in myself that I can step to the plate and stick with it.” “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Maria says. “We have a lot of chemistry. We haven’t been damaged in our lives, so I think it’s a fresh love. I am kind of the backbone to him, and I push him.” |
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