Our Story
Things about us.
How we met
I met J. ten years ago when I won a trip to the beach with an alternative radio station. He was a DJ with the station, and we ended up beside each other at dinner on the first night. As we made small talk, we realized we were identical in likes/dislikes, favorite music, movies and books. We also realized we liked each other, and that we couldn't be friends. I was married.
Flash forward a decade, and my Ex was leaving me (i.e. getting kicked out), trying to explain this girl he'd met. He said to me, "Have you never met someone you thought you could immediately like and wanted to date?" My answer was, "Yeah, A$$hole, difference being I didn't! I could have dated that radio DJ we met at the beach 10 years ago in a heartbeat." It was the first time I'd spoken of J. in over ten years. The Ex left, and I began to pick up the pieces of my life.
The very next morning I clicked the TV on to listen to the weather before I got out of bed. I hit the wrong channel and my usual station didn't come on. Instead I heard, "J. is on location at..." I sat straight up, and there he was. After a decade, right there he was. He's an anchor on a morning news show. I was FLOORED.
I waited until my separation was filed and final, and with some liquid courage I emailed J. at an address I found online. I just knew he'd never remember me, or was married, or was scared of the crazy stalker stranger. He emailed me back in seconds, and told me of course he remembered me. Every girl he dated after meeting me reminded him of me, and he'd basically been looking for me for ten years. A few emails later, we had our first date at The Lion King Broadway show. The rest is history!
The proposal
We saw The Cure last June and during our favorite song, "Pictures of You" J. pulled out a photograph of me from ten years ago when we met. On the back was written, "I looked so long at this "picture of you" I can't believe that you are finally mine... I love you!! -J."
I started to cry right there, and then he took my hand and we finished watching the show. I noticed something scratching my pinky and I thought he was holding his keys or something, but I didn't want to stop to ask in the middle of such a great moment. The next song his hand was empty so I totally forgot about it.
After the concert we went the building where we parked and he said he'd parked on the top, so I went up with him and he was going to drive me back to my car. The skyline is SO perfectly beautiful from the top of that building, so we stopped to look at it and take in the moment. I had just thought to myself how perfect the night was when J. said, "I want to marry you." I smiled and said, "Oh, I want to marry you too honey." (We say that sometimes, so it wasn't odd to me.) Then he turned me around and said, "No, I really want to marry you." He got down on one knee and said, "Rebecca, will you marry me?" I was in SHOCK. I couldn't even say yes because I started to cry, so I just nodded and he slipped a ring on my finger!
He told me he called my dad to ask permission, and to top off the most perfect of proposals, he told me that my sister had brought my daughter down the week before and she had helped him pick out my ring. He was going to try to do it during our song, but I ruined it (I'm pretty good at that). On top of that building was the most perfect place/moment and I couldn't be happier today.
The girls
When I marry J. he won't be getting one girl. He'll be getting three. I have two daughters, Manda (17) and Chloe (7). They couldn't be cooler or better kids, and we have the best little life together. If they learn anything from me, I hope it's that you never should NEED someone, you should WANT them. I'd be perfectly fine alone in life as far as taking care of myself and them, but I WANT J. That makes all the difference in the world.
Funny Chloe story about J.: When he and I first started dating I didn't tell the girls. They weren't going to meet any man I dated until I knew it was right. The summer after we started dating, I walked by Chloe's room one morning when she should have still been asleep, and she was cackling at something on TV. Thinking it was Disney channel or something, I walked in to tell her good morning and asked what she was laughing at so hard. She says, "Mommy, there is this funny man on TV who is riding a bike and eating a donut. He is so cool. I want him for a babysitter!" It was J. I was in shock. I didn't tell her then that I knew him, but she began watching every day.
Chloe broke her arm in November of that year. J. asked if he could come up for dinner, which is odd during the week because we are about 70 miles apart. During dinner he asked if he could tell Chloe to feel better before her surgery the next day. I said she would pee her pants! The next morning he opened a spot with "I have an email here from Chloe's mom, and she's having surgery today and we all hope she feels better. She also needs to go look in her princess castle on the deck." We ran outside and there was a Build a Bear with a cast on its arm in her castle. He had slipped it in there before coming inside for dinner the night before. That was the day I knew it was time for Chloe and J. to meet. They've been best friends since.
