Subtlety Leads to Suddenly
I was waiting for church to start when I saw her for the first time. She was wearing a white dress and, in my 22 year old immature mind I thought, does she want some fries with that shake? She was visiting with a girl I knew pretty well and I knew I had my opening.
I had "broken up" with a girl I thought I was going to marry a few months prior and we were still seeing each other off and on when I met Caitlin. I was not in a good place. The relationship was everything a relationship shouldn't be and it showed in most aspects of my life. I wasn't happy. Together, we were like fire and gasoline. We didn't bring out the best in each other. I was clingy and downright creepy at times. She was the first girl I had ever loved and I held on too long. I made plenty of poor choices. Finally, through the persistence and help of a few true friends, I cut all ties and never looked back.
After the first hour of church we headed to Sunday School where I was sitting in front of "white dress" girl and her friend with whom I was acquainted. They were chatting back and forth and I proceeded to put my foot in my mouth for the first time in regards to Caitlin. Trust me, my foot hasn't really left my mouth since. Back to the story. I turned around and said, "Hey Kas, can you tell your friend to shut up?" I don't know if this is a direct quote but you get the idea. I made a complete ass of myself but I did get a smile. She will probably vehemently deny that I got a smile out of her but this is my story. And don't worry, it gets better.
Just a short while later I caught her in the hall and yelled out to her and used the best pickup line you will ever hear, "Hey, do you have a phone?" Smooth as silk, right? She "reluctantly" gave me her number. We then proceeded to have lunch with the other members of our congregation.
As we were eating I noticed that two brothers had brought their two fiances to the lunch and were sitting next to Caitlin and her friend. I also noticed that one of the fiances had a substantially larger ring than the other. So me, not wanting to miss another opportunity to look like an idiot said, "Man, your brother sure showed you up when it comes to ring size!" My cousin, who heard all of this, looked at me like he should have, with disdain and disbelief in his eyes. I promptly realized my mistake and immediately apologized. To be fair, I was more concerned with decimating my already slim chances at getting Caitlin to say yes to a date. I was, and still am in a lot of ways, a hot mess.
After four months of prodding and asking she agreed to a date. She swears to this day that she was never interested and said yes because of my persistence. Tell that to the 4 A.M. texts I would receive from her. Tell that to the looks we would shoot each others way whenever we were around each other. We all know it was because of my charm and ridiculously handsome self. In the end, I won. I received the greatest gift and blessing when she decided I was the one. I really did win.
Fast forward five and a half years and we have three kids that keep us on every part of the emotional spectrum, a dog that hates us but loves our kids, three moves, two cities, and the greatest life in the world. I am grateful to have married an individual that truly finds the extraordinary in the ordinary. She is who I want to be when I grow old. While we are polar opposites we love music. We are that couple belting out songs in the car next to you. We love each other. We hate being apart from each other. We don't like each other some days. We don't hide that we struggle. We argue. We work it out. We are better today and will be even better tomorrow. Through all this we trust each other. Our individual focus is each other while our mutual focus is our family. We make it work.
I have decided to start a blog for many reasons. I want to leave behind a legacy for my wife and kids. I want to stop annoying my friends and family on social media with my incessant posts so I created a blog where I can do the same! I want to touch people. I want to help people. I want them to see that struggling is not only normal but also very much OK! I want to be helped. I want my views and opinions challenged. I want to grow. I want to be better.
I had "broken up" with a girl I thought I was going to marry a few months prior and we were still seeing each other off and on when I met Caitlin. I was not in a good place. The relationship was everything a relationship shouldn't be and it showed in most aspects of my life. I wasn't happy. Together, we were like fire and gasoline. We didn't bring out the best in each other. I was clingy and downright creepy at times. She was the first girl I had ever loved and I held on too long. I made plenty of poor choices. Finally, through the persistence and help of a few true friends, I cut all ties and never looked back.
After the first hour of church we headed to Sunday School where I was sitting in front of "white dress" girl and her friend with whom I was acquainted. They were chatting back and forth and I proceeded to put my foot in my mouth for the first time in regards to Caitlin. Trust me, my foot hasn't really left my mouth since. Back to the story. I turned around and said, "Hey Kas, can you tell your friend to shut up?" I don't know if this is a direct quote but you get the idea. I made a complete ass of myself but I did get a smile. She will probably vehemently deny that I got a smile out of her but this is my story. And don't worry, it gets better.
Just a short while later I caught her in the hall and yelled out to her and used the best pickup line you will ever hear, "Hey, do you have a phone?" Smooth as silk, right? She "reluctantly" gave me her number. We then proceeded to have lunch with the other members of our congregation.
As we were eating I noticed that two brothers had brought their two fiances to the lunch and were sitting next to Caitlin and her friend. I also noticed that one of the fiances had a substantially larger ring than the other. So me, not wanting to miss another opportunity to look like an idiot said, "Man, your brother sure showed you up when it comes to ring size!" My cousin, who heard all of this, looked at me like he should have, with disdain and disbelief in his eyes. I promptly realized my mistake and immediately apologized. To be fair, I was more concerned with decimating my already slim chances at getting Caitlin to say yes to a date. I was, and still am in a lot of ways, a hot mess.
After four months of prodding and asking she agreed to a date. She swears to this day that she was never interested and said yes because of my persistence. Tell that to the 4 A.M. texts I would receive from her. Tell that to the looks we would shoot each others way whenever we were around each other. We all know it was because of my charm and ridiculously handsome self. In the end, I won. I received the greatest gift and blessing when she decided I was the one. I really did win.
Fast forward five and a half years and we have three kids that keep us on every part of the emotional spectrum, a dog that hates us but loves our kids, three moves, two cities, and the greatest life in the world. I am grateful to have married an individual that truly finds the extraordinary in the ordinary. She is who I want to be when I grow old. While we are polar opposites we love music. We are that couple belting out songs in the car next to you. We love each other. We hate being apart from each other. We don't like each other some days. We don't hide that we struggle. We argue. We work it out. We are better today and will be even better tomorrow. Through all this we trust each other. Our individual focus is each other while our mutual focus is our family. We make it work.
I have decided to start a blog for many reasons. I want to leave behind a legacy for my wife and kids. I want to stop annoying my friends and family on social media with my incessant posts so I created a blog where I can do the same! I want to touch people. I want to help people. I want them to see that struggling is not only normal but also very much OK! I want to be helped. I want my views and opinions challenged. I want to grow. I want to be better.
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