WIN A WEDDING FROM 101.9 KISS FM
101.9 KISS FM ARE HELPING TO PAY FOR KEITH AND JESSICA\'S BIG DAY
WEDDING RINGS; A WEDDING RING; TUXEDO RENTAL;
A WEDDING CAKE; 101.9 KISS FM\'S DJ SUPREME WILL DJ YOUR RECEPTION; HONEY MOON;
AND GIFTS FOR YOUR BRIDESMAIDS AND GROOMSMEN
CONGRADULATIONS KEITH AND JESSICA
To the KISS 101.9 family,
My name is Keith Garner, and I’m from Kinston, N.C. I recently got engaged to my fiancé Jessica Grimes on Christmas Eve 2009 after 10 years of ups, downs, curves, and hills. We have a 3 -year-old son together named Jordan. We both live in Greenville and plan to cross over into married life in November 2010. We are extremely happy now, but we definitely have a story to tell. Let me give you a brief story about our relationship.
Bojangles’
We met in November of 1999 at Bojangles’ on Hwy 70 in Kinston. I had been working there for about 2 years as a biscuit maker, and it was her first day on the job. All of the guys that worked there immediately flocked around her because she was extremely attractive. I continued to do my job and acted as if she wasn’t even there. During the course of the night, I began to get the sense that she was interested in me because of the looks she was giving. I started to flirt back with her, but it was very minimal. At the end of the night as we were leaving out of the restaurant, I took her by the hand and wrote my name and telephone number in her palm. With a smile I said, “call me,” and those were the only two words I said to her the entire night. She smiled back, and from the look on her face, I knew that our relationship was getting ready to sky rocket. That night around 11:30pm she called me and we secretly stayed on the phone all night until 4:30am, knowing that we both had to go to school the next morning. However, I knew there was something about her that intrigued me, and we talked every night for the next few months.
High School Sweethearts
Jessica and I went to different high schools when we started dating. I was a senior at South Lenoir, and she was a junior at North Lenoir. We were both heavily involved in school activities. She was a cheerleader, and I was playing football and basketball. We really didn’t get to spend a lot of time together because we were either at school or at a game. We actually looked forward to going to work because we would get the chance to spend some time together. The small amount of time we spent seemed to be enough for the both of us at that time, until I graduated from high school and had to start making preparations for the future. I was accepted into Fayetteville State University, and that’s when the road began to get rocky. I thought that since we were use to having a long-distant relationship we could work through it, but the next couple of years changed both of us.
College Life
I went to Fayetteville State University and my freshman year was definitely an experience. I ran into a lot of temptation but through it all I continued to stay focused on my relationship with her. At that time, she was going through the stages of preparing for college and she wanted to attend East Carolina University. I actually wanted her to come to FSU, but ECU was her dream school, so I encouraged her to go ahead do her own thing. She got accepted to ECU and started the fall semester of 2001. As the school year started, we were confident about our relationship, until I began to get jealous and unsecure. I didn’t want her to meet new people because I was afraid that she would drop me for a person that she could see and spend time with everyday. We had a couple of arguments as a result of my insecurities, but we continued to push forward. During her sophomore year, she began to inquire about pledging. She told me that she was interested in Zeta Phi Beta and had met with a few members about joining the sorority. In 2002, she pledged and another can of worms opened against us. She was exposed to other Greeks, and at the time, I knew she was identifiable as being a Zeta. We were at least two hours away from each other and this was really bothering me because I didn’t want to lose her. We continued to have arguments and disagreements during the next year and a half but we were determined not to let go of each other. During the last semester of my senior year, I pledged Phi Beta Sigma Inc. after completing all of my required courses to graduate. Fourteen days later in June of 2004, I graduated with a B.S. in Criminal Justice and moved back to Kinston to find a job. I stayed home for about a month and moved to Raleigh with a relative to increase my chances of finding a job. During that time, Jessica had met new friends and our relationship was putting an emotional strain on the both of us so we let go for a while.
Letting Go
While I was in Raleigh, I was focused on finding a job, and when I found one, I met new people and sort of began doing my own thing. Jessica was doing hers as well, so we both put our relationship on the backburner. We still loved each other, but we had to let go in order to grow. During the summer of 2005, Jessica came to Raleigh to stay with me until school started back in August. Slowly we began to rekindle what was lost and try to work things out. The time that she was there was wonderful, and we were on a positive track when she went back to school in August. It was then that old feelings of jealousy arose and I became too frustrated to continue fighting. I truly let go when she went back to school, and I moved on into another relationship. A few months later the bomb dropped…she was pregnant.
Rock Bottom
The next three years were our worst times. There were many issues that arose, and we could barely stand the sight of each other. Each of us had our part to play in the storms that we suffered, but one thing remained the same: our love. I knew this when Jessica called me in 2007 to tell me that her mother died. Jessica didn’t have a big family; in fact, her mother and her grandmother were her closest living relatives. Although I was in a relationship when her mother passed, I immediately dropped everything and supported her through that difficult time. That event changed both of us, and we began to remember what was important. We still weren’t together, but we tried to mend the broken pieces of our relationship in order to raise our son.
Soul Mates
In 2009 we officially got back together, and we have been closer than ever before. I know that Jessica is my soul mate, and she feels the same way about me. I decided to propose to her on Christmas Eve of 2009. Christmas Eve was actually her mother’s birthday, so I wanted to give a new meaning to that day. Christmas is always bittersweet for her, so I thought that it would be the perfect time to ask her to be my wife. I can’t put into words how surprised she was, but she said yes, and now we are ready to embark on a new journey. It took time for us to grow as individuals in order to recognize what we needed to be for each other. We aren’t perfect, but we both believe that if we keep our faith in God and in each other, we can have a successful and fulfilling marriage. We have two of the most important jobs in the community; she is a teacher, and I am a police officer. She will graduate in May with her master’s, and I am extremely proud of her. Jessica and I work hard to provide for our family, and we are very excited about our upcoming wedding. It is so important to Jessica to be able to have a beautiful wedding while her grandmother is still living, and I know her mom and dad are watching over us, so they will be our guardian angels through this difficult process of planning and finding the funds to make it happen. We would love the opportunity to win the prize from KISS 101.9. We have quite a story, and we would love nothing more than to be able to have our dream wedding with the family and friends who have supported us along the way.
