A Real Love Story...

If you are joining me for your first Common Sense Wife post, make sure to read Part I and Part II of my story.  It's pretty awesome (in my humble opinion...haha).

I still remember it vividly, my mom and I were in Washington D.C. on a college visit. 

That was where I learned to always ask for a corner hotel room...they are always bigger!  :-)

We had driven 2 hours outside of the city to check out the prospective school.  Upon arrival, I immediately knew that it wasn't right.  We didn't even get out of the car.  I asked my mom to turn around and take us back to the city.  It was there, at the hotel, that I got the phone call.

He was coming.

I jumped around our corner hotel room like a 13 year old at a backstreet boys concert!  The excitement that I experienced was unlike anything I had ever felt.  This was it.  It was finally happening!!!

Although my mom and I were close, the year had been a tough one for both of us.  She knew about P but we had never really talked about how important he was to me.  She was a little standoffish at the thought of him, a 20 year old Navy Sailor, flying in to take her only daughter to prom.  It seemed odd.  I did my best to share my excitement but knew that screaming,

"I'm going to marry this boy!!!"

might not go over well.  So, I kept my excitement contained to prom.  My parents were troopers because, at 17 years old, they allowed me to explore this relationship.  Well, April came, he flew in, and the connection was IMMEDIATE.  (Keep in mind this was only the second time we'd seen each other since meeting each other at 13 years old.)  I was in heaven. 

We got dressed up, took pictures, and off we drove in my mom's Cadillac (we're cool like that) to my prom.  Honestly, I don't remember a whole lot about prom besides thinking that I wished we would have just gone out to a nice dinner alone and realizing that this boy, the love of my life, could. NOT. dance!!!

Well, the weekend came to an end and it was at the airport that we finally discussed it.  We were officially boyfriend/girlfriend!  That determination was also followed up with something along the lines of, 'and we'll get married in a couple of years.'

Over the course of the next two years, we spent our time flying back and forth between Georgia and California and getting through a 7 month deployment.  Although my parents were not against my relationship, they couldn't quite grasp it.  When asked about it, the only way I could explain our relationship was,

"My entire life I prayed to have a friend who loved me as much as I loved them.  For someone who was just as excited to have me as I was to have them.  He does and we have so much fun.  He's my best friend."

Then, in May 2006, it happened.  On California's beautiful coast, he got down on a knee and asked me to be his wife.  As much as I loved him in that moment, I had no clue that my love would grow exponentially and of the adventure that we were about to embark on...

How It All Began...

As most of you know, Saturday was the 12 year mark from the day I met my husband, P.  Unlike most people, we didn't meet at school, work, or through friends.  Our story is beyond unique.  It's actually kind of crazy.  I often find myself thinking about how crazy it is that we ever even met.  If it weren't for that split second on October 29, 1999, I don't think we would have ever had the opportunity again.

Thanks to my incredibly (verging on obnoxious) outgoing 13 year old personality, P and I met one weekend at the Youth and Family Encounter (a church conference) in Atlanta.  I had convinced my girlfriends to skip a talk so we could just roam (and secretly search for boys).  After walking for a while, we were about to cave in and just go into the youth track.  Thats when I spotted them.  A group of boys around our age.  Being that I was the 'outgoing' one, I had no problem walking up to them.  Instead of walking up and introducing myself like a normal human being, for some reason I thought it would be cool to walk up and say,

"Hi!  My name is Jeanne.  I'm weird and abnormal, but it a good way!"

WHAT!?!?!?

 

I've never actually admitted that I said that but there it is...on paper!  To this day, that is still one of those things I am completely embarrassed about. 

ANYWAYS, it must have worked because the boys walked over with me and met my friends.  I remember 3 boys (Ed, John, and P).  They told us that they were from New England (Mass. and New Hampshire) and that they had driven down on a bus with a boys group.  They then proceeded to tell us that, the night before, they had gotten kicked out of a Marriott for dropping a bouncy ball from the top floor into the atrium.  I guess they wanted to see how far up it would bounce.  Instead of getting moved to some crappy hotel, are you ready for this?, their group leader moved them to the RITZ CARLTON in downtown Atlanta.

Just an FYI: the cheapest room costs around $300 a night...and they were staying for 5!

For the next two days, we (or maybe just I) spent my time hanging around these boys.  We sat next to them at the talks, during Mass, and we even got permission from our parents to walk across the street for lunch!  That lunch marked the end of the weekend. 

As my friends and I were piling in the backseat of my parents car, on halloween afternoon, we exchanged e-mail addresses.  I remember looking down at the paper and seeing P's address: madlyskilled@-----.com.  REALLY?  How dumb!

Within minutes of getting home, before we dressed up as 'Army Chicks', I made sure to hop on my e-mail and shoot him an e-mail.  That night, at 13 years old, I told my best friend, Toni, that I had this weird feeling that I was going to marry that boy.  We giggled about it and then ran off to enjoy our last halloween trick-or-treating.

So, there you have it.  Embarrassing details and all.  Next week I'll continue the crazy story that somehow leads to today...

One Girl, One Boy...

On this day, 12 years ago, I met the boy who would become my husband! 

This picture was taken two years after we met.

I was a 13 year old, boy crazy, attention seeking Georgia girl and he was a 15 year old, cool, about to get his drivers license, New Hampshire boy.  We met by complete chance but that chance ended up to be the greatest life changers I've had.  When we got married, 7 years later, we had never lived in the same city, but he was my absolute best friend!

Its funny how the best things in life are the ones that are not planned or organized, rather they happen just because they are supposed to happen.