The First Week

Sometimes a picture can tell a thousand stories.

We all hope for that special someone to spend the rest of our lives with.

"I just want you to know how much I appreciate you. I know you haven't been feeling good and I am proud of what you have been able to do. I had a fun time yesterday spending quality time with you walking. I want you to get better. I love you babe and I'm looking forward to seeing you this afternoon.
<3 Love you with everything I have
Mike"

I woke up the other morning, stumbled downstairs at the smell of fresh coffee and found this note next to the pot.

Now you have to understand my husband is not the best with words sometimes. He is shy, awkward, a deep thinking man but was never raised to be showy with emotions. It's taken us a very very long time to get us to this point. All of this into consideration, this letter conveying his emotions hit the spot.

Mike and I have had a roller-coaster, passionate (mostly on my end) relationship from the get go. A little bit of history on us and how we have gotten to be the "golden couple." This will probably the first blog of many explaining our "happily-ever-after."

When I was a teenager I thrived on attention from boys. It's really kind of stupid and embarrassing now that I'm an adult but needless to say I was full, all out, boy-crazy..... I don't believe there was ever a time from the moment I hit puberty that I didn't have not one, but 3 or more crushes at the same time. I made a lot of bad choices and fell for a lot of guys that really didn't care about my feelings or I didn't care about theirs... It went both ways. I learned games. I learned that if I could date and show off a guy that I really didn't care for, it made me look that much more desirable to the one that I actually wanted. And I played those games.... a lot. I thought that sex was the only way to get what I want and show love. (Later on I figured out that this comes from my father not being a prominent figure in my early childhood upbringing) And in return these things burned me repeatedly. This went on until I was 19/20ish and I was pretty much sick of it.

I met Mike in September of 2001 when I was 18, just out of high school and at a community college. The moment I saw him I knew something was different about him. I don't know if I want to call it love at first sight but I definitely knew something was there.

He was kind and soft spoken and had the most amazing eyes I had ever seen. (They are green with brown spots in them. Almost half and half but not quite)

There was a problem though..... About 6 other girls thought the same things I did.
Mike was quite the player and he had the "quietness" and charm to get away with it.
So we hung out as friends for awhile. He knew I liked him and I made sure he knew I had 3 other guys interested at the same time :)

I also had the issue of a VERY tumultuous on and off relationship with a guy who I was desperately in love with but had many problems at the same time. (It's enough to make your head spin trying to keep all these details straight. And my memory is a little foggy after almost 10 years) Chris (the ex) and I were artsy and passionate and continually fought and had just broken up (for the 10th time) when Mike and I started officially dating.

The night Mike and I started officially dating I will NEVER forget. It's kind of stupid and it's not a fairytale by any means... It was Halloween night 2001.

All of our friends had decided to get a big group of people together and go to a cemetery. Mike was supposed to pick me up and he called and said that he was getting out of work late so he would meet me there. I called my friend Jen and went with them and on the way.... I found out that some SKEEZE from Mike's hometown was coming also. I could only imagine WHY he didn't want to pick me up.

So I was pissed. It was supposed to be just our friends from the college and he invited his STD cesspool, druggie group from Meadville. I ignored him when I got there and made a few derogatory comments in the direction of the nasty group.... He cornered me. I fought him like crazy. I even think I hit him a few times and I am not a physical person at all.

Now it really doesn't make a lot of sense that I was THAT angry with him. Other than maybe the fact that he didn't tell me the plans ahead of time, we weren't together at this point. For some reason I had already claimed him as mine... like I peed on his leg or something marking him....

Come to find (years later after the fact) Mike brought the HOE from Meadville for the same reason that I flirted with 5 other guys in front of him constantly. He wanted leverage. And I realized that I fell for a man that played my OWN TRICKS ON ME!

I was in trouble....... Mike is my equal and up until this point (and maybe after) he played me the exact same way I would have played him.

At this point Mike tried to tell me that he had chosen me and I let him know very quickly that I was NOT something to be chosen. But he explained that he could see himself spending his life with me and not her and well.... I caved.

So we had a beautiful relationship................................................ for a whole week........ (It makes me laugh thinking about how absolutely ridiculous we were!) but a few sweet moments did come out of the beginning stages of our relationship.

I don't exactly remember where Mike took me for our first date but I remember coming back. I think it might have been Quaker Steak but I'm not positive. Anyways, I remember riding back in his blue Pontiac Grand Am and Enrique Iglesias came on.... "Hero" and we didn't say a word but Mike just put his arm around me and I laid my head on his chest... It was wonderful. I was staying at a friend's house that night and when he dropped me off we kissed in her driveway for the very first time. Under a starry sky in the middle of the country it was magic.

The next time we went out Mike took me back to my parents and we started making out.... I remember I had a skirt on and he tried to make a move...... I stopped him. And he respected me for it. That's was the very first time I had EVER turned down a boyfriends advances. I started to get smart and realized that this was a relationship I wanted to treasure and he was going to have to work for it.

The first week.