Then came Thanksgiving 2009. I lived too far away from home to spend the holidays with my family and make it back to work/church on Sunday. So the fiance graciously invited me to his parents' house to spend the holidays with them.
Every Thanksgiving, the fiance's extended family gets together. When I say extended, I mean grandma's-siblings-and-all-of-their-sons/daughters/grandchildren/significant others/etc. I was feeling a little bit uneasy about being there, seeing as I hardly even knew the fiance's family let alone his extended relatives before this. This feeling increased ten-fold when everyone got together for the annual family photo...and placed me dead center. I wish I was kidding.
Awkwardness aside, the fiance was acting kind of strange. Like affectionate strange. He suggested we go take a walk to find his brother (who I didn't know was "missing"). And then he grabbed my hand to hold it on our "walk". Excuse me, what??
Before I could think about what was actually happening, my fiance's brother, cousin and one of his cousin's kids showed up next to us. And then this little child bit the fiance square on his butt cheek. Seriously the strangest Thanksgiving I have had so far.
By the end of the day, the fiance was pursuing me 100% and I thought I was dreaming. Surely this wasn't happening! Oh but it was, and it did.
A week later, the fiance took me out on our first date. We went to a local pizza joint and had a fabulous time....until the bill came and the fiance realized they were cash-only. Guess who paid?
We spent the next six months together, learning more about each other, learning how to work together (literally) and how to love and respect each other.
Then May 2010 came and I moved away. We have since spent the last 16 months dating long-distance (it just took me 10 minutes to count the number of months we have lived apart...16 months is a long time!). We have spent a lot of time shuttling ourselves back and forth for holidays and extended weekend stays. We talk every night and update each other on the exciting day we just had.
Sometimes our schedules get so busy and out of whack that we don't get to talk. Sometimes we go to things on our own and spend our time surrounded by couples doing couple-y things. Sometimes something really funny and/or embarrassing happens to us and we turn to tell the other, but are met with absence. Sometimes it gets really tough. But then I look back at that Thanksgiving not too long ago and I cannot help but smile.
This life is truly been too good, and every Thanksgiving I thank God for giving me this man:
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