How I Met My Mister II

We left off last time with me becoming jealous when Craig shared his dates with me.  Shocker, right?

Well, somewhere in that time frame I had bought 2 tickets to the Bears/Packers game for a guy I had dated that was a huge Bears fan.  When we broke up, I still had the tickets.  Did I mention Craig was a huge Packer fan?  Probably the biggest, craziest fan I know.  I told him that if he wanted the ticket, he could have it for free, but he had to buy the plane ticket back.  Yep, I pretty much bribed him.  I liked him, okay?  And by this point I had also started to become increasingly jealous hearing about the dates he was going on.

He took me up on the offer!  He came back over New Year’s Eve and he was sick as a dog.  Word to the wise: never ever take more than the recommended amount of DayQuil.  It will impact your hearing and it doesn’t do much for your symptoms!  The trip was purely platonic, but when we were leaving the crowded stadium and he grabbed my hand so we wouldn’t get separated, I literally stared at it for a second.  “Hm, I could get used to this.”  No, I didn’t say that out loud, but today he will claim that he could tell just by the way that I was looking at him that I was pretty far gone in love with him.  Psh.  Like he knew.

This is still one of my most favorite pictures of us.

So obviously I went to Colorado again that year for my birthday.  And obviously, I saw Craig.  Graduate school was wrapping up.  I didn’t have any employment lined up so I decided I was going to move to Colorado.  I really liked Craig, a lot, and he kept telling me he wouldn’t do a long distance relationship (a previous one of his had failed and he swore he wouldn’t do it again).  Well, dang it, I wanted to date him, so I decided to move.  (Whoops, I mean, mom, I’m moving because it’s a new ‘adventure’ and it’s a place that I have a support system, I’m most certainly NOT moving for a boy that I’m not even dating.  No way.  You raised a daughter smarter than that…)

Estes Park, March 2011

When I had finalized the decision, Craig asked me repeatedly to reassure him that I wasn’t moving for him.  After all, his job was like the military and he could be moved at any time with little notice.  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I mean, the primary reason I moved was for him, but worse case scenario, my best friend was in Denver and I have an aunt in the Springs.  So, I figured I’d be fine.

I returned to Colorado mid-May to find a place to live and celebrate Craig’s birthday.  I had a blast.  Kim was able to spend a few days out there with me, I got to spend time with Allie, and I got to meet many of “Colorado friends” for the first time.  It was the first time that Craig and I were ever really romantic with each other.  And that was all it took.  I was done for.  I knew I wanted to marry him.  Craig also says that he remembers telling his friend, Bryce, “I’m going to marry her some day.”  Cue the “awwwww”s.  I know, right?

Craig’s birthday, 2011

And that, my friends, is the not-so-short version of our journey to couple-dom.  Ohhh, but it isn’t all rainbows and unicorns, within days of moving I had a life-changing experience, only closely to be followed by an equally devastating event.  How’s that for a cliff hanger?

Oh, oh, oh!  Tomorrow I get to tell you all about closing on our house (we’re doing it right about….NOW!).  imsoexcited!