“ ARTS AND FEATURES
Couple discusses marriage during academic career
Tina Scruggs
cscrugg 1 @unca.edu - Staff Writer
Eric and Amber Frid recently mar
ried, became Christians and will soon
welcome a baby into their lives.
Eric, a High Point native and a lit
erature student, expects to graduate in
2014. Amber, originally from Morgan-
ton and an environmental studies and
new media student, expects to gradu
ate in 2015. They met a few years ago.
“We didn’t really like each other at
first,” Amber said.
They were both in really bad emo
tional states when they met through
mutual friends, they said. Eric recently
went through two crazy breakups, he
said.
“I never cheated, but it was really
bad. The first time I met Amber, we all
went out in the woods to try and recre
ate my acid trip,” Eric said.
According to Eric, their relationship
escalated and soon they were pretty
much dating.
“We were hooking up a lot, and I
started thinking that I need to break
this off, that it isn’t what I wanted,
that I was just being a guy and sleep
ing around. But all of a sudden it was
more,” Eric said.
Over Thanksgiving break, Eric real
ized just how much he missed Amber.
As soon as he got back to campus after
the break, he made a beeline for Am
ber’s room to ask her out, he said.
“Now this part is a bit of a story. My
friend also encouraged me to become
a Christian. We were watching the
movie ‘Father of Lights’ and there was
a scene where someone was praying
super confidently, and I thought to my
self, ‘How do people pray like that?”’
Eric said.
Amber said she was involved in a
really bad car accident a while ago.
She broke all the vertebrae in her back
except for one. She was in excessive
pain. One night, it was so bad that Am
ber couldn’t sleep and was crying.
“Now, I’m not emotionally open, so
it was hard for me to pray. But I prayed
out loud that night, and after only five
seconds. Amber turned to me and said,
‘Eric, my back doesn’t hurt at all,”’
Eric said as he looked at Amber with
. A u r- , Pfio‘0 by Harper Spires - Contributing Photodfabhef
Sophomore Amber Frid discusses her relationship with her husband, Eric.
concern.
Eric took it as an important sign, and
decided he owed this person some
thing. According to the scriptures,
people are told to get rid of everything
in order to follow God.
“So the next day, I did. I sold ev
erything. I went to pawn shops. Game
Stop, et cetera, and I sold my video
games, my consoles, my comic books;
everything except the television my
mom gave me and my Wii. At the end
I had $600 in my pocket,” Eric said.
Amber looked at Eric and said she
just wanted to support him in it.
“It’s so consumeristic, and it’s nega
tive for our environment. I didn’t re
ally care for it in the first place. And
you figure out who your friends are ”
Amber said.
Not all of Eric s friends were sup
portive. One called him dumb when
they found out he sold most of his
things, he said.
Eric said his friend encouraged him
to ask Amber’s parents for
their permission before asking her to
marry him.
“He’s always wanted to do it, but
hasn’t gotten the chance yet. And he
asked, ‘Why not now?’ Since we al
ready live together, share a bank ac
count, we’re enjoying all the benefits
without actually being maixied. And as
soon as I’d decided, they pulled up for
a sui-prise visit. They didn’t know Am
ber was at work,” Eric said.
So Eric took them to dinner to ask
for their permission to marry their
daughter, and they approved.
“The next day, I went to Kay’s to
look at rings. I walked around and I
found one that was perfect. They were
running my credit, and it came out per
fectly with the money I had, plus the
amount of credit I got equaled exactly
the cost of the ring,” Eric said.
Eric proposed the following day
at the Nature Center. Amber was ex
hausted after spending the weekend
with her parents and lunch that day.
But Eric insisted that they went on a
date.
I asked him where he wanted to go,
and he was like, ‘Well, how about the
Nature Center?’ We got there, and I
was looking at the otters when I turned
aiound and Eric was down on one
knee. He said, ‘Otters are cute and all,
but will you marry me?”’ Amber said.
Amber found out she was pregnant
only a few weeks ago. Taking 19 credit
hours. Amber heard that the first tri
mester is the worst.
“You’re supposed to get 10-11 hours
of sleep, eat twice as much food, and
you have to give up caffeine com
pletely. Now I was an avid three cups a
day coffee drinker, and I started falling
asleep in class. I withdrew from one,”
Amber said.
Her professors were very nice about
it. The professor of the class she with
drew from was excited, and told Am
ber if she needed anything to come and
ask for it.
When I told Eric, he immediately
filled a notebook with potential names.
If it s a girl, she’ll be Lucy,” Amber
said.
Amber and Eric refer to their baby
as a love parasite.” They are due right
after Eric graduates.
T,,/- right after he graduates,
I 11 just be like, ‘Here, I got you this,”’
Amber said.
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