“Hi wife.” “Hi husband.” ”Hello husband.” “Hello wife.”
That’s what it’s been like to be in this household since having been married on 10/10/10.
A little to take home, here’s a read for a journey of our own:
For those who don’t know: We started out as a “we” on March 10th, 2007. A week or so(?) earlier, I found him on yahoo personals. His picture was the first to pop up in the search and I was like “oooh, I have to have him!” So, I contacted him, and not knowing if I did it right via that dating site, I found him on MySpace. (I was hoping he didn’t think I was a stalker after following him places!)
So we talked online, then on the phone. Bahahaha. At the end of that phone call, he said, “You lied to me.” I grew quiet and said, “…about what?” “You DO have an accent.” Well, okay, sir… I can’t hear me talk so I didn’t know if I had one or not! We met one day at TGIFridays. I was actually trying to meet closer to the weekend but nooooooo, like a guyyyyyyyy, he had to say TOMORROW. (Or something like that.) So, we met. I was shy, I do believe but it was lovely getting to meet his face for the first time. I had hoped he liked me, too. :P Oh, and not to mention, when we talked on the phone he mentioned that his aunt worked at Brookside Elementary where I went to school. I asked what her name was, guess what? It was my 5th grade teacher. So very ironic!
We talked more and more… and started dating. This was really my first real relationship. I was new to the whole “dating” scene, other than what I had known in my high school years (which wasn’t much). But I knew one thing and one thing only when started out — I wanted real love.
Our jobs were part time; he worked in the food industry and I worked retail (clothing). Both lived at home. He would drive to Nicholasville to see me at my house, some days kidnap me, some days just come out and hang out in the store and chat at us for a while before leaving back home. I would stop by his work and visit places in Hamburg and his house. He even brought me a banana split one day from Dairy Queen.
In April, he came to spend the day with me at a cookout that my work was having. In May, he took me to Chicago: “I fell in love again, all things go all things go, drove to Chicago, all things know all things know.” He took my on my first trip without my parents (minus 2 school trips), my first taxi ride, my first real train ride, my first time to Chicago, my first a lot of things.. When we got back, he was with me when they promoted me to manager. I gave him a trip to Gatlinburg for his birthday in September. We had an amazing time together. He made me ride the sky lift for the first time (and I realized it was okay – and I wasn’t going to die). When we got back, he was with me as I was told our store was going to close and figuring out “what comes next”. We shared our first Christmas together that year, too. He came over to my house and he helped me decorate my Christmas tree. It was the most beautiful tree I had ever seen, much prettier than anyone else’s… it was made with love. :)
2008 came… and we spent the new years together turning over the new year. I believe at this time, his location of work changed (same company, different location), and mine was getting ready to come to an end the end of that month. Also, he had some baggage that was taken care of with a few signatures, a little car return, and etc so within days, that was taken care of, too! He helped me through the closing of the store, made things much better for me as I was under a lot of stress with still being a manager and having to figure out what to do next. A few weeks after my store closed, I found a job at Sears. We were working at the mall together! So we got to see each other sometimes at night and/or I’d stop by his house on the way home. I hated my job there but I stuck with it until I could find something better. He was with me when my puppy died at the end of February. By then, I had plans on wanting to move in with each other.
Rue21 called me next and then Dan took a job at Insight (a little while before or after my new job). Before having left Sears, Dan and I took the first steps…. what were they? We bought towels for our non-existing (but hopefully soon) apartment with my discount% before it ran out. We kept them hidden in the back of his car so my parents wouldn’t see them and freak out about why I bought towels! (ha ha)
In May, we went apartment hunting. LUCKILY, we were able to find one…which just so happened to be lucky that we signed up with a lady that was filling in for the normal girl that worked there because she was off on maternity leave. Amazing because she tauted the rules a little. (He was able to live there even though his name wasn’t on the lease. No one was supposed to live there without a parking tag and name on the lease.) Since my credit was new (by a year with a new 1st credit card) and it was in excellent standing… that’s how it had to be. In June, we moved in to our one bedroom apartment.
Moving in together was the best thing we had done to that point. It was so nice having everything with him — especially when he’d cook for me! Amazing! (And still!) We also switched our phones over to… “family plan” – yessssss! I bought that dumb Blackberry Pearl and he bought that dumb HTC touch screen that broke after he kept dropping it. lmao. Oh and not to mention - when we went to buy furniture at the furniture store – it took less than 30 minutes. We saw the couch, nightstand, glass kitchen table and dresser and agreed on them 100%.
In October, we went to Philadelphia, PA & New York. I had never been to NY and he had never been to Philly, PA. (If you know me, you know why I love Philly so much.) I had to go there to find peace within myself. I wanted to share that experience with Dan, too. I also prayed in the Christ Church for everything to work out for us. We had an amazing time at both places. Lots of new experiences and first times, yet again.
