A Mothers Sacrifice, part 2

So, where were we? Oh yea, now I remember.

I gathered up my courage and called that guy. Now don't be misunderstood about this guy; he wasn't just any guy. We had been acquaintances since 7th grade, my best guy friend was his best friend and we used to hang out every so often. Heck, we had even kissed before......playing a game of dare that is! I had had a crush on him and his best friend had a crush on me and who knows who he had a crush on. It was junior high after all. So now that you know our history you know that it just wasn't a spur of the moment type of decision for me to ask some random guy to be my date. There was a method to my madness!

I don't remember the exact conversation and I don't remember it being awkward, but he did say yes to the date. The next thing I do remember is meeting him at the zoo with my son. We walked for hours and talked about random stuff, and it was a nice day. I remember thinking that he would want nothing to do with a girl who was still married (I was only separated at this time) with a 2 1/2 year old kid but it was still nice to just hang out and have a friend.

The day of the wedding came, and I spent it getting ready with the bride and brides maids, I was really nervous. So here we were all dressed to the nines, walking into the church and I saw him, and his expression. LOL, his jaw dropped and he had a huge smile on his face. I'm sure mine was bright red and I was unable to speak out of embarrassment! He picked me up and gave me a hug.

We all made it through the ceremony and since it was a blizzard and freezing outside he made the decision to drive me to the reception rather than us driving separately. The whole reception is kind of a blur and the next thing I know were at an Irish pub downtown drinking Guinness with the bride, groom and friends. I didn't think that my date had been drinking but later on he did admit that he had no choice because he was so nervous! Well I wont mention her name but she kept at my date and he finally got up the nerve to kiss me. It was the best first kiss ever!

Well, from that day on we were inseparable. He worked nights, I think, and we lived at opposite ends of town but we spent every possible moment together. He adored my son and my son couldn't get enough of "Justin". That's what he called him for weeks, because I had been hanging out with a friend with that name before we had set up our date. He was annoyed by it and I thought it was hysterical. He still gives me crap for it! Anyway, we went to movies and dinner, made out on my parents couch, played pool and all sorts of stuff. He even babysat for me while I was at work! When we weren't together we were emailing back and forth and I wish I had printed them out and saved them. He was a total romantic and we both knew that we were meant to be. It hurt to be away from each other. It was just, perfect.

He grew up as an only child and for the most part it was him and his mom. So coming into my family was like culture shock for him! We always had family parties and get together's that included like a million people. He loved it and I loved that fact that he felt like he was part of a big family.

After a year of dating we were really serious and Christmas time came. We had made plans for him to come to my parents after work and spend the night on their couch so that he could spend Christmas morning with us. I remember him getting to the house at 2 am and he was acting funny. Not really funny, just fidgety. We all woke up early (he was exhausted) and he gave me my present. It was a new 35 mm canon camera and I LOVED it. But I was also really disappointed. I had thought he was going to propose and he didn't but I wasn't going to let it show or bother me; I was just happy that he was there and he loved me.

Three days later we were out to dinner at a Indian place and he just couldn't hold still, didn't have a lot to say and it was kind of awkward through the whole night. It was late and we were both tired and decided it was time for bed. In the dark, I got undressed and was just getting into bed when all of the sudden he got down on his knee and proposed. Yes, as I stood there in my bra and underwear he asked me to marry him! I of course said yes. Yup that's what I get to tell people when they ask me how he proposed. I wouldn't want it any other way.

So over this time the only thing that was on my mind was love. I didn't sacrifice anything. I had my child and a man that loved me no matter what and he loved my kid no matter what. I did go back to school and took a class or two and I had an OK job. Life was good, we were good and then came the time to plan a wedding........................

Stay tuned for part 3.