The Rest Of the Story

Since I began telling this story yesterday, I guess I should finish it up today. 10 years (last August)ago I moved to Southern Illinois to live with Uncle Gick and Unkie Di. I was having problems back home and needed to get away (normally I don't condone running away, but this was for the best). Turned out running away didn't work so well for me either. I only distanced my self physically, from my problems, but not emotionally. With out getting into detail, I had issues.

My first Sunday at church one of the women asked Busha if I was the granddaughter that was married. "No, this one lives with us." (Just until Uncle Gick finished the garage.) "Oh, how old are you?" 20. "Where do you work?" C***P "My son works there, he's 22 and single!" Oh boy! I thought to myself, "I don't need some looser who's mommy has to get him a date!" Then I promptly forgot the entire encounter.

In January this Cute Guy started coming to church. Turned out he'd grown up there and his entire family went there. He'd been absent for a few years, but came back at his little brother's insistence. "You've just got to meet this new girl at church!" He wasn't interested, but came to get his brother off his back.

For 2 months he would bring his 2 year old cousin to shake my hand ever Sunday morning, but he wouldn't really talk himself. At first I wasn't interested (I had baggage) but the more I watched him and listened to what he had to offer to the Sunday School discussions, the more impressed I became.

One Sunday his sister asked me if I was seeing anyone. No. Did I like her brother? Yes, I thought he was a sweetheart (she didn't think we were talking about the same guy). If he asked, would you go out with him? Yes, I would. Turns out she was only supposed to ask if I was single. The rest was all her. And she still won't let us forget it.

It took 2 weeks before he finally asked me out. In the meantime we had all gone to play basketball and he had made me laugh the entire time. I won't tell you the story again. If you missed it, just scroll down and read for yourself.

Our first date was a day long adventure. He took me to see his house, we sat and talked for hours, we went to McDonald's, then we went to the movies. We went to see Howard Stern's Private Parts...Neither of us had any clue who the man was or what the movie would be like. Can I just say, Worst First Date Movie Ever??!! We had a great time and talked and laughed all night.

After that we went out every Saturday night. We spent every Sunday afternoon together. I went to his house on Tuesday mornings. He came to mine on Thursday mornings (we both worked evenings). He told me he loved me on our 3rd date. I thought "Great! He's one of those guys!" You've met them. They fall in love with everyone. Not what I was looking for. Turned out I was only the 3rd girl he'd told that to (including 1 long term girlfriend and 1 high school girlfriend). I waited 3 months to tell him that I loved him... And then it was during a fight.

One Sunday night we were sitting on his couch after having lunch at his grandparents' house and catching a movie. I was making fun of his dorm room style curtains. He said, "You can change them if you want." I said I didn't feel comfortable changing things in his home. He told me I could do what ever I wanted to his house. I looked at him funny and he said, "Will you marry me?" You could've knocked me off that couch with a feather. When I didn't reply, he said, "I guess you need some time to think about it."

My gut reaction was to shout YES! But I had followed my gut in the past and been burned. I wanted to pray about it. I wanted to answer him with absolute certainty. And I did the following Saturday.

We set the date for May 2nd but moved it to November 28th after a few weeks . We didn't want a big wedding and so we saw no reason to wait. We were married exactly 8 months to the day after he had asked me out.

8 years, 6 months, 1 day, 3 houses, 3 kids, 2 cars, 1 van, 2 trucks, and many, many animals later, here we are. Do I still love him as much as I did 8 years ago? More so. Neither of us are the same people we were then, but we've grown together. Did we get married too fast? Were we too young? Maybe, but I doubt it. I think God knew what he was doing even if I wanted nothing to do with a "looser who's mommy had to find him a date." (I didn't put 2 and 2 together and realize he was the "looser" until after we were engaged.)

*The picture above is Husband sleeping on the couch where he proposed all those years ago.Yes, he does sleep like that.*