After only 2 weeks of dating my parents happen to be coming
to town. Oops. A lot of pressure on a new relationship, but what the hell? It
goes without saying my parents immediately love Derek. When he goes to buy a
round of beers later that night, my dad turns to me and says “now there’s the
kind of man you marry.” My dad has never said this about any of the men I’ve dated.
EVER.
Derek and I have spent almost every day together since our first marathon date. The way he cared for me after my shoulder surgery gave me the
confidence he was in it for the good times and the bad. I’ve never let anyone
(besides my mom) care for me like that. The truth is, I almost married a person
I never trusted to actually be there for me. Joseph showed me on many occasions
that I would have to fend for myself (or rely on my family to help). Now that I
know what it feels like to have a true partner, I can’t believe I would’ve
settled for less.
A year after our first date Derek proposes to me in front
of the fountain where we had our first kiss. It is private and perfect – we
spend the next hour just the two of us drinking whiskey and cuddling in a booth. A year later we are married in front of our
friends and family on a gorgeous farm in western Maryland.
Even though he’s an introvert and the thought of dancing in
front of 150 people horrifies him, he learns a choreographed dance. ::swoooooooooon:: There's even a lift!
A month later we are whipping through the Scottish
highlands on a motorcycle. Life is grand.
The End.
Haha. Just kidding. It’s just the beginning. We recently celebrated our two year anniversary and I have to say the whole marriage thing
is pretty awesome. It’s not without its difficulties... there is no fairytale
ending. Life is still confusing, people are still terrible sometimes and the
world is nuts right now.
But to anyone reading this thinking you should settle
because you’re “at that age” or you’ve been with the same person “for too long”,
don’t do it. Don’t fucking do it. Don’t settle for the person who isn’t a true
partner, doesn’t care for you when you’re sick or doesn’t make you feel
comfortable in your home. I’m on the
other side and I can tell you it’s worth it. I hated my friends who told me
“you’ll just know” when you meet the right person – I wanted to punch them in
the face.
So now you’ll probably want to punch me in the face.
Because I did “just know.” From the beginning it felt different and I’d say
within 3 months I knew I wanted to spend my life with this man.
So that’s my story. From heartbreak to happily married. I
will remind you that the path was not pretty and littered with jokers. But I
survived it and so will you. Or you won't. And you'll adopt some old German shepherds who have aged out of their police duties or service-dog jobs and you'll spend your days caring for these magnificent creatures who gave so freely of themselves and they deserve to be pampered, damn it. The end.
