This weekend was a joy.  Saturday Joanna and I went to help load up over TWO TONS of cans that were raised for the Salvation Army for the work food drive.  Three people can move a ton quickly if the cold forces them to do it quick.  After that I had to do an live appearance and when it was all settled, Saturday was a wash.

Joanna and I went looking at Christmas lights and had dinner with friends as we helped celebrate my friend Mike’s birthday with a surprise party. It was amazing to see over 30 friends honor my friend Mike.

I think the quiet we had watching Christmas lights was great as carols played over the radio.  It was me, my girl and the wonders that can be available for large amounts of money and nightmares of Clark W. Griswald.

I got laundry accomplished and we decided to sleep in on Sunday…

But then I remembered that we were going to go over to Dave and Kathy’s house to watch football.  It was “my turn” to make something.  It really wasn’t my turn, we rarely keep up with turns, but I decided that it was my turn.

So we got up early and Joanna made some of the best beef stew that I have ever had.  We let it cook most of the morning and we turned the burners off and just let it sit while we went to get more stew meat.  No matter how much you get, it’s NEVER enough.  After browning and adding the secondary stew meat, we let it cook while we did laundry and Joanna finished her paper that needed to get done.

I played some cards online and had not alot of luck having KK being busted by AK and QQ by AK.  So when she finished her paper we went and had lunch with the crew watching the end of the Green Bay Packers game.  After some excellent beef nachos at the new Caprock Cafe we headed back home to get the stew.  We went to Dave and Kathy’s , who had made cornbread, with Tessa making some peach cobbler. HMMMM cobbler.

We watched the Cowgirls LOSE and watched the BCS Show.

What a surprise.  The only thing I would love more is if Texas loses to Ohio State, OU loses to Florida and we BEAT Missippi State in the Cotton Bowl.  The BIG problem with the Cotton Bowl is that it is at 1P on Friday the 2nd of January.  There is NO WAY I’m going to be able to go to the game. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to go to the Cotton Bowl and see the Red Raiders win, but work will probably have me working.  So shitty break for me.

Joanna and I then went to go see Four Christmases our friend Kerri.  4 Xmas-es stars Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn.  There were several scenes where I laughed out loud, especially the “Pull the Goalie” scene and the reaction the two stars had with their 4 xmases with 4 parents.  I wouldn’t wish that on my worse enemy.  CHICK FLICK. Do not pass go, DO NOT Collect $200… Don’t make your husband or boyfriend go.

What I would have rather seen is…

Now THAT’S a movie.  No plot, just kick ass!

So after the movie it was write a blog, and sleep.  One hell of a peaceful weekend.  Oh and it was Joanna and I’s 4 month dating anniversary.  Kinda nice way to spend a weekend with the one I love.

Since everyone seems to be so curious about me, I figured I’d give you a shot at the basic info… Feel free to pretend that your curiosity won’t get the better of you, even though both you and I know it will.

What can I tell you that most of you haven’t already been told? I’m originally from the Austin area, ok, to be more exact,  Fredericksburg, Texas. I am an only child, so yes, I have been spoiled in various ways all of my life, however I am no spoiled brat, and don’t tolerate those who are.

I will graduate from Texas Tech University with a degree in Public Relations on December 13th. I have a degree in Law Enforcement Technology already, and wanted to continue my education while my parents were willing to allow me to work part-time and go to school.

As for the question ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’, I have wanted to be a Public Information Officer for a law enforcement agency for about 10 years. Hopefully after I graduated, this will come to pass… eventually.

When I came to Lubbock 3 years ago, I was a completely different person than I am today. I was drifitng in my life, and not sure where to put in to port. I have discovered myself here, in Lubbock. My friends have listened to me complain about living out here for 3 years, since I was away from them and my family… they are extremely surprised that I would consider staying here, much less escaping and then returning, but Lubbock has been good to me, even though I am allergic to it nine out of 12 months in the year.

My family and friends are a great support system to me, even if they are more than four hours away in different directions. Without them, I would still be lost in the drift. They make me laugh when all I want to do is cry, and make me realize that ‘this too shall pass’.

