Oh hello there blog.
I've been quiet lately. The RSVP's are coming in a few everyday, we are at about 100 guests. There have been other accomplishments too, but lets just skip those little updates and get to the juicy stuff.
Its less than one month away, today is the RSVP deadline.
26 days and we will be celebrating our behinds off! 26 days and I'll be married. Wow, saying that is kind of exciting. I feel like we were just at 100 days... where did 70 days go?
KJ and I sat reading through some vow samples this evening and it kind of hit home. It was really exciting, kind of nerve wracking, at partly unbelievable. So, feeling kind of nostalgic here is the story of "us".
KJ and I knew each other, very very vaguely 3 years prior to us actually meeting. We were in our college marching band together but he was a few years older. We each had our circles and they didn't cross over too much. However, even in a 300 person band, a name and a face sticks with you.
So, three years later KJ and I actually met on the weekend of Bridesmaids J's 21st birthday. In true college fashion J had planned a whole weekend celebration for her big 21. We had planned to crash at Bridesmaid J's friend's, Groomsman E, house for the weekend as he lived in a huge old house that could sleep a small country. When we arrived at Groomsman E's we walked in to an empty and half decrepit house with two boys sitting on the couch playing some version of PlayStation Baseball. Boy 1 was KJ. Boy 2 was another of the roommate. KJ and Groomsman E had been roommates and friends for a few years, so hanging out with Groomsman E on Bridesmaid J's birthday, was an inevitable meeting.
Now, here is where the story gets boring - KJ was sick all weekend so besides saying hello from across the room, and having him try to sit in on a lame game of Hearts when he was running a 100+ fever... well nothing else happened. And nothing else was going to happen if you asked me then - boys were not on my priority list at the time we met. I had recently broken up with someone and was enjoying the single life. KJ on the other hand had different priorities...
There were house parties and other reason, like watching Lost from the beginning, why Bridesmaid J and I returned to spend time at Groomsmen E's house that summer. We had probably visited 3 or 4 times (I was living in the city and Bridesmaid J in the 'burbs so we tried to plan weekend trips every few weeks) before KJ and I really got to spend time together. And the first time we did was a night I will never forget!
Now, I can't spill all the reasons why this night was one of infamy, but to summarize, finding one individual passed out in a car that was not theirs at 6 in the morning, with a half eaten banana in their hand and one of the tail lights on the car pulled out... well, how COULD you forget that?
Oh yeah.. it was also the first time KJ and I hand hung out alone. So sometime around 4 in the morning after a few classic movies (ie Spinal Tap and Ghostbusters), a good amount of beer ::pointing finger around the room, I don't drink beer so it wasn't me::, and taco bell (ok, this one was me, I'm a sucker for a taco) people started to trickle on to bed, and I got a craving for some good ol' fashion french toast. (OMG, french toast is the best breakfast in the world). I may have suggested some breakfast to a certain boy with a car, who may have thought 'ah ha! Now is my chance' and offered to take me to IHOP (mmm, classy).
You would be surprised by how many people are at a campus town IHOP at 5am on a Saturday. The place was packed and the waitresses looked exhausted! So we dined and dissected our lives over french toast and eggs. It was weird... something clicked and I kind of felt angry with myself. ANGRY! Why angry? Because, as I had said, recently broken up, did NOT want to get into this game again.
That breakfast is ingrained into my head, there was something so hilariously ironic about sitting at an IHOP in the wee hours of the morning, the first rays of sunshine blinding me through the windows, yet being able to just talk and appreciate the fantastic company I was in - completely sober.
Now, before you go thinking I'm one of those hopeless romantic types and KJ drove me off into the sunrise in a charcoal escape, you can put on the parking break.
Yeah, NOT happening. So we had some chemistry - I took a chemistry class in high school and that didn't turn out to well, what makes you think this experiment would!
We went our own ways after that weekend and hopefully would see each other again (so what if Bridesmaid J had to listen to me blab for 3 hours on our way home the next morning). I was off to Florida with some SAI sisters for our national convention and KJ was off with his band to play Warped Tour.
Like any good business person should know, its all about the follow up. I was a little surprised when I got a phone call in Orlando from some 217 number I had no idea who it was. It couldn't be from KJ because he never asked me for my number (which he lost points for). He did however ask Bridesmaid J for it (ok, plus a 1/2 point for the follow up). But plus about 10 points for other follow-up methods:
I was in Florida when the "package" arrived... My mom was anxious to see what the heck was in this box from the person whose name she had never heard of. I did my best to keep her nose out of my business and when I got home, I opened the package to find an adorable little pug puppy stuffed animal (I may have shared my obsession with these snot-nosed little cutties over breakfast). Being a gift from a drummer, I thought it completely fitting to name the little guy Styx.
So Styx and I returned to campus (for good) in July/August and spent time with KJ, et al. It wasn't too much longer before we decided to try actually dating. Keyword "TRY". KJ was moving out of Groomsman E's house to go finish school elsewhere, which means not only was I dating someone, I was dating someone long distance.
It wasn't until about KJ's birthday in October that we found our relationship sea legs and figured out seeing each other on the weekends could in fact work. And sense then, we haven't looked back. What started out as chemistry, turned into a hypothesis, an experiment, and ultimately, a lasting formula.
...and it's only the beginning of what is yet to come.
The end.
