My 13th anniversary was this weekend, so, in honor of this monumental occasion, I thought I would share the story of our journey from engagement to altar.
For those of you who haven't known us for our entire lives, Grant and I have known each other since we were 5 and 6 years old. He was even my boyfriend for a minute in middle school and took me to the fair. He claims he kissed me but I only remember holding his hand and staring at his deformed pinkies (they are C-shaped). Somehow we never made it to an official relationship until I ran into him at a dance recital after we both divorced. Anna Claire and my niece were in dance class together. I saw him sitting behind me and my sister-in-law told me he had also recently gotten a divorce. I decided he would be a great "break-in" date since I had been friends with him for decades and I was rusty at dating after almost 13 years with the same guy. When I left the recital, I stopped and spoke to him, caught up for a minute, and told him to call me sometime. I walked out all excited thinking, "Yeah, I still got it!" and went home and waited for the phone to ring….and waited….and waited. Finally, three days later, I'm thinking to myself, "Heck, my kids will be back in a couple of days. Either I call him now (Which, to me, is the equivalent of giving up my Southern Belle card and becoming something worse than a Democrat- I would be a FEMINIST!!!!), or I don't go out for another week. I swallowed my Scarlett O'hara attitude and dialed his number. When he answered the phone, I basically said, "Well, you didn't call, and my kids are coming back, so if you want to go out it's now or never." We set the date for the following night.
While I was getting ready for our date, another guy called and wanted to meet for drinks. I told him I'd meet him at 9:30-10:00 (in case I needed a Plan B). Since I was familiar with Grant's style, preppy and well-groomed, I dressed in a cute sundress and sandals and sat down to wait for a knock at my door….and waited….and waited. 45 minutes later, he arrived at my door in a t-shirt with a gecko on the front, tan painter's pants, and mandals!!! Between his wardrobe choice and punctuality, I was convinced that Plan B was a good call on my part. We went down to his car and I had to move piles of papers out of the seat so I could even get in the car. We went to Vanellis and while we were waiting for a table, I started quizzing him. You see, I decided when I divorced, there was no reason to waste my time dating a guy that wasn't up to my marriage standard. Even if the "it factor" wasn't there, at least the candidate would be worth a try. I didn't want to fall in love with another man that could never be what I wanted from life. I made a list of what I wanted and didn't want, and proceeded to grill him. We rapid fired back and forth, things like 'how long have you had your job?' how often do you attend church?' how many drinks do you consume per week on average?' 'what is the amount of your total debt excluding your home?'- You get the idea.
The quiz continued into the morning. About 3 a.m. we decided to call it a night. We literally talked for 7 hours straight. I walked him to the door and he said good night and walked down the sidewalk. About halfway to his car, he turned around and came back and gave me a quick, simple kiss, and walked away again. I was hooked right then and there. Come to find out, he was late because he went and bought that outfit off a mannequin at Old Navy because his clothes were all preppy and he didn't think that was what people wore 'these days' and he wanted to be 'hip'. We power dated for 4 months. We were together every minute of every day except for bedtime. At bedtime, we were on the phone until 2-3 in the morning and I had to be at work at 7. We were literally living on love because we rarely ate or slept those four months. During the forth month, I started looking at houses to buy. He went into panic mode. In both our minds, we knew where the relationship was headed, but for some reason, I wanted a house. He suggested moving in together, which I quickly vetoed (He was getting free milk from time to time, but at least I was making him come to my barn to get it. ). The next thing I knew, he hopped onto one knee and popped the question. To this day, I have no idea what he said because in my head all I could hear was Charlie Brown's teacher's voice, but I said yes anyway, and the wedding planning began.
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