First Comes Love...

I met Jay (my now hubby) about 10 years ago. He was a bartender at the restaurant where I was a waitress. I liked him, but he certainly wasn't my type -- bald, skinny, lots and lots of tattoos. No thanks. Besides, I was in a serious relationship with someone else at the time, so was Jay. Actually Jay was engaged to this girl, but that ended pretty quickly and it was obvious to me that he was likin' me a bit. I pretended not to notice, but he isn't the most subtle man alive. What he IS, is patient! He stood on the sidelines watching and waiting while I continued on in this horrible relationship with "Mush"...that actually was this guy's nickname at one point -- I'll just leave it at that. I would stay at work after my shift and cry in my beer (and in Jay's ear) about the latest stunt that "Mush" had pulled. Jay would just listen. He never told me to dump the loser or date him instead. He was truly a good friend to me and JUST LISTENED. Meanwhile he was telling his mom that I was the girl he was going to marry someday. He didn't even get his feathers too ruffled when I showed him my engagement ring and gave the news that I would soon be "Mrs. Mush"! He just continued to be there for me. We would go out after work in a group, but soon find ourselves playing darts and having long talks, just the two of us. He even admitted his feelings for me one night (like I didn't already know). I told him I was flattered, but I was commited to my mush and could only offer him friendship. He told me that he would take whatever I was willing to give him. So, we became really great friends and one day I looked at him and thought 'if I wasn't involved with someone, I would definitely want to be with somebody like Jay'. That night I had a dream that it was my wedding day. I was walking down the aisle and looked up to see my groom waiting for me. My groom was not Mush. Any guesses as to who it was? Yep, and the rest (as they say) is history. I called off my engagement and soon after started VERY SLOWLY exploring a relationship with Jay. It was wonderful -- filled with honesty, love, and laughter. Finally I had found a man that I could see myself living HAPPILY ever after with...

*The picture was taken about 7 or 8 years ago, while we were dating. Jay was so willing to please me that he grew out his hair per my request. I quickly told him to shave it off again. He looks much better bald afterall, who knew?*