Writer’s Note: Back in the summer of 2017, I had my own business, Stories Worth Telling, where – among other things – I wrote about love stories. The love story of the Wrays was one of my first to write, and that summer they found out they were expecting who is now their 18-month-old daughter, Rory Rose Wray, born on December 13, 2017. The Wrays are currently undergoing fertility treatments in an effort to further expand their family. They are a beautiful couple turned beautiful family, and I am honored to share their story with you, one that has stuck with me through the years.
“Every love story is beautiful, but ours is my favorite.”
It was January 1, 2014. Sara Jahansouz was having brunch with a girlfriend and talking about being single – being alone. She had done more than a few incredible things in her life, but not having someone to be there alongside her successes and support her was weighing on her heart.
“Let me teach you a prayer that worked for me,” her girlfriend said. “We’ll see if it works for you.”
So, as a result, every single night in 2014 Sara prayed the following prayer: “Dear God, if I am not supposed to be a wife, please take the desire away from me. But if I am, please help me find my husband.”
Flash forward to November 2014. Sara was on a work trip with some of her junior staff, and they were asking her about her dating life. She told them she had completely given up – she was over it and not looking. They asked if she had a dating app on her phone. She did, she said; eHarmony – but she hadn’t used it in months. The junior staff commandeered her phone and found a guy that was an attorney, handsome – but 42. She was 31. She thought “Well, if that’s the only dealbreaker, it’s not that much of a dealbreaker.”
So she messaged him. And he messaged back. His name was Michael Wray.
It was around the holidays, so they talked about family traditions, Sara being new to Houston, and what spots Mike recommended to check out that he thought she would like. They set up their first date – December 31, 2014.
Remember that prayer Sara had prayed diligently, every single night of 2014? Well, she and Mike’s first date was at 8:30 p.m. on the last night of the year. She came sliding into home plate with three and a half hours to spare. She thought, if this date doesn’t amount to anything, I’m giving up.
Thankfully, she didn’t have to.
***
This wasn’t Sara’s first online date, and her rule of thumb was always to not allow the guy to pick her up at her house. For some reason, with Mike, that rule went out the window. She figured it was New Year’s Eve and they shouldn’t be driving two cars; she just felt in her heart like everything would be okay.
Mike showed up in a Hugo Boss suit, and as they turned the corner to get to the car, Sara saw that he was driving a brand new Maserati. In her head, the word “douchebag” popped up immediately; she thought, well, I’ll never see him again. No second date for us. It was so much over the top, she thought; he probably does this every weekend with a new woman. (Interestingly enough, it’s Sara who now enjoys the Maserati more than Mike does.) In terms of first impressions and the ooey gooey stories of “I knew it was him the minute we locked eyes” – yeah, not so for the Wrays. Instead, the line of thinking was more “Who is this douchebag in a Maserati? I hope I don’t get killed.”
Mike took Sara to a very high end Italian restaurant, filled with European men trying to get people to dance in the bar area. It was a great night, a great dinner; the two had a blast, and discovered they had much in common. It was easy; nothing hard about it. Conversation flowed – in fact, Sara said, it was one of the easiest conversations of her life. They came back to Sara’s place and popped open a bottle of Moet & Chandon and rang in 2015 with a kiss – their first kiss.
Amazing what all can change in one year.
***
From January 1 on, it was full speed ahead. Mike and Sara became inseparable. There was never a time when he came to her home where she wished she was by herself, nor was there ever a time when she was at his place wishing she had her own personal space. Almost immediately, they became one another’s best friend.
By January 23, only a little over three weeks after meeting, Sara knew Mike was the one.
Professionally, Sara was Dean of Students at the University of Houston-Downtown. The state of Texas has an annual Dean retreat in Kemah, Texas – a little boardwalk town that is desolate and really has nothing there. Sara had told Mike she had to go on an overnight trip, and asked if he’d like to join her. He said sure, he would work from the hotel room, no big deal. The room the pair ended up in was a handicapped room for a little person – you cannot make this up. The shower head hit their abdomens. When they hung clothes on the rack, the clothes touched the floor.
Oh my God, I’ve brought this man to a complete shithole, she thought. But he didn’t leave! And he still wants to hang out!
That’s when she knew – Mike was a good man.
By February, Mike had taken Sara to Edward Jones and had shown her his portfolio. Mike has one sibling, Danielle, who has a smart, brilliant teenage son named Michael. As they were going through Mike’s finances, he said that he had set up a college fund for Michael. Mike had hit a point in life where he wasn’t sure that children were a realistic possibility for him; why not help out his nephew? The fund was a generous amount that took her breath away.
Sara knew in that moment she was dating a man, not a boy. She almost started crying right there in Edward Jones. It was a seminal moment; finally, she was dating a man who had his shit together. She was used to dating men in her own age bracket who were trying to get their employment off the ground, were paying back student loans, and any fun they wanted to have had to be done on a budget. The lightbulb went off – finally, a man. Finally.
