What a Wonderful Life!

When I met Jon, I wasn't looking for a lifetime partner, I was looking for a military pen pal.  My friend had come over one day with pictures she had taken from her time in the Navy stationed in England.  As we were looking at picture, I came across a picture of Jon and said "I would like to write to him."  She gave me his address and phone number and I was pleased as punch. 

I sat down at my table and wrote out my letter to him and enclosed a picture of myself with my 2 young daughters.  I knew the letter had to go from Illinois to South Carolina (where he was now stationed) and me not having any patience for this kind of wait, I called him at work.  He didn't believe I was really me, he thought I was a friend playing a trick on him, so he said that he would call me back.  I gave him my number and we ended up talking for 3 hours on the phone that night.  We did this every night, having conversations for 2-3 hours at a time every day.  Finally one day he called me and said that he had bought a round trip ticket for me to spend the weekend with him in SC, so I made arrangements for my daughters to be cared for and I flew out.  I was a nervous wreck, but once I stepped off the plane and I saw him standing in the back of the crowd with a single long stemmed red rose, I knew he was the one.

We had a great weekend together and I was shocked that he asked my permission to give me a kiss on my 2nd day there.  We slept on the floor of his living room because I wasn't comfortable sleeping in his bed alone while he took the couch.  We had the time of our lives those 3 1/2 days that I was there.  When it was time for me to board the plane to return home, we both cried at the gate.

Jon made plans to visit me in Illinois the next month, and when that time came I was so excited.  My girls were already calling him 'daddy' which he loved.  On his 5th day at my place (he was supposed to stay 2 weeks) he said that he's not leaving without us girls, he wanted us to move down to SC with him to be a family forever... So we rented a truck, packed up my apartment and left ~ without telling anyone where we were going.

We were married 1 year later, and have no been married 17 years in a very wonderful relationship.  My husband is the best husband I could have ever asked for.  He always puts the kids and I first and always goes out of his way to make us happy and well cared for.  He is a great help to me with taking care of the kids, and even when he's not feeling good, if I can't do something he does it for me.  99% of the time he does what I ask him to do, sometimes he complains about it, but not often and the 1% that he doesn't do is go grocery shopping with me.  See, my husband now has agoraphobia along with 12 other diagnoses and is totally disabled.  But no matter how he's packaged, I still love him as much as the first day that I fell in love with him.

Until next time...