My Funny Valentine

This is your dad and I when we were newly dating. 8/18/07

Fortuitously, the prompt about how I fell in love or how I knew my spouse was "the one" has fallen on Valentine's Day. Dad and I don't really celebrate because we aren't the "romantical" types with the flowers and the chocolates and whatnot, and yes, we think it is a consumer-driven holiday and all that. However, don't give up on your old parents and think we're just living together in comfort. We definitely still love each other and smack each others' booties and wink at one another and all those crazy things that you will understand more as you get older. =)

The story of your dad asking me out is a great one, but the story of when I knew he was "the one" (even though I don't believe in that concept) is nice and mundane...just like much of our romantic history. 

One day, a few months into our dating, he was really late picking me up from a designated meeting place so that we could go out together. I was sitting in a dark parking lot and starting to get worried. I didn't want to be annoying but was calling and texting him and trying to figure out where he was. It was about twenty minutes or so after the time we said we'd meet and he texted me to say he was just leaving his office...which meant it would be another 20 or so minutes until he arrived!!

When he got there finally he said he had just gotten carried away playing Wii at the office and he didn't have a good excuse and he seemed so low about it and kept apologizing. He seemed very distressed. I asked him if there was something bigger that was bothering him. 

He basically said he was worried that he'd upset me and that he "didn't want to mess things up." I remember being offended at this thought, and nearly shouting, "You can't mess things up, I love you, you dope!" But I stopped myself, because I hadn't even realized that this was how I felt, so I certainly wasn't ready to tell him quite yet!!

I finally got up the courage after acting very ridiculous one night to tell your dad that I was in love with him. We both already knew it and he said he loved me back. When he left my house that night, I cried and cried with joy because I knew I had truly found the man I was going to marry and spend my life with and start a family with and the whole thing. 

A few months later, we got married. 

And look, here we are! A few years later we've got you, and we're thinking about adding a sibling to the brood and we're just livin' the dream. A blessed life!!