For Valentine’s Day, Mike reserved a suite at a boutique hotel called Hotel ZaZa. The two enjoyed a spa day, a beautiful meal, and great wine. This is the day that it became apparent they were meant for each other.
Mike had asked Sara what she wanted for Valentine’s Day; she is a sucker for David Yurman. Mike looked Sara dead in the eye and said “We can’t afford that.” She brushed it off; okay, whatever, it’s fine. After their spa day at Hotel ZaZa ended and it was time for bed, Sara thought the experience of the day was the Valentine’s Day gift. Out of nowhere, Mike pulls out of his bag a gorgeous David Yurman diamond necklace.
“I just wanted you to have something so that you always know I love you,” he said.
She told him she loved him, too; their first “I love you.”
They never turned back.
***
The spring of 2015 was a whirlwind. Mike wanted Sara to move in; she said she would if there was a ring on her finger. In Mike’s bedroom, there was a drawer where he kept his Social Security card and passport; she opened the drawer and found a ring box. She opened it – and it took her breath away. It was everything she could have ever wanted. She even wore it for an hour, took photos, and sent the photos to her friends; then put it back and said nothing of it. When Mike proposed later in 2015, she acted like she’d never seen the ring before.
Mike’s Catholic faith is extremely important to him, and, as such, it became important to Sara. That spring, she began CIA (Catholics in Action) classes to begin the process of being confirmed in the Catholic faith. When Mike and Sara traveled to Florida to visit Mike’s parents for Mother’s Day that May, she shared with them that she was going through CIA to become Catholic. His parents kissed her and said “We have a new daughter!” They recognized that Sara’s willingness to join the faith that was so important to Mike and Mike’s family meant more than they could express; it was emotional.
Sara’s birthday is June 20. Just before her birthday, she had moved in with Mike; for her birthday, they went back to Hotel ZaZa, where they had said their first “I love you,” and Mike was nervous. Sara couldn’t figure out why. When a bottle of champagne wasn’t in their hotel room, he called and got super bitchy about it; he sat on the bed, sweating. Sara didn’t get it until he dropped to one knee.
“I love you more than anything,” he said. “I will provide for you for the rest of my life. I want to build a family with you. Will you marry me?”
Sara started bawling.
“Of course,” she said.
For so long – for years – she had tried to make relationships work for all the wrong reasons. She looks back now and is thankful to have learned so much from that. Finally, finally, love had arrived. The endless prayers, longings, wishing – it had all come true. She knew that she was going to spend her life with her absolute best friend; there was no one else on the planet she’d rather spend her time with. Her entire engagement felt amazing; throughout the whole process, she couldn’t sleep, she was so excited. Excited to spend the rest of her life with this man – the knowledge that, forever, she was his and he was hers, and the peace and comfort that comes with that.
***
One wedding just wouldn’t do for the Wrays – with a love like this, two weddings were planned. The first, on April 2, 2016, was in Jamaica. Forty friends joined Mike and Sara and it was a party in the first degree. Mike was so involved in the planning; the master of logistics, as Sara called him. She said he managed 70 percent of the wedding planning – a dream come true.
In Jamaica, the crew went cliff diving, swimming, laid out, got tan, drank the best cocktails and Red Stripe on the island, ate amazing meals – really, the food was extraordinary – and just threw the party of all parties. Sara’s friend Jason Bergeron officiated the Jamaican wedding; it was beautiful, with the ladies adorned in teal Lilly Pulitzer dresses and the gentleman dressed in teal pants with white linen shirts and blue Toms. (Yes, Mike caught a little hell from his groomsmen about the blue pants, but hey, they wore them.) Part of the Jamaican experience was visiting the Pelican Bar – they drove about an hour and a half, got on a dinghy boat for 20 minutes, and finally arrived at the bar in the middle of the ocean. At the Pelican Bar, they throw a net out, and whatever they catch they serve for food. The newly minted Wrays carved their names and the date of their wedding into the wood on the dining area. It was cemented.
One of the best takeaways from the Jamaican wedding was that Mike’s friends and Sara’s friends have become each other’s friends – Sara expressed how great it was to have a community of people they love that now all know each other.
The next Saturday, April 9, the Wrays were married again in a traditional Catholic ceremony in Houston. The Catholic faith has become a huge part of the couple’s life together, culminating in Sara’s first communion and confirmation into the Church on April 15, 2017, after two years of CIA. Her baptism was during Easter Vigil. Even when she was on the road, traveling for work, Mike would get handouts for Sara that she missed at that week’s class. It was always so important to Mike and Sara that when they built a family that they were solid with the kind of upbringing their children would have. Sara did not have that stability of religion within her own upbringing, and, as such, it is even more important to her that she and Mike’s children do. It, she said, is a huge piece of their journey together.
The stateside wedding was at St. Teresa’s, their parish in Houston. Their reception was at the Colombe d’Or in the Museum District, where the bridal party also stayed, making it easy to run up and down to the rooms if needed. Sara wore the same dress for both weddings – a stunning number. Children, elderly, colleagues, and friends were there – and the staff at the Colombe d’Or made sure their glasses were filled at all times.
