"How I met my honey!"

How could I have almost forgotten to post my honey story!?

My story isn't very exciting. Basically once Dale and I hooked up one weekend we've been together ever since and that was almost four years ago. Well I guess there is a little more detail than that I suppose so I'll share the short story. ;)

We met for the first time in March at a benefit dinner for a local girl who was killed in a car accident. He was the sound man for the band that played, though I tease him and call him a groupie. ;)

After being married for 14 years and recently divorced I was enjoying, probably a little too much, my new found freedom. After the club closed a group of us went back to my best friend's house to continue the party. Dh was there with a few of his friends and we talked some but I was sort of involved with someone else at the time and he got "offended" as Dale put it when he would talk to me. After that night I didn't see him again until October when the same band played at the bar again. We hung out for most of the night drinking, talking and flirting with one another. I was still in the same relationship (and I use that term loosely) as when Dale and I first met but it was going no where and I knew that, meeting Dale just forced me to move on sooner. That evening my life with Dale began. He came back to my friend's house with us and we danced and played cards and ended up spending the weekend together. I can remember feeling sad when Monday came thinking he was going to go back to his apartment in another town, back to his job and his life and I'd never see him again. Those things did happen but I saw him again, and again and again and it wasn't long before we decided that living apart wasn't what we wanted. Guess you could say we moved pretty fast but it's been truly wonderful.

4 years later we have two beautiful children, have completely remodeled the home I grew up in, are going on our first family vacation and have an absolutely amazing life!

Oh and before I sat down to write this I asked Dale to recall our first night together. He said I bought his drinks all night, got him drunk, took him home and held him captive all weekend. lol

And I'm in love with this man? Yep! :)



I haven't had a chance to read the other stories at this cool blog but once the kiddos are asleep I'm going to make my way through Mr. Linky!

"We are lucky," my husband said to me this weekend. Curious as to what he meant I turned to him to see his eyes welled with tears. Our local radio station was raising money to benefit The Barbra Bush Children's Hospital where B stayed for 5 days in October. The families of the children were sharing their stories on the air and he had been listening to them while working in the garage. Many of the children were/are very sick, much sicker than B. One mother even talked about having to make the heartbreaking decision to take her child off of life support. I know I spend a fair amount of time feeling sorry for myself and for B and for everything we will have to endure in the years to come, but it could be so much worse. At that moment I realized Dale is right, we are lucky. Instead of focusing on the child Brooklyn will never become, I am going to make sure she reaches her full potential and becomes the person that God intended her to be. Instead of feeling down after reading the simple milestones that are her goals for the upcoming months, I am going to celebrate each and every milestone she's worked so hard to reach, because even those carry the fullest of meaning. Instead of worrying about the future and all of the uncertainties, I am going to embrace this journey we are on, as emotional and challenging as it may be. I am going to take one day at a time, one step at a time and try to be positive. Brooklyn is a beautiful little girl and her smile warms my heart. She has taught me patience, perseverance, and an appreciation for life that I'd never had before. She is happy and thriving and despite her imperfections my love for her is unconditional. I should be thankful, and I am.

For those of you that don't know, we are going down to Boston again on the 17th for an appointment with a Neurologist.

Today I planned on blogging about how proud I am about the accomplishments Dale has made in his career and about how wonderful I think he is and after our conversation this morning I'm going to do just that. ;)

I will admit that I was a bit worried about Dale's work ethics in the beginning of our marriage. When we met he was working a half assed job under the table with one of his drinking buddies. When things became serious between us he got a job as a carpenter with a contractor in our town. After working there for a year he was let go. I was pregnant with Dev at the time and worried about how we were going to survive on just my rent check. Weeks went by with no luck and finally he got a job manufacturing log homes. He liked the job but after a year we realized there was no room for advancement and he knew he needed to look elsewhere for work.

My BIL had just retired from the Navy and at the time was working as a human resource manager at Lowe's. He encouraged Dale to apply for a job there, promising to put in a good word for him. Dale applied and was hired, but the position wasn't what we had hoped for. It was only a part time position working in the tools and hardware department but he decided that he'd work his way up once his foot was in the door. During this past year he has been promoted 4 times and is now a commercial sales specialist. In November he took a entry management training program so hopefully he will become a manager of one of the departments before the year is through. My lumberjack, as I used to call him, now gets up in the morning and puts on his khaki pants, his button down shirt and his dress shoes and heads off to work. On Tuesday night he attended our town's planning board meeting to introduce himself and pass out his business cards in hopes that the contractors will bring their business to Lowe's. I think it was then that I thought wow, he has really come far.

Today I realized again how wonderful my husband is. Life has been pretty crazy the last few months and despite all we are up against he still talks about having another baby. Though I wondered how Dale would adjust to being a parent, he has made me proud once again by proving that he is willing to work hard, not only at his job, but at learning his role as a father. I think I'm pretty fortunate that he is my husband.