Oh How I Love This Man!

Spring Break has begun. Now, don't get me wrong - I love being a mom. I love Pirate Munchkin with all my heart. She is EXTREMELY bright, but that comes with it's own batch of challenges. She asks questions all. the. time. She constantly wants to know why I'm doing what I'm doing, how I'm doing it. And she especially wants to know what's going to happen next - every minute of every day. In the morning, she wants to know exactly when we're going to have lunch, and what we're going to have, and how long after that we're going to play Electronic Battleship, and then what, and then what, and then what (I think you get the picture).

Needless to say, sometimes Mom needs a break. And with Spring Break being here, and her being home (and somewhat bored) all day, Mom REALLY needs a break at the end of the day.

So, yesterday, I took that break. Pirate Dragon needed crickets (otherwise known as "Crickies" at our house), and I wanted to just go buy them alone. I wanted to go drool over puppies, talk to the parrot, and pet the sweet little Easter bunnies by myself at the pet store. It was heaven. Just some time alone to do what I wanted to do.

And then I came home.

Where I discovered that while I was gone, Pirate Surfer had spent the time with our little girl telling her all about our first date. He told her the details of the first moment he saw me, how we made dinner together, sharing our first kiss, etc. It was so sweet to hear his side of the story coming from her little mouth! I could see my little girl - all starry-eyed - dreaming of her future Prince Charming. And I love that, with his one-on-one time with her, he didn't tell her about surfing or riding dirt bikes or working on cars, he told her our sweet, romantic story. Just one more reason why I love him so much!

So, I thought I would share our story.

I have said it before that I love the internet. And here is one more reason why the internet is so dear to my heart: We met on Myspace. We lived in completely different areas of the city. We worked in completely different areas of the city, with completely different days off. We had completely different interests and completely different lives. There is absolutely no way on earth we would have met in person. But thanks to the internet, we met. Somehow, he stumbled across my profile and sent me a friend request. I was very reluctant to agree to it. First of all, he was blonde and blue eyed. I liked dark-haired, dark-eyed men. His profile had some... questionable nature on it, and lots of thrash metal music. I could tell by his pictures that he had lived a rough life. I wasn't very interested. But, I have learned in life that you really can't judge a book by it's cover, and there are all kinds of interesting people in the world. You just have to give them a chance.

So, I told him he would have to talk me into it.

He could have decided I wasn't worth the effort. If I didn't want to accept his friend request, oh well. But he didn't do that. Instead, we started sending messages back and forth. Very quickly, he had me laughing. I decided I needed to keep this guy around. Eventually, messages led to phone calls. And all of them had the same result - he always made me laugh. After a couple of weeks of this, we decided we needed to meet in person. We made plans one Friday to go out the following weekend. Then, on Saturday, we were talking - and laughing, of course - and we decided neither of us wanted to wait another week. I asked him how he was with cooking steaks. Great. I told him I had a freezer full of steak, but I was no good at cooking them (which is very true). If he would come over and cook the steaks, I would make potatoes and things to go with them.

He called me on the way to my house - needing help to find the way. Once he was less than a block from my house, I went to meet him outside. When he first saw me, he knew I was the woman he wanted to spend his life with. Thankfully, he didn't say that at the time because he would have scared me off. What he did say was "You're much prettier than your pictures." (Awww!) He was taller than I imagined, and definitely cuter than his pictures, too.

We started cooking together. He made me laugh some more. And eventually, I decided to test out his previous brag that he was a good kisser. Yep. :) He is. We spent the evening together, talking and laughing.

The next day, he told me he was done looking. He just wanted to be with me.

The day after that, the girl who swore she wouldn't date anyone exclusively until she had a diamond on her finger decided to officially just be his girlfriend. I even cancelled dates I already had set up with other guys!

Less than 2 weeks later, he let it slip on the phone that he loved me.

A few days after that, he told me we needed to talk. We were both feeling like our lives were too different, and we would never work out. We both went into the conversation expecting to break up and go our separate ways. It really surprised me when I started to cry. I just couldn't let go. Not yet. I will always remember the way he held me while I cried. I could actually FEEL the relief oozing from him - knowing that he didn't have to let me go either.

Next thing I knew, I was in love with him too.

7 months, my sister's death and his broken back later, we were married in a small ceremony in our living room.

And I get to have this cute guy make me laugh for the rest of my life. I'm so lucky!