Most people ask me if I am afraid of what my future might hold, and to them I say no, absolutely not. I am not afraid of much (ok, Sean’s parents being the exception-they terrify me!), I am afraid of disappointing those I love. My family, friends and Sean. They all know I have my faults, and believe me they are numerous, but I am most afraid of doing something that will disappoint one of them.

And since he has already thrown me under the bus, I’ll go ahead and let this slip also… I fell in love with this great guy, he sees me for what and who I am…whether I want him to or not. He has this weird way of getting inside my head. I can honestly say that I fell in love with him for who and what he is. He makes me a better person than I ever thought possible! Sean, in case I haven’t told you in the last 5 miutes, I love you!

I’ve been thinking lately as things have been changing in my life to less tragic, and more amazing about the ride that I have been experiencing.

I’ve been changing my thinking and been keeping the title of this post in my mind.

Stay Strong, Live Brave.

Shelby was so proud of me that I have a girlfriend now. “If you need help talking to her dad, call me and I’ll help you. I am so excited for you.”  Ryan was simpler, “Is she nice daddy,” ‘Yes she is Ryan’ “Ok thats good, here’s sissy.”

And when I told Joanna I finally told the kids, SHE was scared. Because she doesn’t want to be anything but incredibly supportive of my relationship with my kids.  She was relieved to hear that the kids want to meet her.  And so was I.  I was strong, and because of it I took a chance and told my kids where I have NEVER EVER told them about anyone else that I have dated.

You have to be strong for there will be times that you will find yourself on the short side of things. Yesterday a miscommunications on my fault threw me off my game.  I let things cascade. My world started to imploade.

Then Joanna told me that she believed in me. She asked me if I believed in her.

I heard my voice say. I need to “Stay Strong , Live Brave” and we worked out the issue. She stood by me, supporting me as I was weak.  But when the morning came and I got to see her again today, I felt invigorated.  Because I had strength that I didn’t even knew I possessed before. 

And with Joanna, I took a chance, I took a leap of faith, of which there are some people who can not and will not believe in.

I’ve never taken a leap of faith before.

The breeze feels great.

And I’m staying strong and living brave.

And for my friends who have asked me to make a list of things that we never need to do and things we need to do.

Things that we should never do:

1. Take each other for granted.

2. Fall asleep angry.

3. Not listen to the other’s point of view.

Things that we SHOULD do:

1. Meet each others parents (whether we are terrified of doing it or not)

2. Visit Canada (I’m sure we have some friends to meet) as well as many other countries.

3. Enjoy our time together

I first met her at the hotel at which my, at that time, girlfriend worked.  I had no idea who she was, but she was in “MY SEAT” and I wasn’t going to have any little missy give me any lip.

“Hi, nice to meet you, can I sit down next to my girlfriend,” I said with venom hissing out of me.  Who does this woman THINK she is?

“That’s nice, no you can’t sit on the floor,whoever you are,” she said with an equal amount of venom.  We both hissed and marked our territory with her, being my girlfriends best friend.

I had no reason to talk to her as we ended every discussion with a fight.  Meaningless little fights as small as who was the last to spend time with the girlfriend.

One day my girlfriend told me that “her” would rather favor women than to ever see me.  I responded that I would rather knaw my arm off than spend one moment with her.

We didn’t talk again for a year.

Whenever we did it was snarky, rude just venom filled hate. I still don’t remember why we hated each other so much. But we did.

So a couple of weeks ago, as I left a promotional appearance for my job, I was honked at.  I didn’t know who the person was that honked but gave the standard “Hi, thanks for listening wave.”

She sent me a message that said, ” you know, when you see someone that you know in the convenience store, you should say hi…even if you absolutely despise that person…lol…”

I was pissed, I waved, Great, it was HER and I had to respond.  What did she want. We had not talked to each other in over a year and it was the best year of my life. I mean the last time I talked to her I told her ”
Just take the nightstick out and realize that we (The Current Girlfriend at the time and I) think you are great, though we are worried about your desires to handcuff men to your bed. Luv ya, mean it sd”

So I was polite and responded, ” When did I see you? I don’t despise you at all, Call me sd” because I really didn’t despise her, just didn’t understand why she chose to always be nasty to me.

