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How We Met Part II + A How We Met Link-Up

09 July 2013

Part I Here.


Where were we .... yes, there.

the first date.

We walked from my townhouse in Alexandria to downtown Alexandria (far but not crazy far) and Simon held my hand* most of the way. Back the truck right up, right there. I know, he just grabbed it and held it. I guess I should convey that while we did share a NYE kiss and we'd talked for hours and hours and hours and exchanged hundreds of emails over the course of the past two months ... I wasn't 100% convinced that he wanted to pursue anything. I could lie and say that it was to protect my feelings from getting hurt and risk serious disappointment (nay, devastation) but if things were to fizzle or abruptly end I would've been a super fun friend to have around. I'd probably have wanted to hash it out daily for the first month and then weekly for the following year until I was a completely friendless and cold mess clinging to the e-memories of November and December of 2007.

*Simon says this was the last time we ever held hands for an extended period of time. I don't know - I guess I'm cold hearted and not a huge fan of holding hands.

Okay. Walking walking walking. We went to a tapas restaurant and everything was great the food, the sangria, the conversation BECAUSE Simon dropped a little bomb on me: he told me that he had decided to move out to DC for the summer. Well, he'd have to find an internship but the summer between first and second years of med school is the last free summer until retirement (I mean, probably, whatever). I was ecstatic and giddy and was not expecting that sort of news. Maybe a fun DTR (define the relationship talk) but THIS? This was serious because it assumed that we'd still be burning up the email lines all the way into the summer. So, it was a stellar first date.

DTR
  
Right before Simon left for the airport the next day .. okay these details are fuzzy but I think one of my roommates asked if we were officially dating or something and it was laughy awkward and so Simon was like ..... ? Um, yes. Silly girls. To him it was obvious but to me? I needed some verbal confirmation, thank you very much.

So then we took this picture ... official et al.


I'm sorry to say my interior decorating skills have plummeted into even uglier territory since the "throw a Hobby Lobby map on the wall" phase.
 
first quad city visit.

Because my grandma and Simon's grandpa both live in the Quad Cities we thought it might be fun to coordinate a visit to see them at the same time. We'd both exchanged numerous stories about our trips up to visit our grandparents as kids and knew it'd be fun to stomp all over our old summer vacation stomping grounds together over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend toward the end of January. I came up with the brilliant plan to fly into Kansas City from DC and then make the 6 hour drive up with him instead of flying from DC directly into the Quad Cities. I STRESSED about broaching this with him because I thought it was too forward of me to suggest such a thing. I'm very easygoing, laid back, and fun fun fun fun - can you tell? I eventually emailed the potential plan and Simon thought it was a great idea and I felt silly for losing hair and sleep over flywheregate.

It was another perfect weekend.


Simon's grandpa told me he thought Simon was a rascal and I thought was the funniest thing I'd ever heard. Don't ask me why.

We had enough time after driving back to Kansas City before my flight left for me to see his apartment and meet some of his med school friends and their wives (well, he also went to high school with them but I don't want to confuse you). I got the grand tour of his attic apartment and chuckled at his decor even though in retrospect it was years better than my basement room's. I went to eat dinner at Mcdonalds (I know, I love it - I can't help it). It was fun and not weird and I tried not to be my crazy shy self because .... meeting the friends can determine a lot, you know? Back to DC I flew until ...

Valentine's Day

Are you ready for this? I don't want to type it but I will. I will. So ... I decided to be super forward once again and ask Simon if I could visit the weekend after Valentines Day. He responded that he had a lot of studying to do and that it probably wouldn't be the best weekend.


Oh, hello flabbergasted Grace. I felt so stupid for suggesting such a thing. Of course he needed to study! I was a little bit hurt but didn't let that stop me from corralling my room mates (and Ruth!) into my basement to make middle schooly Valentines for Simon. I wrote him a nice card and bought him his favorite candy and baked him cookies and sent their Valentines so they'd get there in plenty of time before V-day. Pat myself on the back. Except don't.

I think Valentine's Day was on a Thursday or something. Simon sent me a really, really nice letter and what did I do? I read it and then I pouted and wondered if we were on different pages. I went on a run and asked myself if I should end things because first he denied a visit and then he sent a letter (albeit a nice letter!) while I'd sent a letter plus edibles. Don't think I don't know how absurd I was being. I know. I do.

