She thought they were going to eat dinner for their anniversary, but he had one extra stop to make first. He drove her to a courtyard area at their old high school. The same place they would sit during recess and talk every day.She wore a smile. He wore his heart on his sleeve.
“He pulled in, we parked and we got out,” Katie says. “Then we sat down on the bench, and he had a letter. And while I’m reading the letter, I’m thinking that when I get to the bottom it’s going to read ‘Will you marry me?’
“But when I got to the bottom-nothing.
“So I’m like, okay. It’s okay.
“Then I turned to give him a hug and he got down on one knee.”
Save the date. Feb. 20, 2009.
Katie Bertrand and Matthew Hymel, both freshmen from Thibodaux, have not stopped falling since they first started dating as freshmen at E.D. White Catholic High School. An engagement was inevitable.
But Katie, 19, and Matt, 20, are different from many other engaged couples in one distinct way-they are both full-time college students. And while many students plan to say, “I do” after college, this couple will be putting on wedding rings before putting on their caps and gowns.
“It was probably our senior year of high school when we realized,” Katie says. “Once we had to start planning our future and going to college and what we wanted to do, we kind of just knew we would be together.”
Meanwhile, Katie responds to a tug on her hand. She gives the little guy a boost onto her lap, where the two sit together for a second, until the seat becomes unsatisfying for him. He picks himself up, first balancing on all fours, and then slowly lifts his hands off the ground, now wobbling on two feet. He giggles and shrieks and begins to talk.
Meet Parker. Fourteen months young. He enjoys short walks around the living room, playing with his belly button and holding one-sided conversations with strangers.
Katie and Matt found out they were going to have a baby during their senior year of high school. Parker was born in the fall of 2007, after they graduated, and the couple was engaged one month later.
“Nobody forced us to get engaged once we got pregnant,” Katie says. “I don’t want to make it seem like that. We had to think about whether or not we wanted to live together under the same roof, and I couldn’t imagine not doing it. I couldn’t imagine not being a family.”
Matt works at Drill Tech Environmental Services, Inc., in Schriever, and his school schedule accommodates his work hours. He takes classes Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. until about 10:30 a.m. and attends school all day on one Tuesday or Thursday each week.
Katie’s full-time job is being a mother. The money she would have to spend on childcare in order to work would be equivalent to the salary she would earn being employed. So she stays home with Parker and tackles the fine art of multi-tasking.
Katie attends school full-time on Tuesdays and Thursdays while Parker is at preschool and takes an occasional class on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays while her mother baby-sits.
Katie pays for college with Taylor Opportunity Programs for Students, and Matt’s tuition is paid via a discount his mother acquires through her job at the University. For monetary assistance to care for Parker, the couple uses the income-based Women, Infants and Children Program, which provides babies and children up to the age of five with healthy foods, such as formula, milk, cheese and eggs.
“We’re very lucky,” Katie says. “My dad actually owns this house, so we don’t pay a lot of rent. We pay for the insurance to cover the house, but that’s really not that bad.”
In addition to insurance, tuition and other miscellaneous payments, the future Mr. and Mrs. Hymel have mastered time management. They work on schoolwork whenever they have free time at home, between classes and after Parker goes to sleep. When they are not focusing on academics, they make sure to squeeze some time in for each other at night and on the weekends.
Matt to Katie: “Say it. I know what you’re thinking.”
“We call it a ‘cozy,'” Katie says, laughing. “We make a mat on the floor, take all the blankets and pillows from the bedroom and bring it in here. And we usually eat supper and then watch a movie and lay down with Parker. And he’ll just walk around and play with his toys and bring them to us. And maybe he’ll sit down and watch the movie with us. That’s my perfect night.”
But when the night ends, reality can taste like a bitter cup of coffee in the morning. Professors, exams and assignments can only contribute added stress to a couple that is already juggling parenthood, work and marriage.
“It’s stressful to have to deal with making a home and going to school and Matt having to go to work and having a kid,” Katie says, while Parker climbs up her chest and hugs her face. “It’s a lot of things to have to deal with at one time. You have to have patience with one another to understand where the other person comes from.”
“It’s a lot harder than you think. You have to keep up with everything,” Matt says, watching Parker climb off his mother’s lap once again. “You have to be responsible.”
“A lot of people think it’s not okay to have a family and be in college, but I would say if you want it now, do it now. Don’t sacrifice one for the other,” Katie adds. “It’s a little harder, but you can have them both at the same time. I know a lot of people older than me who aren’t in college that are so not ready for any relationship or the kind of life we have.
