Our Love Story

After reading two posts linked up at From Mrs to Mama about the ladies' loves stories... I decided I had to share the answers to these questions for myself. I'm a big ol' sap, despite what you might think about my type-A personality. Marley & Me makes me cry every time and I love getting flowers and cards. I used to be a hopeless romantic, but now I'm a happily married romantic :-) I hope that you enjoy reading about me and my husband's love story. Also, join in the fun by heading over the the link-up (there are also questions for single ladies)!

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?
Five years as of St. Patrick's Day 2012.

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?} --my answer is long, sorry!
We met at a fraternity St. Patrick's Day party in at Missouri S & T (formerly UMR). My Mizzou roommate and I headed there for the weekend because I had a friend from high school who invited us down. There was a big concert (one of my then favorite artists, Trapt) & lots of Catholic single guys. On the drive down, I told my roommate that I was going to meet my husband that weekend........AND I DID. Ironic.

My future husband was not who I expected; at one point, he tried to hit on me and I blew him off. Later, I got annoyed that my roommate was dancing with a guy and wasn't ready to go back to our hotel yet, so I ended up finding him and giving him another chance. We actually hit it off really well & talked until the sun came up. We exchanged numbers, although my husband admits he didn't think it'd go anywhere. While I was driving back to Mizzou, I got a text message from him that said, "be careful if you are not already back." Simple enough, but it made me bawl my eyes out as my roommate slept in the passenger's seat. That sealed the deal...we had SO much in common & he cared enough to text me an hour after we left. Like I said, I am a sap.
So, I forgot to mention that he was kind of dating someone else when we met...and he didn't want to "break her heart." Later that afternoon he text messaged me that I should probably forget about him because he didn't want to hurt the other girl or me, so he wasn't trying to lead me on. Basically, he was saying that it was nice to meet me, but we didn't have a future. UMMMMM, I wasn't okay with that. I made it my mission to be his wife :-)
I had an Italian test the next day, but couldn't focus at all. I told my roommate that I was driving back down to see him. She thought I was kind of crazy, but said that if I was sure he was my future husband, I had to do it! So I did something totally out of character....and it was enough to persuade him I was worth his time. Once I got to his school, we talked some more and decided to pursue a relationship. He asked for some time to get his head on straight, because this was a lot to take in & he had to figure out what to tell the other girl. I mean, it's not everyday you meet your soulmate. My husband was a freshman in college and quite frankly, living a typical frat lifestyle (it was a Catholic fraternity & he did attend mass...just liked to party a little tooooo much). I think that my husband had to come to grips with the fact that God had put us together when we both least expected it. His plan was different from HIS plan.
A few weeks later, and countless tears on my part (thinking we weren't ever going to go out); we had our first date. It was over Spring Break. I drove to his home town, because it was on my way to my parents' house. We went out to dinner & drove around. I think it's cute that we ordered the same thing at Texas Roadhouse. We ended up at a little lake, listening to Elton John (sappy much?), and looking at the stars. When he leaned in to kiss me, I kid you not, it started lightening. It was the most movie-like moment of my life...and the rest is history.

3. If married, how long have you been married? If not, is this the guy you hope to marry? {do tell}
We've been married since November 22, 2008 (we were engaged for exactly six months), after knowing each other for 1 year and 8 months. When you know, you know.

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding? If not, where would you like to get married? And will it be big or small?
We had a medium sized wedding in my hometown. We had a Nuptial Mass & dinner/dance reception at the KC hall. You can read about our college kid honeymoon here.

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!
I always call my husband Fred. It started a long time ago when I said, Ready Freddy? My husband asked who Fred was; and since then, that's his nickname. For a while he called me Fran...so our Wii names are Fred Jr and Lil' Fran B. :-)

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

1. He cares enough about my stress level to ask, "What do you need help with?" He's amazing.
2. My husband cleans the bathroom. Score.
3. He was right by my side during a very intense natural labor, and he probably got carpal tunnel from giving my back so much counterpressure. He also supports cloth diapers, breastfeeding, and any other crunchy thing I decide we need to do :-)

7. Tell us how he proposed? Or your ideal proposal?
To make a long story short, I knew it was coming. We went back to our little lake from the story above. We were sitting there talking and he got kind of upset. I asked him what was wrong and he said, "Well, now would be the perfect time to ask you to marry me, but I don't have the ring!" I told him that I didn't care, we could work that out later. :-) So he asked me to marry him but then asked me again later with the ring. He got down on one knee and said, "I'm want to make you my wife. I don't want to spend the rest of my life without you." I cried. He cried. I wore the ring to mass the next morning and couldn't stop smiling. That was Memorial Day weekend 2008.

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

the flowers that died

My husband tries to be a sexy romance guy, but he is also a softy. Our first Valentine's day he surprised me by coming to see me the night before--we were still at separate colleges. He left the flowers in his truck, though, and when he went to give them to me the next morning...they were frozen. They died by that night. I love the champagne and strawberries, so we've done that too.
My favorite V-Day gift from him was the first one we were married. He made me a huge card from about 12 pages of construction paper. He included a spinner wheel that had various sayings on it...but he glued the wheel, so it didn't really spin. It's the thought that counts :-)


9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?
I think most women are both at various times in their life. Watch a movie & snuggle in bed is our weekly date...so I'd really love a sunset dinner on the beach right about now.

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?
We want to go on cruises around the world & trips across the country. So in one word; travel.
We'd love to have a personal yacht & sail it around the Mediterranean. Now if only we could discover a new element and make a billion dollars....

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.
Tuesday is usually my 'get a bit ahead' night for the blog...so I don't know if I'll do that or not. We also have something really big going on in our life right now, so we probably won't just be relaxing like I'd love to do. After a few years of marriage, life takes over. I never thought we'd be one of those couples that lets "holidays" creep up on them...but we totally are right now. Le sigh.

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?
Dinner out at a nice restaurant this weekend (we have a groupon), although the baby will be eating with us ;-)

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.
I have so much to say about the strength of our relationship. We want to be marriage enrichment, or marriage prep leaders someday when we get settled in a permanent home.
Since I can only give one, I'd have to say that honesty is so important. Build your courtship on being honest. If you are brutally honest, your partner will be able to truly love you. If the person you are dating doesn't openly share with you, or can't handle your honesty--I'm sure the relationship wasn't meant to be. Trust comes from seeing each other's weaknesses and being able to work through things. True love is not possible without honesty.
As a math person, here's a little equation for you:
Honesty --> Trust --> Good & Bad --> Compatibility --> Faithfullness --> Love --> Comfort = Forever

14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.