That Saturday I ran a little 8k race in the freezing cold and then went to lounge on the couch in my SUPER messy room while talking to Simon on the phone when he told me to go answer the door. I was confused but obeyed and ..... BEHOLD ... Simon freaking Patton in the flesh with a huge bouquet of flowers. At the door. Sneaky McSneakerson. I was so shocked that I almost slammed the door right back in his face

Don't worry ... I felt like the biggest baby b of all time. He'd been planning to surprise me all along. My kind and wonderful room mate Liz helped me clean my room really fast while I washed my face and tried to not look as gross as I did because my room was ... trashed and I am not a dewy runner - I am a sweaty hog of a runner. Anyway, we went on a nice date and took this normal photo before we trotted out the door ....


I don't know. I'm mortified for us too.

And so that was that. I'm the worst ever.

long distance.

It was tough but we didn't know anything different and we had the summer to look forward to and we were able to visit each other quite a bit. Things got serious fast because when the majority of your communication is via phone and email you have to talk through the big stuff like matters of faith and ideas about family and parenting and all of that. Simon came out for his spring break and I took a week in between jobs and went to visit him and all was dandy.


Simon's spring break. (Bangs, not a bowl cut)


med school prom.

I can't think of anything remarkable to write here so I won't ramble ... even though that is my love language.

the summer.

Simon really lucked out and found a room for rent pretty close to my place because if you've ever looked for housing in DC that doesn't cost a load of lettuce ... you KNOW. It's tough. He worked a couple of different internships and I still worked on the Hill and it was the best summer. We biked to Mt. Vernon and the zoo and went to happy hours and the monuments and the Smithsonians and flew out to the Quad Cities where both of our families were visiting and I have no complaints about that summer.

I'll be honest in saying that I hadn't really thought about a proposal. I mean ... I knew we were serious and in love and that he was the best guy in the whole entire world. He was so thoughtful and paid close attention to the smallest details. He still does - but you know, for the sake of the story I'm using the past tense. Everything was very sunshiny unicorns but okay I guess I thought MAYBE Christmas? Maybe? But you know how it can get when girls start staring at their watch and then their ring finger ... no bueno.

A girl I sort of knew at work got engaged in mid-July and I was telling Simon about the ring and mentioned that I really liked how thin her band was and he asked me 99 questions ... "thin band? how thin? WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THIN?"

So.

the proposal.

My birthday fell on a Friday in July (I mean it is always in July but this July it was on a Friday - clarification for the slows) and Simon and I tried to meet for lunch as much as possible. We'd eat on a bench in front of the Capitol outside my office and Simon would take the metro from his internship for that day. This Friday was no different except Simon told me he'd take care of lunch. He took great care to make a quiche with turkey bacon (I went through a looooooong turkey bacon phase) and bought a nice cooler, and called his mom to tell her I was wearing my casual Friday attire (jeans and kitten heels - cringe, and a t-shirt) and should he match me or go with dressy? You know where this is going mostly because of the bold print above this paragraph.


I was happy to see him for lunch (of course!) but was a little bit antsyish to get back to work to try to finish an op-ed before the freakin' weekend could begin. Simon presented me with a big scrapbook that he'd put together with lots of pictures including a photo of my baptism with his mom holding me while pregnant with him. It was really very sweet. The inside cover had a letter that I won't type verbatum but said something along the lines of "all the memories we've had and all the memories in the years to come ..." I still didn't even kind of get it. I don't know how he did it ... magic? All of a sudden he was down on one knee right there at that bench and had opened a ring box with a very, very pretty ring sparkling in my face and asking me to be his wife. Simon says WHAT?? We'd been dating almost seven months and I knew I wanted to marry him ... I wanted to marry him very badly but I was shocked. Shocked and elated. Oh! I said yes, yes, yes, and yes. We went to the Catholic church on that side of the Hill and had the ring blessed before we went to the monuments to have another picnic of mimosas and to call our families.


Asked a stranger to snap our picture. Why we went barefoot is a mystery.

The ring had been his maternal grandma's and Simon had told his mom much earlier in the spring that he wanted to propose and she gave him the ring ... he had the diamonds put in a new band (same setting) and it could not be more perfect.


At the Tapas restaurant where we had our first date. I still crave that Sangria.

I have a really weird ring shot with clasped hands and my hand is hairy so ... I'll spare you. You've seen plenty of hairless hand ring shots I'm sure.

We were married 13 months later - not an engagement period I recommend because right smack in the middle of Lent we were like ..... six MORE months?! It felt interminable but it came to an end and was worth the wait.


