proof that i can act like an utter and complete weirdo and he will still love me.
i mean, there are plenty of stories i could tell…
the time my foot got caught in the stroller at Disney and i flailed about like an elongated woman, flapping my limbs..
the time i got a little into a story i was telling and my long arms smacked a waitresses tray (holding honestly somewhere around 20 drinks) and they all fell to the ground and broke…
i could go on and on and on.
but this one sticks out in my brain.
the first time i told him i loved him.
we hadn’t been dating very long. 3 months or so. but i knew. i really did.
being away from him broke my heart.
i remember the very first time he called me after the weekend we met.
i put down the phone and SCREAMED and did a happy dance. i hardly played it cool. never. not with him.
so i knew i loved him. and i kind of wanted to tell him. but i decided not to b/c i didn’t want to scare him off.
when he came to visit for my birthday, i was more smitten than ever. he treated me like a princess, but also told me “no” when the occasion called for it. (sidenote: i vividly remember the first time he told me ‘no’. july 2000. he wouldn’t let me stop at a JCrew outlet on the way to Waco from Dallas. i wish i could say i didn’t pout, but that would be a lie. someone needed to knock me down a peg or two. ;).
he was an honorable, good guy. and the most handsome boy i’d ever met.
but i was NOT telling him i loved him first.
i mean, i’d already kissed him first….i was NOT telling him i loved him first.
and i certainly was not going to tell him i loved him as he came out of the restroom,
as he was still buttoning up his pants.
________________________________________________
oh yes my friends. i did.
you might imagine that blurting out “I LOVE YOU” as someone is coming out of the restroom might be awkward. especially after only 3 months of dating.
and you may imagine that when he said “uhhhhh i love you too????”
(THAT’S RIGHT THOSE ARE QUESTION MARKS)
it made the whole situation even more awkward.
and you’d be right.
but then as i was sitting in the living room utterly mortified, DYING of embarrassment …he got down on his knees in front of me and told me all the reasons he was falling in love with me too.
and when my best friend lindley burst in the front door screaming
OH.MY.GOSH.IS.HE.PROPOSING.TO YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU???
it was okay. because he loved me. and we were going to have a long, beautiful life
full of me embarrasing myself HORRIBLY while he looked on and rolled his eyes. the eyes would be full of love, and that’s all that mattered.
and i love him more today, and i didn’t think that was possible.
(especially since he tells me no quite regularly.)