Who is my baby?

4 years ago today i was sitting on the back of a horse on a 6 hour trail ride telling my sister about what a good time i had the night before on my first date with Michael...

Michael and I met on Match.com... I "winked" at him first... it was his smile... his profile page came across my screen and his picture was one of him in a ball cap, smiling, standing in his kitchen and i absolutely knew that one day i would be standing in that kitchen... and i did...

We talked for about two weeks via email... he asked if he could call... i wasn't comfortable with giving him my number so i called him (with my # blocked)... we talked for a few hours and i instantly fell in love with the way he said "want to?" with his Luray twang... we talked every night for about a week after and then we decided it would be ok to meet for lunch... though we lived about 50 miles apart we worked about 3 miles apart so we decided to meet on our lunch breaks...  we went to Panera for lunch but i didn't eat... i had been fighting a cold and wasn't hungry so he ate and i talked...  a few minutes into our lunch i leaned across our table and kissed him... (no one but him knows this, until now...)  i had to get it out of my system... it was all i was thinking about... 

I left our lunch and went back to work... happy but confused... and back to my Arkansas sister, Brooke... (we worked together)... i sat on her desk and we talked about the lunch date...  i was convinced that this was not going to work between us... not because i wasn't madly attracted to him or because i didn't throughly enjoy every minute of it but because of the set of Samsonite luggage that i carried with me on a daily basis... the BAGGAGE...

We talked about it for awhile (i believe she, in so many words, told me to get over myself) and it was decided that he should come with us to my sisters's house over the weekend for a group date and then they could all meet him and see what he was like...  if they liked him then i had to give him a chance...

Our first date was on March 31, 2006... at a campground grocery store where they push the aisle shelves off to the side to make a dance floor and you dance next to the ice cream freezer... and the bartender keeps a loaded shotgun visibly behind the bar... Benny's Beach...

The general consensus was "WE LIKE MIKE!!!"...  and everyone at Benny's Beach knew it...  He was a blast... he sang karaoke and danced and fit right in with the entire group...  our date lasted until the next morning where we spent the night on a blow-up mattress at my sister's house... (if there was any hanky-panky, i will surely never tell... )

I knew if he ever called me again after that night then he absolutely was a keeper...  our first date was a group date with my family, we went to a grocery store/bar to dance and sing karaoke and we slept on a blow-up mattress at my sister's house...  if he was stil interested after all that then what choice did i have but to keep him  :-)

I talked about him all day long... i wondered if he would call me that evening when i got home... i wondered what he thought about all of us and his night at Benny's Beach... 

He called me that night... and almost every night after...

We have been through our share of trials but for the most part Michael and I are good together... he gets me... i feel secure with him... he puts me in my place... we have fun... we laugh... and he loves me... and i love him... good, bad, ugly... i still get excited when he comes through the door in the evening... even after four years...

Four years ago, when his picture loaded on my computer screen i knew i would be standing in his kitchen... i knew, without a spoken word, that this man would be important in my life... i just knew... Today we have a kitchen together... it is ours... a house and a life of our own... mine and my baby's!!!! 

Happy Anniversary, Michael!  I love you!!!

"Woman, fix me some eggs!"