And now we are living happily ever after. We are. Even if you don't have a blog I'm going to be annoying and recommend you pound out your love story. It's been really good for me to go back and relive all of these happy moments. That reads as though there are no happy moments now. Of course there are! Lots of them. I get so bogged down with the long days and the kids that send me straight to hanging by a threadville almost hourly and the disappointment that comes with "another long case" and another late night and another sleepless call weekend but it won't always be like this. The kids are growing up and  -----


-------- um okay I've been trying to finish that paragraph for 4.5 hours but the kids - the kids have needs. Lots of them. All the time. I try to type something semi-nice about the monsters and they prove me so very wrong. C'est la vie. C'est la good and tiring and really good life.


(Simon just walked by and said he looks like a "doof" but I disagree plus it's not like I'm winning any coolia awards here or ever.)


And let's make it a link-up! If you've got them ... I'll take them!!

85 comments:

  1. Back up. Med school prom? Is that a thing?
    Beautiful story! I love to hear how a beautiful family came together!

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    1. haha. it was a "formal" but still ... same concept. thank you!!

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    2. When Will was in med school, I didn't know they had dances until... I saw his roommate and now-wife all spiffed up in pictures. HEY THERE. Now, I am taking a more active role as his Social Chair.

      This is such a great story Grace! Thank you so much for sharing :)

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  2. L-O-V-E it all. You are such a precious family, crazy days and all. And I love these old pictures... They're the best!

    Also, I've been wanting to write my love story as our anniversary approaches (just 3rd, babies that we are) but since we've also known each other most of our lives if goes way back. (not in utero, though... Got me beat there.)

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  3. This is wonderful! My sister is engaged {preparing for a November wedding}. I'm posting her and her husband-to-be's love story on my blog...probably Thursday. {http://totus2usmaria.blogspot.com/ if you want to sneak a peek}. God bless!

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  4. Ah, I love this all! Mostly because you guys take the cutest most awkward photos ever (a medicine ball!?!?).

    I have no love story currently or it's in progress or not really but maybe, but someday when it's for realz, I'll be sure to type it up and send you the link every day until you read it with tears in your eyes in between diaper changes.

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  5. Swoon! I love you guys. Seriously, must meet up with you at some point and then we can be shy and awkward in the same room. It'll be awesome.

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  6. I loved this! It is so good to remember those early days and thank God for how everything has come to fruition. We now live in the town my husband and I went to college in (where we met) and I try to regularly recall the memories of our dating years. I would have been ELATED to know then that we'd be back with four children in tow nine years later, even when there isn't much about daily life that has me ever feeling elated. But I know we have been so blessed and looking back does much good in remembering that. Thank you for the inspiration!

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  7. Ahhhh, this is great! So glad you posted it!

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  8. What a great story! I'd love to type mine up. I really should. Sad thing is...no photos will work because I'd have to scan them in and they are so not digital! (Yes, I'm way too old...sigh)

    :)

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  9. Hey! Aaron proposed with a scrapbook too! Except ours was reeeally short because we barely knew each other. But still. Soul sisters.

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  10. I'm newish to your blog, but I love it, and I especially loved this story! Thanks for sharing!

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  11. LOVE it, y'all are too cute. TOO CUTE.

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  12. be still my heart! i love hwm (how we met) stories. you guys are adorable :)

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  13. You should make this a love story link up!

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  14. I love the story of Simace! Thanks for typing it up to share. I had to laugh when I got to the part about the tapas restaurant. I remember when you mentioned it in the VLOG long ago and I thought you said "topless" restaurant (until Simon spelled it out for potty-brains like me,) and I was like WAIT, what?!.

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  15. Halfway through I said to myself, I should really write down our story (I'm still a paper person)not because I've forgotten it but because I get so caught up in the kids and the now that I should pay some more attention to remembering. Thanks for sharing Grace!

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  16. Love this!! Takes me back to that same time, literally the very exact same timeline when I met and dated my husband!! After talking on the phone and email for thousands upon thousands of hours for the last few months our first real date was on MLK weekend 2007, the second date was v-day... Then we did long distance for waaaay too long too, but the weekend visits were amazing and I got an internship where he was that summer etc. Maybe I'll do my own postskipoo on it next week! I definitely think long dis relationships force couples to know each other better and faster than anyone else due to the surely cancer causing number of cell hours logged!

