Our Little Love Story (1st Edition)

I remember the day I met Russell as clearly as if it were yesterday. It was March 17th, 2001. I was wearing my khaki pants with this striped sleeveless sweater I loved....he....well keep reading..that's part of the story.

For months...MONTHS...Nichole had been telling me all about her friend Russell that I just had to meet. I told her he was too old...I was 19...he was 22. (REAL old)

She invited me to a St. Patrick's Day party at her parent's....little did I know Russell & I would be the only unattached people there.

She introduced me to random people and about 30 minutes after being there I cornered her and said, "Who is that guy in the Superman shirt?" I thought Nichole was going to pee her pants. Of all people in the world, it was Russell. She was jumping up and down saying, "I told you so. I told you so." Later that night, as the crowds cleared, I began to get questioned from Sharon, Nichole's Mom. "Do you drink?" she asked. "Do you smoke?" she asked....and the questions continued. Finally she took a big sigh and said, "Yup Nichole, she's the one." I was slightly taken aback. Here I was surrounded by strangers who had just decided my fate. I guess those strangers knew me on first impression better then I thought.

So begins our story.

I chased after Russell for a few years...he just turned his head. (He later told me he was in love with me long before he admitted it, but was just scared.) Nichole helped me chase after him...there were many phone calls from her while laying on her bedroom floor telling me to 'hurry up...get cute...Russell's here.' My favorite was when Nichole made up needing a babysitter at 7:30pm. I was off work at 9pm...so she had Russell come over until I could get there...and he never left. Or how about when I asked Nichole if she could take me to college a couple days when my car broke down...she could. But decided to call and tell Russell she couldn't and ask him to do me a favor and take me...and he did. Or how about the day she told me to hurry up and 'get cute'...she was taking me to meet his mom...I remember showing up on Nichole's door step still brushing my teeth! Trust me..there were many...many of these little conspiracies by Nichole! Finally, I won him over...and Nichole succeeded in setting up her 2 best friends.

Then came Hallie...our house...Nathan...and eventually our wedding....and so much inbetween.

Today it's been 1 year since we got married. I think our wedding was perfect for us....just what we wanted. There's only 2 things I would have changed..and that is I wish among wishes Nichole could have been there...of anyone in the world to miss it..and it was her. And I wish among all those other wishes Brad would have been here....both people are so important to me...and circumstances beyond their control made them miss our wedding. That still kills me sometimes. Hey..there's always like a 10 or 20 year vow renewal...right? :-)

They say your first year is the hardest...but this year hasn't been hard. We've experienced a few things we would have married or not...but I wouldn't say this year was hard in any sense. Maybe it's because we had done so much to build our lives together already. But...here's to many more years.

CLICK TO VIEW BIGGER