If you came for Paladin shenanigans, you may be disappointed, and can skip this post if you’d like. It’s going to have a focus on the other part of my title’s tagline “family man.” It is going to make note of an important day in my life, a day 9 years ago. As of today, my wife and I will have been married for 9 years!
Some said that we’d never make it, we were too different, and too young. Well, I’m now 28, with 2 kids and a wonderful wife and wonderful life. Started back in high school, probably close to our late Junior/Senior years. We both had come out of some tough relationships and were ready to just relax for a while before getting back onto the scene. (It’s wierd how I talk like we were both doing this together, though we didn’t really even know each other that well then, guess 9 years will do that to ya.)
Anyway, time went by, and we both started realizing that we had many mutual friends, and started to hang out a bit more often. Getting together with our friends and slowly but surely growing a little more than an acquaintance type friendship with each other.
Goob
Side note: Oddly enough, and beyond my memory capacity at the time, apparently she had actually asked me to start dating back when we were Freshmen… and I said no! WTF, well… I was a goob back then. Not necessarily socially inept, but a really shy, quiet kind of guy, not one to be in the limelight.
That fateful day.
Well, time went by, and our friendship grew. I think that it was my 18th or 19th birthday, or at least the party a few days before it that sealed the deal for us, or at least told us that we might as well make it official. It was back in the days of the Blair Witch Project, and a bunch of friends were over at my house (well my parent’s house), and we had a video camera… so it was time to go wander through the woods and make fools of ourselves, lol. So we started making a “Blair Witch” movie by goofing off in the woods across from the house. I don’t even think that the tape exists anymore, but it doesn’t matter.We began walking back up the street towards the house, and it was one of those clear, but chilly nights. She was wearing a fleece jacket, and me… well I’m hot natured, so I was in shorts and a button up short sleeve shirt. Anyway, she reached over and grabbed my hand, pulling it in close. Maybe to try to keep me warm, but we both knew that it was more than that. I think that everybody who was with us saw it as it happened, but I think at that moment, it was official, we were an “item.” It was ironic, as we had both moved down to this little town in Alabama from up north, I in 6th grade, and her two years later, who would have thought that we would have found each other.
Brother and I, the name's Watts, GigaWatts
We had spent a lot of time together, even getting invited by my parents to go with them on one of my dad’s business trips to Hawaii, that was awesome. (My dad traveled A LOT at the time, so cost wasn’t much of an issue with the number of miles he had built up.) Even went to our Senior Prom together.
Fast forward a year or so. We were like all couples, we had our rough spots, but pushed our way through, giving each other the space we needed, but still being close. Well, I had made the decision that I wanted to take another step, and further and move our relationship forward. We were both out of high school, and I had just started my first job, she was still working with the company that she co-op’d with in high school, so I worked some numbers and felt that it was the right time. (Nerdy eh? Using math to determine if a relationship is ready to move forward… *sigh*.) So I went and got the ring. It wasn’t some massive rock, it was a 1/3 carat marquise diamond ring, with a crystal banquette on both sides. I had picked up on some hints on the kind of rings she liked, and tried to match it, I think that I did ok. I was still not rolling in the dough, but my mom had a discount at the shop I was buying from, and was able to help me out.Needless to say, I was nervous as hell. It’s a big step. So, I kept it on hand for probably a month or so.
Cute Froggies.
At the time, she liked frogs… not real frogs, but the cutesy frogs, like those from “Sprogz”. Well, anyway, I had found a bride and groom one, and wrapped them up in a basket, and kept them out of sight. While I kept the ring in my pocket. I took her out for dinner, and then came back home. When we got there, I told her that I had something for her, and brought out the basket. She opened it up and saw the little guys on the left.I think that she figured out what was going on, as I then got down on one knee, and pulled out the ring. Sorta romantic I guess, not bad for a geeky shy kid (who was slowly coming out of his shell). Well, it would have been, but you see, I was still living at home, and… so did both my brothers (both younger). Well, the youngest (14 or 15 at the time) had no idea what I had planned, and came barreling down the stairs with his friend… “Hey, can you bring us to Movie Gallery”….. *sigh* that totally broke the mood, well at least for me. She was already tearing up some, and reached down to grab my hands and said yes and gave me a big hug. Needless to say we headed over to her parents house and she told them, and they were all excited. My parents already knew, because I had let them know ahead of time.
Well, not more than a couple of weeks later, the plans were already getting started, and shaped up. Places were being reserved, and dresses picked out. (We did have one hiccup where the initial place where we had the reception planned apparently went bankrupt, and in turn cancelled our reservation a couple of weeks before the wedding. But we made up for it and rented the local town hall council room.. much better location.)
Then the day came, it was a beautiful Spring afternoon, barely a cloud in the sky, and the sun nice and bright. Everybody we knew was there, well, just about everybody. She had family down from Upstate New York, and I even had some old friends from Illinois (I was an Air Force brat, my family had to move a lot in my early years, we finally ended up here after about 5 years in Illinois, the first place I truly had friends from).
It just seemed that God smiled down on the event. We had great weather throughout, and everything just seemed to go right.
Afterwards, thanks to hotel points and sky miles, my parents provided us with some tickets to Hawaii for our honeymoon… this I won’t go into detail about, haha. Except that we had a great time, and it was our first true time away and together as a couple.
Big & Little Brother
Well, fast foward again 9 years, and here we are. Yes, marriages all have their ups and downs, but that’s what makes it exciting. I am not a fan of rollercoasters, but have loved this ride called married life. We now have two beautiful sons, one 2.5 and the other 7 weeks or so. Life really can’t get any better… well unless we win the Lottery, and don’t have to work anymore… that’d be fricken awesome, lol. But, c’est la vie.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this little foray into the personal, family side of me.
This is my little shout out to my wife, who only recently discovered that I have a blog 🙂 I love you baby, and Happy Anniversary!
Don’t worry, we’ll be back to your regularly scheduled paladin goodness this afternoon.
Illumination 