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  17. Oh. This made me cry. Such a wonderful story, Grace. And a great reminder to recall those first days. Also you could post wedding photos every day: so pretty!

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  18. Sigh. Love it. This stuff is the best kind of blog stuff for the closet romantic. Now I'm going to follow suit and try to write ours out by the 5 year anniversary next month. Thanks for the homework! ;-)

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  19. Yeah, that put me in a really good mood. I'm dying to know where you were working...I was on the Hill at the same time and I know we have some peeps in common. hmmmm.

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  20. i can't stop laughing at the yoga ball pic. i may have snorted when i first saw it. and the barefeet? HA. these picture captions are the best. i can't believe that sneaky valentine's day visit. that simon, what a romantic! loved every bit of this story!

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  21. Glad you hashed it out. Regarding long distance. This: "It was tough but we didn't know anything different and we had the summer to look forward to and we were able to visit each other quite a bit. Things got serious fast because when the majority of your communication is via phone and email you have to talk through the big stuff like matters of faith and ideas about family and parenting and all of that." I agree with every word especially after being long distance until, oh, two months before we got engaged. You get serious fast. So at least if it's not going to work you know it. Pros of long distance ... is there really such a thing?

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  22. I've been following your blog for a while. found you through the Zuniga family. Love love loved this post, mainly because it made me all kinds of giddy again thinking of my hubby and my story. You might have convinced me to post ours on our family blog. I don't know if it was the same era of our relationships or the crazy female thoughts I also had. :) ha Just wanted to semi introduce myself. I love your posts!

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  23. Ohmygosh, you two are so stinking cute it isn't fair! My great love story is slightlyish similar because I was living in the same area you were (my friend and I had an apt just outside Ft. Belvoir and I worked in Old Town Alexandria) and my engagement ring consists of The Hub's grandmother's diamonds, too. I'll have to consider writing out our story. I'm afraid my kids have slaughtered my memory.

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  24. Thanks a lot.... just cried to your love story like a freaking Nicholas Sparks book. Now there are mascara stains on my pillow. Way to go you lovebirds! :)
    So happy to read your story and that it led to who you are today and your children! You Pattons put smiles on my face :)

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  26. I always like reading other people's love stories, but would never ever write mine on my blog so I will recreate in your comments section.

    boy and girl meet at a party called the st. poggy's day party. talk for an hour. he follows her to a party where there is a blow up hottub in the living room. talk some more. girl goes to boys home following week to play chubby bunny. kiss a few days later.

    move in together, adopt some dogs, live together for another four years, and then girl moves away to pennsylvania

    the end. super jealous that you found a med student who didn't think that getting married while in medical school was just about the biggest thing you could do wrong ever.

    ;)

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  27. Oh, I love it! I need to get ours down before the memories get any more fuzzy, and, like you say, it helps to go back and think about all that nice stuff when dealing with hard (but good!) days. Thanks so much for sharing and for not making it into a hundred posts! It was fun to read! :)

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    1. Oh, and the turkey-bacon quiche is just as sweet as the V-Day surprise. Love it!

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  28. Such a great story, I didn't skim read even a little bit:)
    Its kind of awesome that when a guy knows he's not like a girl and has to have a 6 hour conversation with his friends he just knows, my husband pushed my down a hill the first time I told him I loved him cause he was like "dah he knew I was THE ONE like the first month in" would have been romantic if I didnt end up covered in grass crumpled at the bottom of a hill:)

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  29. The sweet story of Simace made me smile! Congratulations on the love you have, it is apparent you two were made for each other! :) plus the three adorables that came along afterwards!

    I am inspired to write down our story, but maybe just for the two of us because its a lot more boring, less romantic and scando...

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  30. med school prom, that one got a chuckle out of me.

    Beautiful story! I love how forward Simon was the whole time. It was like the Holy Spirit was just telling him that you were the one and to act quickly. I'm definitely going to write ours out soon!

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  31. This made my night. Loved this story, you two are so adorable together. Simon gets lifetime points for the VDay surprise. You must keep him.

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  32. Ahhhh cuteness. We also ran with the "we've been dating for only 8 months, let's get engaged!" timeline. Do they teach that in medschool? Fast proposals 101?

    I have to finish mine now-thanks for the kick in the tush to do it haha

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  33. I LUV your wedding dress!!! I clicked over to the wedding photos, my favourite is the one showing the bridal party getting ready and your dad sitting in a chair reading the newspaper ;-)

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    1. haha thank you! You know what's funny? That was just some rando. Not my dad -- he didn't look up from that newspaper once.

