As a general rule, noted through the archives of my blog, when I haven't blogged in a while something is going on.
I've been so busy I haven't had time to turn around. I'm freelancing on top of my day job to try and save up some money and have been working around 14 - 16 hours a day and around 30 hours on weekends. It has been intense and I have learned a lot. That's work, and that's enough of that.
I'm madly in love with Mandy. It's been really interesting and it defies anything I thought love for me would be. I can't put into words the way she makes me feel... I had this mental image of the woman I wanted to find... Nice hair, great smile, laughs at my jokes, driven and motivated, an achiever, lover of God, and generally a caring person. You can't just walk down the street and look at someone and know that they have those qualities. You have to meet someone and get to know them, or try to. I went out with a lot of girls in 2007 and none of them could relate to how I handle my relationship with God... none of them, I felt, really got me. I'm a giver and a doer. I was pretty sure that I would spend the rest of my life trying to achieve someone else's affection, feeling like I had to do acts and spend money to earn their affection. And then at a christmas party I was hanging out with my buddy, talking about girls no less, and the whole room went quite and the door opened- a bright light shining in... ok, gag, no, but really, out of the whole room and all the comotion and saw this girl walk in and walk right past us to sit with her friend. I immediately started elbowing my buddy Dan and asking "who IS that?"
He didn't know, and neither did I, but thanks to me being an idiot and asking to sit with her and "the cool kids" and got her name and convinced her to play wii bowling with me before the night was over. Love at first sight... HA!
So like all relationships between 20-something-year-olds we became friends on Facebook and I
We ended up seeing each other a couple more times and went to an Angels & Airwaves concert, which was hilarious because it took 5 guys 20 minutes to convince me to call and ask her to go and I paced the floor the whole time. Of course, it went to voicemail and I played it cool ;) We went, I tried to stand next to her the whole time, her friend knew what I was trying to do and tried to make her stand next to me and she was oblivious to the whole thing. It's cute now, it was a bummer then.
I finally worked up the nerve to ask her our for coffee and one thing led to another and a month later we went out for a wonderful sunset on the roof of my office building. I had wanted to watch a sunset up there for over a year and it finally happened (with Mandy to beat it all). We akwardly posed for a photograph as I was scared to put my arm around her...
And I asked her out.
Life hasn't been the same since. I moved to DC, got a new job, didn't get to see her, and it's been very, very stressful.
But I get to see her in 4 days, brief as the visit may be, and we're going to go out for a wonderful dinner.
I guess that's the thing that makes Mandy so special... I can see us both old and gray... I can see her the mother of my children... and I love taking her out and doing stuff for her because she truly appreciates it. More than any other girl I have ever met.
We have this inside joke about butterscotch. She told me that some people are like butterscotch suckers. It's the last flavor to get picked out of an assortment. On valentines day I asked if I could be her butterscotch, and she said yes. She's my butterscotch... the last one picked. And I don't mean that in any negative way. It's like saying you'll find what you're looking for in the last place you look. No point in trying another when you found exactly what you want...
So if you made it this far without gagging, and your name isn't Mandy Wood, congrats. Sorry, but I'm in love ♥
