I'm glad you made it. You made it possible to love. I never thought I would fall in love let alone grateful for him to show up. Growing up, I was a wallflower. I had a group of friends that I hung out with but, I never had a boyfriend of any kind. I was 16 at the time I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression. It was hard enough dealing with myself; I didn't want to bring anyone else into the disaster that was my life. A few of my friends would try and set me up with one of their guy friends but I always managed to get out of it. I would find the smallest of faults in each prospective boyfriend. To be more specific, I literally had a list of what I wanted, and didn't want in a guy. To be more specific, for me to meet someone they had to have certain "qualities". The requirements consisted of the following:

He could not be Catholic. I was raised Baptist.
He had to have blue eyes and blond hair.
I was raised in the city so, absolutely no country boys.
He could not drive a truck. In our town, boys who drove trucks were considered hillbillies.
And of course, being a naive high schooler, he had to be hot!


I prided myself in the quest for "the one". I made it almost impossible for me to meet someone. For weeks, my best friend tried over and over for me to meet her boyfriend's friend. She did, however, tell me his name, Michael. Still, I declined. That was until that cool August night. My friend invited me over for a "girls' night". We were sitting in her living room when the doorbell rang. Her boyfriend had come over. Him showing up unannounced was not out of the ordinary. What was out of the ordinary was the guy that was walking in behind him. I was fuming. I had been tricked. Once I calmed down, I took a harder look at this stranger. He was wearing khaki pants that unzipped at the ankle and at the knee. The shirt he was wearing was stretched out to the max. I looked at him wondering if he had been set up as well. It turns out he was not set up; this was just how he dressed. I knew it was going to be a very awkward night.

A few hours into the movie, my mother called. Apparently, there was a strange guy sitting in his car right in front of our house. I knew exactly who he was. I met this guy that worked at Steak n Shake a few days before. Turns out, he was a friend of a friend. I was friendly but not in an attractive state. I guess he misread my signal. I went to leave to go figure out what he wanted, and Michael asked me if I wanted him to go with me. I said sure; nothing like hunting down a girl's stalker to raise some red flags. We never found him.
We returned to my friend's and continued the movie. He was sitting next to me, and I could smell his cologne; Tommy Hilfiger.

When the movie ended, they both headed out to their car. My friend and I walked with them outside. While she and her boyfriend were making out, Michael and I stood in silence. Before he got in the car, he turned to me. He held out his arm and shook my hand telling me "It was nice to meet you." I thought I had succeeded in scaring him away.
I didn't hear from him the next few days, so I thought I was in the clear. However, one day he called and asked me out on a date. I figured why not. When he came to pick me up, he pulled up in a tiny blue truck. I had to laugh at myself. Strike one.

We went to the theatre and bought tickets for the movie "American Sweetheart". They told us which theater to go to, and off we went. Never did we think to look at the tickets that were given to us. It turned out, we were not seeing "American Sweetheart", but "American Pie 2". The awkward silence during the movie was deafening. I was so nervous, I crossed my legs and never moved. When the movie had ended, I got up to leave. I never uncrossed my legs and now I couldn't feel them. I immediately fell to the ground. Embarrassment flooded my face. I got back up and started to walk again; Nope, still numb. This time, however, he caught me before I hit the ground.

We started to get to know each other, and he told me some interesting facts about his life. I learned he grew up on a farm in the country. Strike two. He was indeed Catholic. Strike three. He did have light brown hair and blue eyes, so he got me on that one. He met only one of my requirements. As much as that should have me question us, I was pulled in. He was kind, funny and incredibly sweet. We continued to date throughout High School and college. He was studying to be an accountant and I a Veterinary Technician. A friend, and classmate of mine went on a double date with her and her boyfriend. He was a firefighter and once they started talking, Michael decided to change his major to Firefighter/Paramedic; much to his mother's chagrin.
I was raised in a first responder family. My uncle was a firefighter, my grandpa before him, and I was always at the fire department. During my days in college, we were going out to a local farm to get hands on experience with large animals. That day came and when we met at the farm, I recognized the property. It was Michael's home. It wasn't long until I realized that, even though I tried hard to avoid him, I was destined to meet him anyway.

We dated for 5 years. My family and I went to Florida for a vacation, and he came with us. There was something always off with him. I didn't know what was going on, but I soon found out a few days later. We would go every night and walk the beach. One of those nights, as we were walking hand in hand, I kept stepping on jelly fish that had been washed up by the water. I was so frustrated and just wanted to go back to the house. I turned and headed that way when he grabbed my hand. I hate that I do not remember the words he said. All I could think about was the ring he was putting on my finger. Of course, I said yes! We were married in 2006 and welcomed our son 4 years later. We have been together for 20 years, married for 15. I look back on that August night often. I had tried so hard to stay single, that I didn't realize, I went against all my requirements. It turned out that, meeting Michael, was everything I never wanted.