A snowstorm and a hamburger...a love story

Happy Valentine's Day! This has to be my favorite version of the love story I share with my husband. Posted in 2012 I am reposting it today...because I'm still lucky enough to be Living Happily Ever After...always

I wrote this blog a long time ago, but it never gets old...never! If you have met me and my husband you probably know we love each other quite a bit.  It's not the five kids following us, but you'd know because we just love each other that much--it's completely obvious.  

All of my books are dedicated to this man who makes Happily Ever After my reality. Even on nights, such as last night, when I was snippy and in a bad mood I know without a doubt that man still loves me, even if I made myself take a timeout from family time and disappear in my bedroom (how trained am I?)

I hope my children find such happiness in their lives when they find their soul mate. That one person who can meld into your family, who you will share life and death with, who will stand by your side when it is easy and when it is hard.  The one who smiles when you wake up and your eyes are swollen shut and your hair tousled into a nest you can't comb out and says "You're beautiful." Okay... I know I have 5 boys... I'm raising them the be the man that sees that beauty :) I know my part.  I'm raising husbands, so they will be sweet and sensitive, just as their father is.

Don't get me wrong... I'm all woman and he's all man. That's oil and water in my book.  But even when the snipping and the grunts of missed communication happen, there is love.  And I'm living my happily ever after and have been since I was eighteen.  So below... is how it came to be.

A Snowstorm and a Hamburger…

I could say that on November 2, 1990 I was smitten.  I’d met a boy, we’d become the best of friends, and we’d shared many special moments.  However, I still told my family, “He’s not my boyfriend, just a friend.”  But on this fateful night, when I chose to stay at school and not go home and on a pending “date” with someone else, I realized I’d fallen in love with this friend and that was why going home didn’t seem so important.

Earlier in the day we had gone to get him groceries for the weekend.  He had made a sandwich and was settling in to play rounds of Mario on the Nintendo.  I was fighting a battle with my heart.  Go home to someone I didn’t care about, who made me miserable, or stay at school and start a new journey.  To my surprise, my mother, who always wanted me home, said she’d stay and have sandwiches.

Needless to say that was the defining moment in my life.  I called him and was crying.  He threw his sandwich at his roommate and ran to my room.  Looking back now, it was just like the movies. 

We ended up, broke, but together, at a Hardee’s down the street.  We had enough money for one hamburger and one shake.  Together we sat in the booth, his arm around my shoulders as I cried away one part of my life, not because I was sad, but because I knew he was exactly who I wanted by my side forever. 

The snow had begun to fall outside the restaurant and we sat together over that shared hamburger and shake and watched the sparkling white snow illuminate in the street lights.  It was like a magic dust.  Taking away the old and bringing in the new.

When we are back in our college town we drive by that old restaurant and reach for each other’s hands.  I still am with that man who now makes hamburgers for me and our five children. 

The best decision I ever made was to stay at school that weekend.  A decision I will never, ever regret.

So I dedicate this life of perfection (or as perfect as it can get) to Stan! How could I write a real love story without you?  I love you!