Michael and I played on the same t-ball team when we were toddlers, and grew up in the same community. Our parents went from kindergarten to high-school riding the same bus together! We didn't attend the same elementary school, and we were always friends, but never very close.
In high-school, Michael was Mr. Popularity and known as "the class clown", and to be honest, I thought he was an idiot. We were in the same 4th period class and we most definitely got along, but Michael, a.k.a Rico Suave, went through girls like he changed clothes, and when he would ask me on a date regularly I couldn't help but tell him absolutely not. He was younger than me and although he was funny, I knew exactly where that would go .... nowhere!
After high-school we lost touch when I went to college, but I came back for the summer. While at the county fair, in mid-conversation Michael happens to walk by. He stopped and talked to me, but I was talking to somebody else so it was a half-hearted conversation, we exchanged "it's nice to see you!" and he walked away. Later that week I heard from him again, and once again, he was asking me out. I said yes, just so he would shut up, not really having any intention of actually going on the date. We set a date for August 11th, a Thursday, and that was that.
August 11th rolled around and I find myself scrambling to find a way to get out of this date 20 minutes before he's supposed to show up. I'm begging my mom for help and all she had to say is "you shouldn't have said yes if you didn't want to go." I thought to myself, thanks a lot Mom!" He pulled in the driveway in his red Camero (fitting, I know!) and knocked on the door, I quickly shuffled out the door in hopes that this would end quickly. Lucky for me, it didn't!
Michael took me to dinner and a movie, standard first date, but it was the best date I had ever been on. We caught up on what has happened since high school, laughed, saw a great movie and then he took me home. After coming in the front door my mom asked me if it was as bad as I thought it would be, and I said "That was the best date ever!"
Shortly after, Michael moved in with me, and shortly after that, we were supposed to get married, on November 5th. In 6 short weeks we planned a wonderful wedding ... a wedding that we never had. On November 4th, the day before "the day", Michael left the venue, and never came back. He was scared, and told me he didn't want to get married. There wasn't much conversation about the issue, I was hurt and he was scared, so we went our separate ways. It got ugly between the two of us, and at times, between a lot of other people as well. Our families tried to be supportive of each one of us, causing them to clash at times, and our friends felt like they had to pick sides, not at the request of Michael and I, but this had never happened in a town like ours, so many didn't know how to react. I was devastated and he was terrified, but that was what we thought was the end for Michael and I.
A month later, he shows up at my front door in the middle of the night, telling me he was sorry for what he had done and that he thought he made a mistake. We talked for awhile, for the first time since that day. Against MANY reservations that our friends and family had, Michael and I tried to work it out, and we did. On December 29th, 1 year ago today, we got married in the living room of my parent's house, wearing Green-Bay Packers T-shirts. It was nothing like the wedding we had planned, but it didn't matter. We just wanted to be married. Many people told us we would never make it, but 1 year from then, we've made it! We continue to make it everyday!
I'm so thankful that I have been able to share the last year of my life with Michael. We've faced a wedding disaster, basic training, moving to a new state, moving to a new country, and starting a family. Against all odds, we've made it, and I'm so very happy to be able to say that I have done that with my best friend.
I love you Michael, happy anniversary!
