Kendall & Josh's Blog

In early January 2010, my (Josh's) mom dutifully reported (I mean, it's not like my mom wanted me to get married--oh, no, not my mom!) that her friend Madeline Waldrop insisted she knew the "perfect" girl for me: Kendall Butler. I checked her out on Facebook (the greatest dating aid ever!) and let's just say I was inclined to meet her--but I wanted to know: did Kendall know about this? My mom's answer "I don't think so." I said "mom, I'm not going to contact her out of the blue" and I pretty much forgot about it...until the next week when my mother again dutifully reported that The Pushy Old Lady (as Madeline has now dubbed herself) had again insisted that I should meet Kendall. I again asked "does she know about this?" and this time my mom, never afraid to "embellish," said "yes--I think so." Without a whole lot of confidence in that answer and with me desiring to not have my mom too involved in my dating life, I simply responded "maybe I'll contact her."

A few days later, I decided I had nothing to lose and so I sent Kendall this message on Facebook:

So I'm told that I simply MUST get in touch with you. However, I'm not clear that you've been told anything at all. Ah, mothers--what are you gonna do with 'em?

We have an interesting selection of mutual friends from ex-swimmers younger than me but older than you to people from NPCC and BC. I suppose that's to be expected.

Anyway, if you are so inclined as to talk sometime, I'd like that. And in that case, let me know where and when to reach you. If not, that's cool too--perhaps we'll meet at some point in any case.

Kendall responded positively to this (I came to find out later that she appreciated my forthrightness and willingness to come right out and ask her for phone number): she sent me back a message with her phone number. We connected on the phone the next night and had a great conversation in which we made plans to get together 4 nights after that. And then when I picked her up for our first date on January 24, 2010 (the date I'm indicating as the publishing date of this blog post, though this post is actually being written shortly after our engagement), sparks flew from the moment we met at her condo building door! :)

Now the funny thing is this: Madeline didn't realize we were both college swimmers (Kendall @ UCLA, me @ Harvard) and that we even swam at the same swim club (because I'm just over 9 years older than her and 10 years ahead in school, we didn't cross paths @ Dynamo Swim Club). I'm not sure she knew that our respective churches were campuses of the same church (Kendall @ Buckhead Church, me @ North Point Community Church)--but she did know we were each active in our respective church and she knows and loves our parents (my parents via the fact that both she and my mother are active in the Atlanta Delta Delta Delta Alumae Chapter and Kendall's parents going all the way back to their days at Lakeside High School) and that was enough for her! We thank God for the boldness of The Pushy Old Lady!