Love Story

 

Believe it or not, my husband, Justin and I met online in September 2010. Yes, I said online! I was never one to do online dating, I thought that it only attracted weird men who had 30 cats and never showered. But my best friend talked me into doing it just for fun to see what would happen. I never would have thought that one site would bring me to the love of my life.

The first thing I noticed about his profile picture was that he was in his military uniform (who doesn’t like a man in uniform? 😉 ) He had sent me a message that said something along the lines of “Hi beautiful, would you like to chat with me?” and I thought ‘hey, why not?’ After talking to each other for about a week online, we decided to meet up at Borders Bookstore. I told him what I would be wearing to the meeting and he told me that he would be wearing a blue button up shirt and blue jeans.

I got there first and I swear, I saw every old man that walked in wearing a blue button up shirt and jeans and I freaked out. Finally, he showed up… he was 10 minutes late but he showed up! When he came walking in I immediately knew it was him. I gave him a hug and I could feel how nervous he was, it was pretty cute. He bought me a coffee and we spent the rest of the evening talking until the store was closing for the night and the employees had to kick us out. I fell for him pretty hard that night.  When we decided to go, I gave him my number and that was the beginning of our forever.

One of our most memorable dates was probably the 3rd or 4th time we went out. He took me to a park that overlooks the river and we laid out a blanket and had a picnic under a shady tree. I finally let him kiss me (hey, he was some guy I met online, I was cautious). It was perfect weather and one of the best memories I have of when we first started dating.

Justin & I only spent the first 4 weeks of our relationship together. After that he was deployed for his military job training for 8 months. It was probably the roughest time in our relationship. We weren’t lucky enough to get to know each other in person like most people who meet and start dating. We couldn’t hold hands or kiss or spend a Saturday afternoon together. We spent eight months just talking about anything and everything. I think we got to know each other better than most couples that have been together for 2 years know each other. But we also fought, and we fought often. I’m ashamed to say that there were many times where I didn’t want to be with him anymore, but I knew that it was the stress of not being able to see each other in person. You don’t really know much a hug or a kiss means until you don’t have it. My best friend had asked me why I didn’t leave him…and honestly, he was such a different guy than anyone other I have known. During the short time we had together before he left he showed me that. He opened my car door for me and he asked to kiss me for the first time. He bought me flowers and just made me feel good. 

Once he got back in May things picked up with us. We were much happier and felt like a normal couple again. We went out to dinner and had movie date nights. We went to the mall and played mini golf. Everything felt like it was supposed to. In December of 2011, he brought me back to the park where we first kissed, got down on one knee and proposed. I couldn’t wait to tell everyone. I was beyond excited. We moved in together in January after I got a position as a wedding consultant close to where he lived. Living together made us feel as if we were already married so we decided to start planning our wedding and get everything going. We started looking at venues and reception halls and finally decided on an absolutely breathtaking venue and decided on our wedding date. September 16, 2012.

   

Our wedding was the happiest day of our lives (so far!) I’m truly blessed that I get to spend the rest of my life with this amazing man by my side. We are newlyweds and are learning a lot about being married little by little. We get into disagreements and we make up. He complains I have too many clothes and I complain when he doesn’t take out the garbage. He is my best friend and I am lucky enough to call him mine.