Our first real date at our friend Ross & Anne Marie’s wedding – 2009

 

Since our 6th wedding anniversary is coming up this weekend (yea, 6 – isn’t that insane?!) I thought it would be the perfect time to reminisce about how we met and share some hilariously embarrassing pictures. Funny enough, one of the questions I’m asked most on Instagram and during my reader survey was how Trevor and I met. It never crossed my mind that it would be all that interesting to share but here we go! Disclaimer: I’m quite certain Trevor has his own version of this story which can be shortened to “Shaheen stalked me till I gave in” but I’ll let you in on the real version 😉 

As long ago as it was, I remember the first night I ever talked to Trevor like it was yesterday. I was a sophomore in Dental School and was going to a party with my new best friend in school, Jessica and her roommate Kristal who had just started Medical School. When we walked into the party in Old Louisville, Trevor was sitting with a few guys I knew from college. I ended up chatting with him for a little while that night and later when we walked to the bar, we happened to be in the back and talked the whole way. 

I had a boyfriend at the time and didn’t think much past that. Trevor would soon become one of my friend Kristal’s best friends so I would see him often over the next few years. We always chatted, got along great and his sarcastic sense of humor and wit reminded me so much of my brother. 

 

Oh the early days…

 

It wasn’t till my senior year of dental school that things turned from friends to possibly something more. I was single, accepted into residency here in Chicago and had no plans of dating anyone long term. For reference, I am a serial monogamist! Since high school, I have had probably 4 boyfriends all for several years at a time. As much as I didn’t see these relationships going anywhere, I would never get out. I had honestly never just ‘dated’ people.

I still to this day have never been on a date with someone I wasn’t already friends with who eventually became a boyfriend. So, during these last few months of dental school I was mentally determined to go on dates, enjoy my last months in Louisville and get ready for my big move to Chicago. 

 

At a bar in The Highlands – what else is new?

 

Somewhere in between there I ran into Trevor at a bar. (Does it sound like I went to bars a lot? I think that’s just what we did after big tests or events in grad school…) It was after my dental school dance and things felt a little different between us that night. He texted me the next day and I still wasn’t sure what I felt but wanted to find out more. He hooked my interest when he zeroed in on the magical way to my heart, HBO. I had mentioned I loved True Blood and Game of Thrones that night at the bar and that how it was torture that I didn’t have the channel. He later invited me over to his place to watch them on Sunday nights with all their friends. Gentlemen, take notes 😉 

 

We decided to take our love for True Blood into Halloween 😉 I was dressed as Sookie you just can’t see my full amazing costume…

 

I started going over there every Sunday and Trevor and I’s friendship really grew. I mean that when I say friendship. I think it’s so important that we were friends first. He really is my best friend and I think it’s the reason we work so well together. We started seeing each other more regularly and then I got sick…

I had actually been trying to pop Tylenol and Dayquil while recuperating at Trevor’s house when I first got sick and thought I had a cold. When I finally got admitted to the hospital and realized I was going to be intubated, I called my friend Ashley and asked her to tell Trevor right away. Even though we had only been dating for two months, I felt so strongly about him and wanted him to know. 

When I woke up from my medically induced coma, I don’t remember much but I do remember my brother leaning over and asking me if I was dating someone new. I asked why and he said a ‘very white guy (I think the word he used was clear) had been to my hospital room a billion times’ Trevor was a medical student at the time so I think he just put on his white coat and would walk in and check on me whenever he wanted, but my brother wasn’t falling for it. 

 

I told him yes and that I thought I was going to marry him. 

 

My brother obviously thought I was high on drugs but listen sometimes when you know, you know. 

Those weeks of recovery in the hospital and at home really showed me who Trevor was. He would come and lay in my hospital bed with me and watch Arrested Development (he bought me the DVD set while I was sick), hold my hand through procedures and take me out when I was lugging around an oxygen tank and had no desire to leave my house.

 

The first time I went out post hospital without my oxygen tank!

 

Not only did my love for Trevor grow, but my families did too. Much like many Indian families, I didn’t share a lot of my personal love life with my parents. They had never been told about a boyfriend before and didn’t usually want to know. This was different. They loved Trevor for loving me and during such a scary and trying time in our family, he really showed a lot of compassion. 

After a long and arduous recovery, Trevor and I tried to get back to normal life. Of course our ‘normal’ was nothing like it used to be. I was moving, had nearly died and we were forced to talk about things most people probably avoid and certainly don’t address months after dating. I for one, had never felt more confident in what I wanted in my future. We had open and honest discussions about where we saw ourselves down the line and how much we truly wanted to be with each other. 

 

At Trevor’s Medical School dance, I was smitten 🙂 

 

The first and only time I’ve ever caught a bouquet. We got engaged later that year!

 

Our first Cubs game! Trevor had come up to visit that weekend. We dated long distance for a year while he finished his final year of Medical School and I completed my Dental Residency at Loyola here in Chicago. 

 

11 months after we started dating, we were engaged. A year and a half after that, we were married. 5 years after that, we had Zain. 

 

The rest is history.