She wrote back, “you’re a dork…and i don’t have your number….lol…i sasw you the other day at the gas station at frankford and 19th.”

And then it all clicked. THE HONKER! Well crap, what did SHE want?

It couldn’t be easy, it had to be difficult, ” better idea…why don’t you call me.”

Games, always had to be games with her.

I called her that night and we talked.

And talked, and talked. Until 4, yes ladies and gentlemen FOUR in the morning.

I found out that she NEVER did hate me, just wanted to be a pain in my ass.

So I had already had gone out on Friday to run some errands after staying late at the house and headed back in from (what I found out later was her side of town) when she texted me. [Come meet us for dinner].  Her friend Megan and her were at Moe’s eating dinner. I wasn’t able to since at this time, I was letting mugsy out of his cage so he could use the restroom and walk around each night.  I had to put him up so the tile guys who were putting down the new floor, wouldn’t have mugsy jumping up and down on them while they tried to work.

So I let Mugsy out, and headed to the date that would change the way I thought about her.

I met her friend Megan and her at the New Buffalo Wild Wings and we watched the opening ceremonies and she and I tried to play trivia without boxes.  I schooled her and we just started to talk.  All of the sudden, Megan excuses herself and she and I are alone. We talked about our hopes, our dreams, our wishes. And then it clicked.

She had to get ready for her two week trip to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh for visiting her best friend and her cousin’s wedding. I wished her luck and walked her to her car. As we got to the front door I tried to hold open the door.  And she walked right past me opening the other door and then she turned back.  I must have had a look of shock or disappointment on my face because the look on her face was priceless. I had kicked her dog, smacked her face and peed in her post toasties. She knew she had screwed up.

When we finally got to her car I gave her a hug, telling her the night was still young. But it wasn’t meant to be. She opened her truck door and got in. I turned to walk to my car and go away, but I had to do something.

I walked up to her and in my mind said ok. Make your stand.

“Honey, if I don’t say this I’m going to hate myself forever. But after talking to you and thinking, I realized one thing. Maybe all this time I was dating the wrong girl.” And I kissed her, tenderly, passionately and it only took a tenth of a second for her to kiss back. It was wonderful. She went home to pack and I went home to crash, but it didn’t happen. That night we talked to 2 in the morning and I had a remote and she had cleaning to finish before she left so I went to bed thinking. “What in the hell did I do tonight?”

The next morning I went to my remote and she called me telling me that we wanted to come and see me before my remote was over. But she never did and as I was leaving for the station she called me asking if I could come see her. I went over to her apartment and as I called for directions (I’m like that, I really need a GPS unit) she laughed and directed me in.  Now Megan was supposed to take her to the airport. But as the clock got closer and closer she got more nervous.

“How about I just take you to the airport hon?” I asked trying to help her out.

“Megan has to get my keys,” she said as she vacuumed nervously. “She has to feed my fish.”

So we waited until we couldn’t wait any longer, I started to help her take her stuff to the car. “You can drive my truck if you want Sean,” she told me.

“Nah, let me use my car,” I said as I started loading things in.  I really don’t drive other people’s vehicles, all I drive is my company car and my car.

As we started to pull out in came Megan and her various assistants. SHE gave the keys up, and I got her to the airport.  As I unloaded the bags I gave her a hug and a kiss on her forehead.  I didn’t try for a kiss on the lips. I wanted to play this slow.

She left and I didn’t think another thing about it, till I got a call from her telling me how much she appreciated me.

We talked on and off all the way her trip to Philly.

Every day the next week, we talked to 2 or 3 in the morning. We explored our friendship with each other and I had to pass several tests, including the “best girlfriend test”, the “friend who is a psychologist test” and the “Talk to my mother test”

I guess I passed.

So I told you that I would be making a small announcement here, so here it goes…

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