This post is for my DF. Bear with me. I shall be sappy to all those reading.
DF and I met in 2005. I had just ended yet another terrible relationship and I was not ready to start dating again. A wonderful friend, whom I'll call Wonder Woman, told me that her best friend, (my future DF) was amazing and would be just perfect for me. Now knowing WW had great taste, I let her hook me up.
So DF and I had a blind date. At the Brew Pub in Keene, New Hampshire.
Midway through the date, DF actually left me alone. He had to go let a student in his locked Karate school because they left something behind.
I remember sitting there waiting for DF for twenty minutes....thinking, WTF...this guy just bails on our first date? But something inside calmly told me to wait for him. So I did.
He tells me now that he was truly shocked when he came back and I was still waiting there for him.
That night, we both noticed some crazy similarities between one another. But we were young. Too young. Still both selfish and too wrapped up in ourselves to really see each other clearly.
So we casually dated for a few months. Caring for but not fully loving one another.
Then, I pulled the rip cord. I up and moved to Seattle. He wasn't ready to move with me and I wasn't ready to stay in Keene for him. So off I went.
That was six years ago.
We stayed friends, with a casual, "hi, howareya" occasionally on the phone. We each fell in love with other people. We each got our hearts broken. We moved on. But I always thought fondly of DF. I knew he was a good man. I knew he had a good heart. It just wasn't our time yet.
About a year ago when I was still in Seattle living with TBF, I got a random email one night from DF in early spring.
"Hey, I had drinks with Wonder Woman tonight...and she asked me about you. Said that she always thought you and I would wind up together. Just missing you and thinking of you tonight."
I thought, hell, we all have those drunk nights where we miss an ex. So I told him to buck up champ....and tomorrow would be a new day.
He messaged me back and asked for the chance to really get to know me again.
Uh, say what? I was in no position to get in a long distance relationship. No way, no how.
But. But. But. DF knew. He had known for a while. He knew he would do whatever it took to make me understand. He needed me in his life again. He needed me to give him a real chance.
So he spent the next 6 months calling all day everyday. We really got completely reacquainted on the phone. I got to know him again. He got to know me again.
Then he flew to Seattle in August to prove how serious he was. Which he did. He held my face and said he loved me. He just needed me to let him love me.
And in that moment, my world cracked open.
So it was game on. Long distance all the way baby.
I flew to Keene in September. Now I know that right after I flew home, DF bought my ring. He was sure. I was sure I was going to marry him, I just had no idea he had a ring.
By November, we were both relocated to Florida and living together. We both completely changed our lives to be together.
The weekend after Thanksgiving, I could tell DF was upset one random night. It was a Saturday. Sissy and her Amazing Hus had come over for supper. Right before she left, she said something to DF about getting me the Tacori ring I've always wanted.
So, I came into our bedroom and found DF really super sad.
I asked him what was wrong and he told me that he loved me but he just couldn't give me what I want...that he couldn't afford a Tacori ring.
Well, how silly I thought. I don't need a Tacori ring. I needed him. So I said that to him.
And he said, "You don't understand baby. I already have a ring."
Which BLEW ME AWAY...and naturally I thought, "Uh, can I see it?!"
He got really sweet and emotional and started telling me how much he loved me. I realized what was starting to happen and I thought, "Oh my god! He is going to propose....we should wait...I don't want him to be rushed...I want him to be sure...."
So I start crying and DF is crying. And at that very moment, my papa walks in and says, "what are you two yodels crying about?" Not knowing he just walked in on DF's near proposal.
We started laughing uncontrollably and told Papa we were getting upset about expectations other people are putting on us.
And he said, "Look, you can't compare yourselves to others. Just be happy. That's all that matters." And papa left the room.
So DF stands up, goes to his secret hiding place, gets the ring box, gets on one knee....says the words I wanted to hear my whole life...and asks me to marry him.
And I said yes.
DF....you are the love of my life. When I have you- I have
everything. I cannot imagine a morning without waking up next to you. I am so lucky that you love me. I am going to spend the rest of my life making you as happy as you make me. You are my whole world. I love you. All ways and Always.
