4 Year Anniversary

Stuart and I celebrated* our four year anniversary on November 12th.

How We Met

Stuart's middle brother, Kevin, dated a friend of mine. So we would sometimes hang out his "older brother's house". I never paid much attention to Stuart and he thought I was one of Kevin's annoying friends.



A few years after they broke it off, I ran into Stuart one night. We kissed and didn't see each the rest of the night. Coincidentally, this was also his 21st birthday.


A few months after that, another friend of mine was dating Kevin and my roommate and I went over to her apartment to hang out. I was mortified to see Stuart there. My hopes were that I would never see him again after kissing him in a bar. But, alas, we live in a semi-small town.


The friend that was dating Kevin wanted for my roommate to meet Stuart as she thought they would get along. Michelle, my oldest and dearest friend, can be a little more "put together" than me. Meaning, she always looks perfect, has her hair and makeup done. Me, I probably rolled out of bed to go hang out. For whatever reason, he thought that I might be more "interesting" to get to know. And as they say "The rest is history!"


Our first "date"

Keep in mind that I was 19 and he was 21, so our first official date was a fraternity party. Stuart was on crutches at the time (due to a softball injury). I offered to drop him off at the door, but he said that he would walk with me. We had to park about 1/2 mile away, but he was a trooper. Once inside, we hung out a little, but also wandered off with our friends.


At one point, I hear yelling and a commotion across the yard. Oh yea, my Stuart is in a fight with a guy that was hitting on his friends girlfriend. WITH his crutches. Needless to say, we left pretty quickly.



Fast Forward a few years. We dated for about 2 1/2 years, broke up, then were off and on for another two years.


The Phone Call

I'm at work one day and Stuart calls me.


"Hey, I'm right outside the Marine recruiting office. I think I'm going to join the Marines"

"Uh OK"

Never did I imagine that day would change our lives.


Boot Camp

Stuart left for boot camp. Quite honestly I don't know what I was feeling. About a week passed with no letter. I was sad, but not sure what to do. Then one day, I came home and checked the mail. There were three letters from Stu. I opened them all, then read them in the order that he sent them.

First letter, "Hey how are you? Hope to get a letter soon. "

Second letter, "Uh, haven't heard from you, hope things are good. I wish I could get a letter from you."

Third letter, "What is going on? Is everything OK between us? Please, please write me back."

I felt really bad!! I immediately wrote him back and we wrote back and forth for the next 3 months.

The Proposal

Stuart's grandparents gave us our wedding bands. They were very concerned to send it to Stuart's post office box when he was living in the barracks. So instead, they sent them to Stuart's mom. I was set to fly to Virginia to visit him for Labor Day. So I went over to his parent's house to get the ring.

Yes, that is right, I took the ring to him. Talk about pressure!

I had made a plan to go to the beach with the ring and "let" him ask me there. Well before we go to the beach, I had to jump in the shower. I'm in there and I hear him talking outside "Ive been meaning to do this for awhile....". I stuck my head out of the shower and told him to shut it, I was getting proposed to on the beach.


I know, I know, he should have been allowed to do it his way.

But we did drive to the beach, where the wind was so ferocious, we stayed about 5 minutes.

I got the proposal that I wanted though.



Wedding
Stuart flew into Nashville November 11th. Little did we know that it was Veteran's day and the courthouse was closed. Panicked that we couldn't get our marriage license, I called the preacher. He said he would go ahead with the ceremony, and we could officially get married later. So, we were married on the 12th, went on our honeymoon, then got "married" on November 15th (and no, I don't get two presents a year!).


Our wedding was small, but exactly what I wanted.


When the preacher asked my dad, "Who gives this bride away?" He answered, "My Mother....uhhh...I mean my mother and I....uhhhh... I mean her mother and I".


That broke the tension and made me alot less nervous.


That is the beginning of our four years of marriage. We have had our ups and downs, but in the end, love each other more than anything. I intended to write more about our marriage and deployments, but if you see the note below, you might understand. Ill write more on a day I don't have anything else to say!




**I just want to add, that we are all ill in my house. Abby threw up Sunday, we figured that it was just teething. Stuart called me at work yesterday because he was home with her and couldn't move as he was throwing up. I left and came home to take care of her. Eventually I started feeling bad as well. About 9 last night, hugged the porcelain throne myself. Still not feeling too great today.