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  34. This just makes me just love you. And love Simon. Beautiful story, GMP. Your last paragraph is so very true. J and I share our numero tres anniversaire today. Looking through wedding photos whilst cleaning up baby puke is the kind of irony that makes life.

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  35. (Okay that is weird. It signed me as a really old classroom blog I had.) I'm new to all of this. :/

    -Bethany Nissley (fellow med school wife martyr)

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  36. I love your story! I need to write out our "how we met" story, but it is very boring.

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  37. cute, cute, cute.
    Love the slideshow of your wedding day. im a sucker for weddings.

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  38. I have loved every word of your love story! Not to mention you never fail to make me laugh with your posts (which is much appreciated). You have such a beautiful story, a beautiful family, and I am sure are continuing every day to add more to the beautiful story. Thank you for sharing, and inspiring me to write my own :-)

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  39. Loved this. Read it all, loved it all. Cheers to you and your Simon and your family!

    Also, you look AMAZING in that wedding picture. So pretty!

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  40. Ohhh I love this! Really needed something awesome to read this crazy morning :) This made me smile a lot! And now I, too, want to write our story out... But the accompanying pictures involve braces (me) and a butt cut (him). Ah, high school :/

    And what was the tapas place? La Tasca was my fav until they got new owners and changed some of the recipes and now it's just meh...

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  41. I actually started typing out our love story when you posted your Part 1 ... our anniversary is next week so I am thinking of tormenting my blog readers with at least the beginning of it, so long as my husband doesn't veto the idea. :)

    Loved, loved reading your story! And I had to laugh about the whole DTR thing ... we were similar, NEVER had that conversation, and then someone asked how long we'd been dating and my husband-then-boyfriend provided them with the date we'd first ever gone out. Too funny. :)

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    1. Also, did you just redesign your blog, or am I slow/unobservant? I LOVE the new header! (And I really hope it's a new header and I'm not just embarrassing myself, lol.)

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  42. Haha I loved the Valentine's Day story. You are hilarious. Thanks for sharing your how we met story! This makes me happy.

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  43. Love this story!! What tapas restaurant? There was one in Chinatown(?) and their peach sangria was amazing! Did you get married in Old Town?

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  44. Oh fun! A link up! Now I can justify the fact that I started writing it already. I love that y'all went straight to get the ring blessed and that you were totally clueless. Also? A scrapbook? You've got yourself a winner right there!

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  45. What I want to know is what did your parents think when you first started dating? Or did you keep it a secret until you were sure it might be going somewhere? Just wondering - since they were long-time friends. My husband and I dated long distance the whole time also - we didn't live in the same city until a few months before we got married. 8 months dating and 13 months from engagement to wedding. And I agree - interminable wait....!

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  46. Love your story! Thanks for sharing! It makes me want to write my own, but I'm avoiding being the girl looking at the clock and my ring finger right now.

    I have realized this before, but forgot. I went to ND with your sister-in-law Mary and cousin-in-law Erin. Such sweet girls! I think you probably knew my cousin, Natalie (The Busy Budgeting Mama) at Franciscan then too, you would have overlapped. Such a small world!

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  47. Love this! My hubby and I also fell in love in DC and I feel like its such a big part of us. We are still here and it's fun to remember those special times. I loved your love story! All mushy and stuff. My laziness has always won over in my quest to write out our love story but I really should get to it- You've inspired me!

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  48. You two are such a cute couple! Although it's hard for any couple to look cute whilst posing on an exercise ball. Gotta admit, I burst out laughing when I saw that one. Ha ha.

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  49. I just got a little choked up! Seriously, such a great story. And your wedding hair is quite possibly the best ever.

    I am going to be embarrassing now and link all three parts of my way too long love posts, because I love link-ups and I'm never not embarrassing.

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  50. Aww. So great. I especially love how you made us readers feel all geeky/rejected in the first part of the post V-day story and then (sweatily and weirded outly) thrilled that he showed up.

    Such a strange way for me to say it was well described.

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  51. awww memories of Homeslice! Love it!
    I had totally forgotten about when he was at the door and I went to town with Lysol wipes all over your room... you totally owe me. Just kidding- you were there when I met my Mr. and drilled you with a million questions about him because he's such an open book ;) Seems like worlds ago... and again, kinda feels like yesterday.

