Teatopia

The Love of My Life

On this Valentine's Day, I want to express my adoration for my husband James. Many of you may not know this, but James moved 800 miles to be with me and we weren't even engaged . . . Ours isn't an incredibly unusual story by any means, but it's special to me, so today is a good day to tell it.

I dated a guy named Anthony for more than 3 years (summer before junior year of high school until slightly into sophomore year of college). When we broke up, I promised myself I wouldn't get serious with anyone for at least 6 months. How young to have been with just one guy and not have dated too many other people. I met James within a few weeks. Uh oh.

A friend of mine had been dating a guy named Ryan. It wasn't serious, but they had fun together, until she met someone else she wanted to commit to, so she decided to set me up with Ryan. I reminded her of my rule, but she asured me that Ryan would take me to nice places and treat me well. First of all, I'm not a user and wanted a quality guy for himself, and second of all, I was trying to be on my own. I agreed to one date with Ryan, but when my friend and I arrived at his apartment, it was as if they'd never been apart. I was left out while they danced like freaks in his kitchen. Sensing my boredom, my friend offered to introduce me to Ryan's roommate so I'd have someone to talk to. That's when I met James. Oddly, I didn't feel much at first, except very relaxed and comfortable. The four of us ended up talking in the living room, which translates to Ryan and my friend bragging about the number of people they had slept with and James and I sitting there rolling our eyes at them.

I could tell James liked me that night-- you know the signs. The way they smile and stare. He told me later that he knew I was the one for him. We all agreed to get together that weekend. When Friday came, we hadn't heard anything from Ryan, so my friend decided to call his cell phone and James answered it. Turns out Ryan had a meeting come up, so James stole his cell phone so he could answer it if we called. James had a meeting also, which he talked his boss out of so he could see me. That night we met James and a few of his friends and left Ryan out. It wasn't a date per se, but James treated it as such-- paying for me, opening all doors, asking about me, etc. until he asked me out on a real date at the end of the night. Five days into our relationship, James was sent to Texas for close to a month. He called every day. I knew then and there that there would be none of this 6 months no boyfriend crap. I had found the one and I wasn't about to mess that up. Most of our relationship was long distance before moving here. A month in Japan, a month in Korea . . . He was always gone, but he always called every day and I knew we wouldn't always be apart.

About 6 months into our relationship, my family decided to move to Georgia and James immeditaly replied, "I'll start looking for a new job." Nevermind that he had just signed a lease on a new apartment days earlier. I am forever indebted to him. :-)

As you can see, my story isn't one of the most incredible you've heard, but I love that James knew the second he saw me that we were meant to be together.

Posted by Hannah at February 14, 2005 08:49 AM