When we came home, I applied for a job and got it so Rue21 was 2 week notice and then just helping part-time….. until a month later when that job I left Rue21 for wasn’t what I thought it’d be like. It just didn’t work out. So I returned to Rue21 and worked part-time on the ETC side in the mornings, that was nice.
December… was certainly a month to remember. We were in an downstairs apartment in an 8 area apartment (4 upstairs, 4 downstairs in 1 complex). One night we were cooking dinner (tacos, to be exact) when we heard a loud noise like a gun going off and a loud bang off the stairs up above us. Usually, I’m nosy and I open doors and windows to see what goes on… this time, I didn’t. Something told me not to…. next thing we know, there’s police and ambulance outside our apartment. The guy upstairs was part of a deal gone wrong. He was shot by someone he knew and one of the bullets went across the hall and almost hit a man’s wife standing in the kitchen. That… was creepy, to say the least.. We were iffy coming home every day for a while, afraid the guy would be back.
In January 2009, something happened that we took as a sign for a brand new start. Since I had tried finding a new full time job (and couldn’t), Dan called me with a message. Pretty much, he had been given a decision, made the smarter decision and… in February, we were on our way to North Carolina to finding an apartment. We had been researching for months (because we knew we wanted to leave, but didn’t know when we’d be able to) and came to a decision Cary, NC was the place we wanted to go. So, one apartment down and it was an instant NO. We only went to one other apartment (the one we’re in now) and we were able to get an apartment!!!! I remember celebrating by eating at Jersey Mikes (lma0).
March 15th, we packed everything we ever owned into a moving truck… and did an interstate move without anyone but his sister and her man. That was certainly a first for me AND Dan. (When we moved into the apartment in Lex, that was my first time moving out.) March 16th – we moved in. Shortly after, he got a job (he was looking at even before we moved) and it took me a while to find a job…BUT WE MADE IT. TOGETHER.
In March, we also got a Twitter! (Yay Twitter nerds!) Needless to say, I was the one that said that was unnecessary and he was asking me to get one. Looking back, I guess he was right for bugging me about getting one! :P
In April (I will spare details, since I’ve written about this a million times), we found Pitchmen on TV and on a certain date in June, we became close with tons of wonderful people, only because we were brought together.
Middle/end of July, Dan proposed and we got my ring resized! Yay!
November, we had the experience of our life, one that not many people will get to have. We visited SulProd/our Pitchmen friends. That. Was. Amazing. (And we still talk about it.)
We celebrated our 3rd Christmas, 2nd New Years & Valentine’s Day, took a trip to Washington, DC once in February and once in May. We also stopped by Peter’s (Twitter friend that also loves the Pitchmen) pizza place that first time we took a trip to DC. YUMMY.
In July, he took a trip to Las Vegas with his family… and I didn’t go. THIS is when I realized I couldn’t live without him… I missed his face like crazy. I was sad. I missed him tons. In August, the first week/to celebrate my birthday, we took a week’s trip to TAMPA. Had an amazingamazingamazingamazing time with all of our wonderful friends aka 2nd family! September we had a BEAUTIFUL dinner together for his birthday at Ruth’s Chris.
And, to catch up to the present day: On TEN TEN TEN, without anyone knowing, we got married. (I say this because most people heard a lot at the beginning but towards the middle-end, not very much, not at all.) Due to decisions and financial reasoning we decided not to have a big wedding as planned. Don’t worry though, this will not be the “end” of it. Look for something big out of us next year… we’re not done playing with you.
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As I write this, looking back at all that we have been through, is just amazing. Not only have we gone on several trips, had several adventures, but we moved twice – and one was an interstate move (first for both of us). Just think, what I listed above were just some highlights. There’s TONS and TONS of more memories in between all of those events, almost every single day!
I loved him from the beginning. It was me; I accidentally slipped up and said “I love you” standing beside the water behind Joseph Beth. I remember it was in March, I believe, he had his arms wrapped around me and saying he could see us grow old together. I remember that.
Being with him over these last few years have just been amazing. I feel a part of something great, us. We have accomplished so much… I haven’t gotten sick of him (yet, hahah) and we get along so well. It’s not hard to live with him (like he warned me before we did move in together). It’s really fun.
We get along so well. He’s definitely my other half, my love, my best friend, my everything. He’s good at what I’m not and vice versa…one light, one day. Definitely soul mates.
THIS was the love that I dreamed about in school. I have it. I can’t believe I am lucky enough to have a love like that. It’s the smaller things that matter the most and we have that… it shows so well. What we have, if everyone had that, everyone would be happy and things would be great.
*Takes a glass of champagne* Here’s to a million more years with the man that I am now stuck with for the rest of my life. :P
I love you, Dan. I’m looking so forward to writing our future together.
What was so GREAT about the fair this year?
