Celebrating 10 Years Since the Night We Met!!!!!!

Oh my goodness!!!!  We met 10 Years ago!  Our first date was on 6/5/04 and I just have to say that I LOVE our love story.  There are many times that we reminisce about that first date and our summer of dating.  I was living in NY at the time and Sean was about 6 miles away, just over the border into CT.  I was 26 years old and was working as an Instructor and Rider at my most-favorite horse job ever.  Sean was 29 and he was working at South Kent Prep School where he was an Athletic Trainer, Instructor, Dorm Parent and many other things!  We found one another on match.com!  Sean "winked" at me and then messaged me.  We wrote back and forth for a while and then eventually had our first-ever phone conversation.  Shortly thereafter was our first date.  And it was MAGICAL!!!!!!  Sean was my 26th first date through match.com!  Ummm, I was rather idealistic, perhaps??  The other 25 had taken place over a 2.5 year period, beginning in Rochester, NY then the DC area, then the Eastern Shore of MD an finally NY/CT.  He had been out with just a handful of other match.com dates before meeting me.  And right from the start we CLICKED!  We met up at the Dover Plains train station, since we both could picture the location and I was in the habit of meeting my dates in public places!  The plan was that I would then follow him to dinner, driving separately.  Well... that didn't happen!  I pulled in to the parking lot and spotted his Trailblazer but could not yet see his face.  He watched me pull in with my little 3rd door Saturn.  He notes that I "bounced out of the car with a big smile" and he just couldn't wait to talk to me.  We greeted one another and I immediately felt at ease and got into his SUV with him (totally breaking one of my own "rules"!).  I remember how on our short ride south on 22, I just kept wanting to touch his arm!  We went to dinner at "The Country House" in Pawling/Brewster.  We talked and everything just seemed to sparkle.  After dinner we wanted to continue the conversation and there really isn't much out that way.  So we went to "Clocktower Commons" in Brewster.  It was a little village of shops where I used to get my hair cut.  They offered nice lighting, park benches and even some music via speakers!  It was a beautiful evening and we sat on a bench and continued getting to know own another.  Eventually Sean asked if he could kiss me!  I said yes.  :)  Towards the end of the evening he said something like how he could spend his summer getting to know a few girls but he really would rather just spend all of that time with me.  If I was okay with that?  (Of course!!!!  I felt the same way!!!)  And then he made the bold statement that we would always be able to remember the day we met, since the numbers are 6/5/04.  We both just knew from that first evening that we had found our match!

I remember driving home from the train station and listening to this song.  I called my family and close friends and told them that I had "finally met the right guy"!  They were excited and asked how long we had been seeing one another and which one is this?  Umm... TONIGHT!  I just met him tonight and it was perfect and I just knew.  We were engaged 2.5 months after meeting when Sean proposed to me on that same bench at Clocktower Commons. We were married 11 months later during the following summer.   

The past 10 years have gone by so quickly!  We moved to Erie on June 5th of 2006.  Kylee was born that December and Nathan arrive in March of 2009.  We have each been through a couple of job changes and have lost four of our grandparents since meeting.  Sean is so good to me and for me.  I am STUBBORN!  Others may not easily recognize this.  Just ask Sean!  Or my parents and sisters.  But Sean knows (most of the time!) how to finesse me and we still just click.  He keeps me on my toes and I oftentimes think of how much more stiff/straight-laced I might be without him!  We have NEVER been each other's "best friend" sort of partner.  We have our own interests and some of them overlap.  But while we may not spend hours discussing a topic together, I love that Sean gives me plenty of his trust in making decisions and keeping things running here at home.  We work well together.  And we are just plain GOOD together.  I am thankful for these past 10 years and can not imagine my life without him!  Here is to the next 10!  It is only through us staying plugged in to God's Word and His plan for our lives that we are able to really give our best to one another.  I am thankful for a man who shares my faith.  I had my own very solid spiritual foundation back when we first met.  Back then, Sean had recently felt as though the Lord was reaching out to him and he wanted to find a girl who was headed in the same direction.  I will always remember something that my Mom had said to me a week before my first date with Sean.  She had said that it is not so much about someone's knowledge and background and where they have been with their faith experiences.  Rather I should be looking more at where someone was headed right now.  Wise words!  And they also opened my heart to meeting someone much different than who I had ever imagined myself with in those days.  God sees the big picture and knew just who I needed!  I am thankful that He brought us together!

Here is one of my favorite love songs that almost always makes me cry!

While putting together these collages I realize that we are overdue for a new couple picture and a new family picture!