3 years!!

Today is my anniversary, Mary and I have been married for 3 years today.  I dont tell her enough, but she means the world to me!  She is definitely the best thing that has ever happened to me.  If I hadn't been disqualified from the AF in 2003, we never would have met.

We met a Teens Encounter Christ (TEC) team meeting.  TEC is an awesome event, but that's not what Im here to talk about.  We were doing a circle prayer and everyone was standing in a circle, we happened to be next to each other, and everyone was holding hands (I saw the cute lady, and wanted to be near her).  After the prayer, she turned to me and said, "You sweat alot!"  From that moment on I was enthralled, intrigued, in love.  We would talk casually at meetings and online, to her I was just the college boy with no worries in life.  To me she was the most beautiful woman I had ever met, she was straightforward, loved music and she was a teacher (I dated 3 teachers-to-be before her).

About a year after we met, I was offered a job as a Youth Director at a church about 2 hours away, I think (I don't remember how long it takes to drive there).  Either way, by the time I moved down there, we were talking more and more.  I invited her down to my apartment one weekend.  She said that she would come check it out, but she might have to leave Saturday (it was her way out incase I was too weird).  Well I must have been funny and cute enough, she stayed until Sunday afternoon/ evening.  I told her that I didn't want to officially date (mainly because I didn't have money for Christmas presents).  We were kind of officially dating shortly after Christmas, I think.

At the end of that school year (my second year of college), I went on a trip to Europe for 10 days.  That has nothing to do with the story, but after that I moved back home where I was closer to her.  We worked at Summer camp together, that was fun and showed me more and more reasons to love her: she is an awesome musician, great with kids, puts up with me, and loves to joke.  After that Summer, she was still working at the school teaching and I got a job as a car detailer.  We spent a ton of time together and I ended up staying at her apartment a lot, it was great.

That fall we went to Little Rock for my brother Mason's wedding.  It was fun to see family and introduce Mary to them.  I was happy that even though Mary wasn't family, Mason and Jennie were cool with her coming out.  Shortly after we got back we went to Asheville, NC to see the Biltmore Estate, and Chimney Rock.  We went to the top of Chimney rock and while sitting on the edge of the cliff, I pulled the ring box out of my sock (safe place) and made sure that the ring was still in it.  I don't remember my exact words (I was kind of nervous) but I said something like, 'Mary, you once said that you would marry me, were you serious?"  She responded with a yes.  I then showed her the ring and said, "Will you marry me?"  She had no clue!  It was perfect.  She was so concerned about the edge of the cliff, she wasn't paying attention to me, so she didn't see me grab the ring out of my sock.  We went back to the hotel room and called friends and family and told them.  My father-in-law still gives me a hard time about not asking him if I could marry his daughter.  The next morning we went to the Biltmore, it was beautiful.  The day after that we went home and Mary was able to show off her ring.  I was happy, to say the least, that she said yes.  A few months after that I went to Basic Training, and we got married the day I graduated Basic (Cinco de Mayo 2006).  It was kind of unplanned, but my mom was happy that she got to be there.  However, I am the only person I know that didn't get to spend his wedding night with his wife.  Whatever, we made up for it (don't read too much into that).

Anyways, I stayed in Texas and Mary went back to Raleigh for a month or so.  She eventually moved down to Texas with me for a few months.  We had fun, I went to work before the sun came up and got home late in the afternoon, and she stayed home most of the time and did things around the house or around town.  It was good, probably the simplest our lives ever were and ever will be together.  After two months or so of being there with me, she left to go to Grad school in Michigan.  Before I went to Korea, I went to Michigan to see her for a few days.  Turns out we got pregnant while I was there, yes we were trying, don't you ever tell Maddox that she is a mistake!  Mary came to visit me while I was in Korea, she got there when she was about 3 months prego.  When I saw her after she got off the plane, I said the stupidest thing that I could, "You're Huge!"  I meant it in a good way.  She was a hot pregnant lady.  she spent 10 days in Korea with me, not long, but it was good.  I was in Korea for our first anniversary.  I came home 2 weeks before Maddox was born and that was one of the greatest days of my life!!  It was hard for me to leave when she was only 2 weeks old, but I didn't have much of a choice.  But I knew that I would be back in a few months.

I came back shortly before Christmas,  Maddox seemed huge to me, and she hasn't quit growing since then.  For our second anniversary, I gave Mary a pair of tickets to a dinner cruise (we didn't go on that cruise for a long time afterwards, but when we did it was great).

Mary and I have been through alot together.  We had a kid, we have had fights and made up, we have laughed and cried.  But the thing that makes us the strongest, is knowing that the other will always be there for us.  I know that no matter how stupid or ignorant I might be or I might sound, she will still love me in the end.  I see how she is with Maddox, and I know Maddox sees how much we love each other.  Without Mary, I would not be the man that I am today.  If she had written me off when we first met, then I wouldn't be as nice as I am today, I wouldn't have the love that she shows me everyday.

I know this is mushy and might not make sense, but it is for Mary, and I would do just about anything for her!

Mary, I love you and happy anniversary.  Im sorry that I missed another one.