It was a dream come true, Sara said. Just beautiful.
They honeymooned in Italy for 12 days – the focus was to get their marriage blessed by the Pope, which they did. They traveled the Amalfi Coast; Capri was their favorite – they ate the best food in the most beautiful place anywhere. On an island off of Capri, a cobbler made Sara a pair of sandals for her honeymoon gift; he had a sign he pointed to – he had made sandals for Jackie Kennedy Onassis as well.
Sara had a moment, as she had so many times before recently, where her life felt like a dream; Oh my God, how did this happen?
***
The Wrays' first year of marriage was a rough one. Mike – a prominent trial attorney – went through the merger of his firm with an international firm, and as such had been working more than ever. During their first year of marriage they adopted a dog, and the dog had been treated for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Mike ended up in the hospital for 12 days; Sara truly thought he was dying. Oncologists initially thought he had lymphoma; thankfully, they were wrong. Mike had contracted Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever from the dog – needless to say, the Wrays no longer have a dog. The vows of “in sickness and in health” were undoubtedly tested.
Mike – normally so high energy – was really out of it for about a month. There is much of the experience he doesn’t remember. His fever spiked to 104.1; he couldn’t even remember some people that visited him in the hospital. It was scary, Sara said; on top of it, after not preventing pregnancy, they still were not getting pregnant. Concern mounted. With Mike about to be 45, time became of the essence – the couple wanted to be youthful for their children. They started working with Houston IVF, and all diagnostic testing showed nothing wrong with either Mike or Sara. Soon they decided to hell with it, let’s do this right – so on April 14, 2017, Sara started a cocktail of injections, doing three injections daily as well as taking two pills. On April 29, she had surgery for egg retrieval; one egg was not viable for freezing because of a genetic issue so it had to be destroyed. It was devastating. The couple thought their third embryo – that egg – was their backup plan and had just laid down an exorbitant amount of money only to be told it was essentially for nothing. The journey was emotional.
The next Thursday the blastocysts were implanted; then it was time for Sara to do a blood test to see if she was pregnant.
And she was.
After one IVF attempt, the Wrays were expecting a gift from God. It was such a blessing, the beginning of the next beautiful chapter of their love story.
Mike and Sara were leaving brunch when the doctor called to deliver the incredible news – they were pregnant! Mike jumped up and down – completely over the moon. For Mike especially, and a little bit Sara too, before they met they had hit a point where they both thought Maybe marriage isn’t supposed to happen for me. Maybe having a kid wasn’t in the cards. But with a lot of faith and a little eHarmony, their dreams came true; the pregnancy confirmation was the apex of a very, very long climb to the summit of the mountain, one that was worth every step.
***
Family and friends have never seen Mike so happy. He tells them that he loves them more than he ever has. Sara, too. She said her wildest dreams have come true; she’s never had someone put her and her feelings first; never had someone tell her so many times a day how much she is loved; never had a man do anything to make her happy. Every day since December 31, 2014, Sara has had fresh flowers – and that includes when she goes on work trips. She’ll walk into the hotel and fresh flowers have been delivered. They weren’t ordered by his secretary, or his paralegal, but by him. He is kind, he is giving, he is thoughtful – it makes him happy to make others happy. That’s who he is.
Mike has always been very proud of Sara’s career and accomplishments – he recognizes that she had a life, and a full one at that, before him. He insisted on their save the dates, wedding invitations, and announcements during their ceremonies that they be referred to as Mr. and Dr. Wray. Not many men have the kind of confidence that Mike has, confidence that allows him to be so proud of the accomplishments his wife has had, so selfless, and so celebratory of the accomplishments that they both bring to the table on a regular basis.
The Wrays got lucky in love; destined, respect, and unconditional love is how Sara describes them. Their life together is filled with lots of laughter, lots of really expensive food, a morning cup of coffee combined with the deep conversation and comfortable silence of true love, and prayer – three times daily. Mike has always made it very clear that, even as they entered the next chapter of parenthood together, that Sara come before the kids; she is the number one love of his life and that they would not have kids if not for her.
Sara said Mike is incredible as a dad; he’ll do the late night shit that she doesn’t want to do and not complain. Sara herself didn’t have many positive role models that were men; Mike has debunked all of that for her. It blows her away, she said. It’s night and day.
Oh, and the Maserati? That’s probably going to get traded in for a minivan or an SUV.
Times they are a changin’.
***
Mike and Sara’s marriage is the first for both. The only for both. They waited so long to find each other; but, blessedly, a delay was not a denial. Five years ago, the Wrays did not know one another; now they are a family.
The prayer Sara prayed throughout 2014 was answered with three and a half hours to spare. God is always on time; He is never late. When the Wrays met, they were two fully developed, actualized people, ready and prepared to meet their destiny – each other.
It is a love story that literally grows every day, as their love will hopefully soon allow them to become parents for the second time.
Sometimes, in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives you a fairytale. It certainly did for the Wrays.