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  52. I love the DTR/need verbal confirmation part, because that was totally me. For me it was something like:

    *big conversation on our understanding of dating, what we wanted in a relationship, etc., etc.*
    *Andrew walks me to my car*
    Andrew: I'm so glad we're on the same page with everything.
    Me: Um, so, I have a question... are we actually dating?

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  53. Spring break picture- I bought that scarf for Ruthie I think, in Scotland. PS don't think I didn't notice. :) Okay now back to read the rest!

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  54. so, i just recently found your blog and am loving it...and this love story made me fall even more in love with your cute family! hopefully i don't sound like a total creeper but keep it up with the lovely stories from the past ;)

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  55. I absolutely loved reading this! You have such a wonderful love story -- and now you've inspired me to write mine down again. :)

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  56. Oh, I LOVE love stories. Theee best. Def writing mine out soon.

    Also, the picture of you two on the exercise ball? I died.

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  57. Love this. The scrapbook and Valentine's day visit is so sweet! And the part about discussing the big things while dating long distance- so true. AND reminiscing about the "early in love" days (like you said) is definitely good amidst the craziness of everyday life.

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  58. Thanks for making this a link-up! Your link-ups are always epic! I just added mine. :)

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  59. Was just going to link up, but realized my "love story" post is from 2009. Yikes. Better re-write one!

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  60. Biggest grin.
    I'm such a sucker, I love a good love story. I can't believe how freakishly close the two of you were in utero & being baptised, and also that proposal is very, very sweet. Lunchtimes in the sunshine with my boyfriend feel like the best kind of stolen hours and a proposal at a time like that sounds like heaven on earth. The last picture of you two with your wonderful children is just the icing on the cake - I'm gushing and grinning and my stomach is fizzing with butterflies. Gonna go ring my boyfriend and whisper sweet nothings and suggest a thin, VERY THIN band. Or just send him a link to this post and we can both be mushy and gooey together.
    Love to you all, so much love!

    Flora
    www.twowithseven.blogspot.co.uk

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  61. This is such a sweet love story!! I hope I can add mine sometime in the next 172 days (blog posts take me way too long to write!).

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  63. So true about long distance relationships making you hammer out the important stuff like kids, family, faith, etc. When I met my husband he was Commanding Officer of a Coast Guard cutter, and was subsequently gone for weeks at a time, plus he lived in CT and I lived in MA, so we talked A LOT, and ended up engaged 9 months later and married two months after that. Our communication skills continue to be really good if I do say so myself! My "love story" is far less romantic, I picked him up at a bar when he was on a port call. I'm a classy broad.

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  64. Love it!! The only thing I love more than "how we met" stories are birth stories. I am a glutton for those.

    As for our story - ask and you shall receive. I included my version of our story, which I recently wrote for our 16th anniversary. And then a friend (nicely) needled Rob into writing his own account of how it all happened.

    Enjoy!

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  65. Okay I just realized that I didn't comment the first time I read this masterpiece.

    I looooove that he told his mom back in the spring. He knew you were a keeper. And I can oh so totally relate to the being confused and needing a DTR.

    And this may or may not have been read aloud during our car trip to Chicago this weekend. Ryan snoozed through it, but the rest of us were big fans.

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  66. Excellent.
    Thankfully, you're leaving this link up around for a bit, so that gives me a chance to dig through my boxes of actual printed photos, scan them and slap together some sort of love story.

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  67. Love it! Our Love Story just happens to be featured on the "About" page of my blog ....in poem form :-)

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  68. I can't believe I haven't read this before! I'm glad you linked back to it for a slow such as myself.

    And as always I was doing some sort of "haha" -ing throughout the duration of my reading.

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  69. gah! i love this & i absolutely love your writing!! you're a brave lady thanks for keeping being a stay at home mom fun!

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  70. ahhhh, LOVE this! Makes me so so happy :) :) :)

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  71. Beautiful, beautiful. No I'm not crying.

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  72. I love this story, and you've inspired me to make my own. Hmm, I wonder how many parts it will have! I'll wait until this summer so I can pull out all the archives at our summer home our at Spirit Lake. What a neat story! Thanks for sharing. And I'm really glad I found Camp Patton via Shana of The Mom Edit!

    Love,

    Ann of Kremb de la Kremb

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  73. I'm just now reading this. Ah those formative dating years in/post college. CUTE. And embarrassing. But still mostly cute.

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  74. This blast from the past popped up on "you might also like" at the end of one of your recent posts. I LOVE reading love stories!! :)

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