Linking up with Becky over at From Mrs. to Mama today to tell the story of how I met the father of my baby boy and my fur babies. Love the fact that this falls the day before our anniversary- thanks Becky!
1. Tell us about how and when you met your love and what attracted you most to him.
Patrick and I met nine years ago this fall on our first day as freshmen at Duquesne University. While driving into the parking garage this crazy person with an absurdly large backpack stepped off the curb into traffic and I nearly hit him. I yelled out the window and brushed it off as a moron who didn't know how to think and moved on. Then once we were all checked in and crammed into the commuter lounge waiting for the festivities to start I realized that I was in a room of thousands of people and didn't know a soul. I have never felt so alone, and I seriously thought I was going to vomit. I looked around and saw a boy with huge blue eyes leaning against the wall, and he looked exactly like I felt.
So with all my nerve, I walked up and said hello. I figured we could at least talk our way through orientation, so we were not so alone. When I said hello his eyes lit up and I noticed they were the most gorgeous shade of blue I'd ever seen. We started talking and found out we had all kinds of crazy things in common. Then they started to group us together, and low and behold we were in the same orientation group so we would be spending the week together.
Now I have to confess, at this point I didn't find Patrick "attractive and the one" -I had a boyfriend and wasn't looking for love. I noticed he was gorgeous, and had an awesome sense of humor and smile; but I wasn't really attracted to him. I loved him as a best friend, I just didn't love him like 'that'.
Now, if you ask him, he'll tell you he always knew he would marry me. But he knew I had a boyfriend, so I was just the girl who told him to go on dates and answered his phone calls at 2 am when said girls were driving him crazy. Fast forward a year, and my high school sweetheart and I were over. I was in Tennessee visiting my family, and he happened to live nearby. I called him and said "Guess where I am?" and it took him 2 seconds to tell me he was trekking the hour to see me...and he was bringing his girlfriend with him. He told her she had to meet his best friend, and that was me.
I was excited to meet her, like I always was when he had a new girl..because I really didn't like him like that. He was the goofy brother I never had, and nothing more. When they pulled into the parking lot and he greeted me with his typical "Hey, Loser!" and took the hand of his new girlfriend that I instantly knew- I wanted this girl dead. It was shocking to me, and I tried to ignore it. But when he came back to Pittsburgh in the fall (single, they broke up before he got back to school) and we spent more time together I knew, this was the man of my dreams.
Oh and the crazy guy who I almost hit because he stepped off the curb- that was Patrick. It was fate, I tell ya.
(yep, that was the longest answer ever.)
2. Show us the very first, or one of the first, pictures you ever took together.
Wow, we were such babies!
3. Tell us some of the favorite memories you two had together.
Wow- so so many.
Our first official date was hilarious. He met me at work, and opened my car door (in a year of knowing each other, he would let the door hit me in the head- so this was seriously weird). He took me to dinner and a movie, and the only thing playing was Princess Diaries Two, so he sat through the whole move and stared at me the entire time holding my hand and just soaking it all in. I don't remember much of the movie, but I remember staring at him the whole time.
I took him to a Steelers Game for his birthday, and he made me ride the bus there. I got so sick I spend the whole first quarter with my head between my knees trying not to throw up.
Our first kiss was one of my favorite memories of my life. We were laying on my bed doing Physics homework (okay, so he was doing my physics homework and I was painting my nails) and he looked like something was bugging him. I asked him what was wrong like 100 times and he wouldn't tell me he kept telling me that I didn't want to know. Until time 101 when I asked he said, I just want to kiss you. So I leaned over and kissed him, because I wanted that too. Annnd I'm pretty sure we were locked at the lips for months after that.
I remember our first Christmas when he went home for a whole month and we spent HOURS on the phone each night just talking and telling each other how much we missed each other. He never went back home without me after that trip.
I remember the first time he held me in his arms and told me he loved me, and I was never so certian of anything someone was saying in my life. I remember taking him to my favorite place on Earth, the Outer Banks and turning my ski bum boyfriend into a beach bum for life.
There are so many good memories and I love them all.
4. Tell us your favorite qualities about this man, what makes him "the one".
Hes strong, both physically and mentally. Hes sensitive. Hes creative. Hes giving, loyal, kind, generous, thoughtful, honest, a hard worker, a truly amazing father. Hes calm when I'm crazy and crazy when I'm calm. Hes a problem solver and a dreamer and the best friend I could ask for.
5. Tell us what your date nights usually look like.
Well B.G. (before Grayson) we would do all kinds of things. Steelers games, Pirate Games, hiking, biking, getting all dressed up and heading out to a wonderful restaurant, concerts, the movies. We loved to try new things and do them together.
Now A.G. we usually sneak off to dinner, then come home once the little bean is in bed. We snuggle up on the couch and watch movies or tv shows and talk through the whole thing.
Really anything that we can just spend time together we're pretty happy.
