Where It all Began

Even though our anniversary is still a couple of months aways, I thought I'd share this entertaining story that Tyler wrote a few years ago about how we met. I laugh every time I read this and what's even better is our proposal story....that will be making an appearance on the blog around August. So sit back, get comfortable (it's a long story) and enjoy. This is where is all began......

Our Story....in the words of Tyler Henson

The story of how Tyler and Brooke came to be “The Hensons” is a tale as old as time. One boy, one girl, one night, and Facebook. But what is truly extraordinary is how they got there, without ever meeting before…

Tyler and Brooke had their first official date on January 8th, 2006, having met a week earlier, but we’ll get there. More than five years earlier, both were undergraduates at Middle Tennessee State University. Brooke studied Elementary Education for a while, and then changed over to Nutrition and Food Science. Tyler majored in both Psychology and working multiple jobs, neither of which panned out in the long run. Their majors kept them in separate buildings, but for over three years they wandered MTSU’s campus, unaware of the other’s presence. Tyler graduated in the spring of 2004, Brooke in December, never meeting. Or did they?

In the fall of 2003, Tyler and Brooke both attended an event with Alpha Omega college ministry, a luau. Years after the event, Brooke saw a picture Tyler had on his computer with a familiar background. They realized they were both there that night. Both were helping clean up after the event, and both remember sitting around a group of people playing an annoying game (Big Booty, for those who know what it is) that they did not participate in. Could they have been sitting next to each other? Made eye contact? Exchanged smiles? Probably not, Brooke was with her date (cough cough loser cough)… but still, so close!

Brooke went back to Lexington, TN, after graduation. In the fall of 2005, Brooke began her internship with NHC, a highly competitive program that only takes 6 interns a year. The job took Brooke back to the Middle Tennessee area, and she moved to Nashville with another intern, Megan. It was her roommate that convinced Brooke to get on this thing called “Facebook,” a new social networking site that at the time only people with college email accounts could use. One of her Facebook friends was a guy named Chad, the boyfriend of a girl Brooke had met when she changed her major to Nutrition and Food Science. But we’ll get to that.

While Brooke was working 100 hours a week at her internship, Tyler was working for Ferguson Enterprises following graduation. He had a Psychology degree, but spent his days installing closet shelving on the promise of moving up in the company. As it became apparent that would never happen, and that he hated his job, Tyler quit and reenrolled at MTSU in the Education program in the spring of 2005. It was just a few months after he graduated for the first time, but now he was intent on becoming a high school teacher. Since he was back in school, Tyler went back to work for Customs, the MTSU new student orientation program, a job he held in 2003. His coworkers got him to sign up for this thing called “Facebook,” a new social networking site that at the time only people with college email accounts could use. In the fall of 2005, Tyler befriended a guy named Chad on Facebook, who he had an Education class with. But we’ll get to that.

So by Christmas 2005 Tyler was back in school part-time, working at Chili’s and for Customs, living in an apartment near campus. Brooke was living in Nashville, but back home in Lexington for the holidays, both single, but both not really looking for anything. Brooke was far too busy with her internship to think of anything else; Tyler was far too confused about what to do with his life, as he began to think about working in Higher Education Administration instead of teaching high school. On New Year’s Eve, 2005, Brooke was in Lexington on Facebook, while Tyler was hosting a New Year’s Eve party in Murfreesboro… 150 miles apart, after being 5 feet apart at times a couple of years before. Then Brooke saw this picture on her friend Chad’s Facebook page under his list of friends:


This led Brooke to look at Tyler’s profile on Facebook, which was incredibly funny, smart, and entertaining (Editor’s note: Tyler’s opinion). So Brooke added Tyler as a friend. She had never added someone who she didn’t know, but something, some force, led her to deviate from the norm… Love? Destiny? Fate? God? Sleepiness? Boredom? Desperation? Probably.

Meanwhile, back in the Boro, Tyler checked his Facebook before his party started. He noiced that someone requested to add him as a friend. He was taken aback by the beauty of the woman who had sent the request. “Brooke Yeiser? Do I know a Brooke Yeiser? Did I meet her and forget her? How would I forget someone that hot? She is friends with Chad, did I meet her in class, too? What do I do? Man, I’m hungry.” Tyler’s thoughts raced through his head, the latter having nothing to do with Brooke. After careful consideration, he typed the following note to her as he accepted her request to add him as a friend:


December 31, 2005 at 9:09pm

Hey, I see sent me a friend request, and I hope I'm not just really really dumb and forgot who you are, but do I know you? Not that I'm like complaining if I don't... alright, I'm done talking now... I hope you are having a great New Year's Eve!


For some reason, after forgetting the word “you” in the first sentence and sounding like a moron, Brooke responded to Tyler (Editor’s note: Tyler’s opinion, but pretty much what everyone thinks). What followed was a conversation via Facebook that lasted for 5 days, including one really long conversation over AOL instant messenger (back when it was cool). It was during this fateful AOL moment that Tyler asked Brooke to go to dinner, not knowing she was swamped with work at her internship. She responded, quickly, “No.”

Tyler panicked. He took it too far, she was just being nice, she doesn’t want to go out with some dude she never met! As his heart went into overdrive, Brooke saved him by clarifying she was just too busy, but maybe on the weekend. Tyler figured it was a mercy thing, she was just helping him save some dignity, but lo and behold, she sent him a message later with her PHONE NUMBER and an offer to go out on Sunday. Tyler’s heart when off to the races again, this time out of panic. He was horrible at first dates, having several failed attempts in 2005. But this was 2006, a new year, a fresh start… and a really, really, pretty girl. They settled on Olive Garden. On Saturday, Tyler heard her voice for the first time when he called for directions. On Sunday, he met his future wife.

Now things didn’t exactly start out with a bang when Tyler showed up at her apartment. Brooke had only known Tyler through some messages and his Facebook profile, she didn’t understand his, uh, fashion sense? So with snow on the ground, eight days into January, Tyler picked Brooke up wearing flip-flops. Brooke later admitted this was almost a second date deal-breaker… who in their right mind wears flips-flops in the winter, with SNOW ON THE GROUND??? But Tyler’s charm was apparently overwhelming (cough cough yeah right cough), as they sat at Olive Garden for two hours talking, despite the repeated attempts by the waitress AND management to get them to leave. Their conversation went on as they drove around town and sat in his truck in her parking lot. When Brooke finally left the truck that night, Tyler called his best friend Jesse and said, “Dude, I think I met the girl I want to marry.” Ironically, Jesse had just done the same.
The next few weeks flew by, as Tyler and Brooke went out every weekend, then twice a weekend, then every weekend night, then during the week as well… it was getting rather serious, rather fast. But there was no doubt, no trouble, no friends pulling them aside asking, “Seriously, this person?” Over Easter break, just a short 3 months after meeting, Tyler asked Brooke’s dad for her hand in marriage. He bought a ring. He knew she was the One. And then one day in May, he proposed. But that, my friends, is a whole other story….

So here it is, at the time this was written five years later. Five years ago Tyler and Brooke’s lives were changed forever by a single night and a seemingly minor decision to find a new friend. But that isn’t the whole story, not by a long shot. Who knows what minor decisions you make today will lead to the best things in your life? Keep that in mind as you order lunch, bump into someone on campus, or decide to wear flip-flops on a 30-degree day in January… you never know what will happen!


Coming Soon....The Proposal Story!