Who would've guessed????

Colin has an announcement to make:

I found a cute little wedding chapel that is both nice and cheap. :) We decided last week that we should just go ahead and get married - mostly everyone assumes we are anyway. It'll be June 20th @ 8:30pm - two days before Colin's Baptism. We figure what the hell we're staying together anyway - let's get it all done when everyone is here :) Both sets of parents will be here for the Baptism and we have no idea when everyone may be here again at the same time so it's both convenient and affordable - two things Jim and I love almost as much as each other...plus there's the "love each other forever" crap, lol.

Here's some bonus Colin pictures - just cause he's so damn cute....

From the Mulvey's (I really didn't buy this!)

and I hate baths

But I love my bouncer

Tomorrow we become parents!

So with the impending birth of our son, I figured I should put on record how Jim and I came to be. It's a little long and kinda sappy - but it's one hell of a story if I do say so myself. ;)

Over 2 years ago this guy started in one of our parts departments and we became really good friends, he kept asking why I dated such losers, I asked him why he stayed in his relationship with someone 17 years senior when he didn't seem all that happy. We would discuss everything under the sun and became really close but nothing was going on. He started talking about leaving his "safety" and had gotten preapproved for a mortgage and was looking at houses. They had talked about it and were trying to make things work but it wasn't going well.

When I bought this house in Oct. '06 he helped me move along with everyone else and actually stuck around for when we had fun afterwards. My mom kept saying "why can't you date someone like him" over and over and over. I kept saying "because he's taken".

A few months later I had the big knee surgery and was home for 3 months. We emailed back and forth and I realized how much I missed seeing him everyday but never said anything. I went back to work in the middle of May and I kept asking him to go to happy hour and he kept asking me to go fishing down the beach. (jim is a HUGE fisherman - makes his own rods and lures and there's a demand for them) btw - I dont' fish.

Well a few weeks later when he asked me to go down the beach with him I went very spur of the moment (not like me at all). I still wasn't walking too good but figured it was now or never. Things had gotten worse at home and he was looking at houses again.

That was Thursday, June 7th.

I sat on the jetty while he fished, watched the sun set, then he decided we should grab dinner at this bar there. So we packed everything up got back in the truck to drive off the beach and while sitting in the truck he told me how much he had missed me while we I was on leave and he didn't want to have to miss me anymore. I didn't get it. So he said - I think I've fallen for you and that you feel the same way and that he was leaving T. And that he really wanted to kiss me.

I wouldn't let him.

So we went to eat while I processed it. When we got back to my truck an hour away I finally did kiss him and knew that I was done. We decided over the next week that we really had fallen in love with each other without even trying.

My parents were coming in for a week for a wedding and my Godson's Christening so we said we'd wait and he'd move in when they left. I had a big BBQ on the 23rd for my sister's birthday and he came and never went home. My folks were in my room, I was in the guest room and he slept on the couch.

On the 24th the family was all going on a bus trip to the track so I wasn't going to see him that day. He came up in the morning around 7am, said he was going back and if I didn't mind he couldn't do this to him, T and me anymore. I was not awake and started crying. Jimmy realized I once again I didn't get it. He said i'm going home to end things for good and if you dont' mind when you all get back I'll be here for good. (my cousin was living here at the time so he helped him move in while we were gone) I was petrified to tell my dad so I didn't - they were staying at my sisters' that night & leaving in the morning so I didn't have to. But I told mom and she was thrilled.

It wasn't the thing movies are made of but somehow after all this time I had finally met my match and we were going to make it work.

T forgave him and knew it was coming whether I was in the picture or not. Because of their age difference she said she knew it was going to happen eventually and had prepared for it. And wished us both happiness. Now almost a year later she's happy for Jim that he's going to be a dad and can't wait to meet the baby. She thinks what we have is what he'd been looking for all these years and even though the situation kinda sucked for her she is happy for us. I dont' know if I could be a kind as she has been and I'm grateful that there's no annimosity.

We haven't gotten married yet - maybe one day we will. Maybe we won't. I NEVER thought I'd be ok with that (really Catholic) but after the first marriage of horror and the life of love and kindness I have now I wouldn't want things to have gone any differently.

Tomorrow morning we complete the circle we started almost a year ago. I've never been this happy in my whole life and every day is better than the day before. I never thought I'd get this life, no matter how much i wanted it. I am grateful everyday that I took a chance last June and went fishing and can't wait to see what the next 40 or 50 years brings.

My new life...

So there's been alot of new developments in my life over the last two months. I finally have some help with the house payments and bills...no the Leprechaun didn't get a job...but we have a new roommate. A roommate that I'm planning on holding on to for a very long time.

Life has a funny way of working out - There's a man I've become very good friends with over the last 18 months that I work with. I've had a crush on him for a good while and I've recently found out that he felt the same way. I've been dating losers - as you all well know - and he was with someone else, so the timing wasn't right. Things changed and changed quickly all from one simple fishing trip. Who knew one night down at the jetty could change our whole world?

He left his whole life behind so he could be with me. It's not the perfect clean start that dreams are made of but it's an interesting story that will be fun to tell later in life. I'm not proud of the fact that I'm "that girl" but unless you were part of the situation it'll never really make sense to you and I'm not even going to try to defend myself. Sometimes things just happen. They knew it was coming and said as much when they broke up for good, she wished us luck (which I don't think I'd be able to do if the situation was reversed) and they parted on fairly good terms - especially considering the situation.

In the last few weeks I've actually been happy - and people are pointing it out to me - I'm in a good mood almost all the time - it's creepy for me and for others :) I've heard of you people who find that other person and it just goes well - I've never not had to do everything - having someone who wants to help me and just does things when they need to be done is a whole new world for me. Plus for the first time ever - I got flowers - for no reason at all - just because, and even better it was flowers I love. When I walked in the door from work there were a bunch of gorgeous sunflowers in a vase and a bunch of other wildflowers in another vase waiting for me. :) it was to much for me. I didn't know what to do-it wasn't to soften me up or because we had a fight or because it was some sort of anniversary - it was because...."I saw them and they were pretty and you deserve pretty things" yeah - no clue what to say.

So that's the story in a nutshell. I'm happy and I'm planning on staying happy.