The Story of Us - Our First Date

Who knew I would find my soumate at the tender age of seventeen, that my whole life would change because of one amazing person.

I met Conrad through his little sister and my friend Megan. I was changing schools and began to work at a department store to earn some extra cash to get me to and from school. Megan and I became friends and over time she began to talk about her big brother. He sounded amazing from the get go and I decided that I would slyly hunt him from afar. Subtly dropping hints to Megan about how my whole family is military and I loved a man in uniform. After a few weeks it finally paid off. Megan talked to Conrad about me and his response to her was to tell me to " give him a call in a couple years. " Well being who I was and having the attitude I still do, I told her to tell him to go screw himself lol. Apparently she had told him I was 16 and he thought that was too young. A little while later Megan and I went to a movie and came back to her house thoroughly terrified. When we walked in the house he was just sitting there and watching the Man Show. He didnt even look up to say hello and all I got out of him was a grunt. Even though he may not have shown it I must have made an impression because not too long afterward Megan called and and asked it I wanted to go to a movie with Conrad. My response was that if he wanted to take me out he could man up and ask me himself. I secretly thought it was all a joke and I was not going to be played. Highschool is a cruel place ya know? Well he got on the phone, sounding very confident and suave and asked me himself. He was on leave from his base in Cheyenne, Wy and had a couple weeks to kill. Our first date was casual and with his best friend and Megan coming along. I walked into their house the night were going out and walked downstairs looking around for him. It had been a while since I had seen him ( in the dark non the less ) and he had grunted at me so when I saw Megan standing next to someone, naturally I thought it was him. He was tall with a receeding hair line, goofy looking all around. My heart dropped and I was stunned thinking that this couldn't be the guy I saw before. I heard a loud thunk and turned around and Conrad appeared at the top of the stairs. My heart skipped a beat and I knew automatically it was him. He was wearing a Broncos jersey and jean shorts ( in February, something I still tease him about ). In that moment I knew he was something special and I felt comfortable. We headed off to the movie and made it twenty minutes too late to see the original movie we picked out. We were left with no choice but to see The Life of David Gale..........not a good first date movie if any of you haven't seen it. Throughout the whole movie Conrad and I were cracking jokes and talking and trying to ignore the awkwardness of the movie. We were shushed but we didn't care. We were in our own little world in that moment. The movie ended and Conrad and I held hands while we walked out to the car, and then he opened the car door for me. Lol it sounds silly but I completely melted. We went back to his house and I asked for a couple ibuprofen for the small headache that was about the ruin my night. I remember he handed them to me then tried to take them back to open them for me. i didn't want to be precieved as a weak little girl to I playfully grabbed them back. This began the first of many wrestling matches to come. The wrestling match turned into a game of " you cant catch me " which spilled out onto the snow covered street. Of course he caught me, but only because I let him. I stayed until midnight that night and finally went home knowing I was going to spend the rest of my life with him.

It's heeeeere!

Conrad deployed last Thursday to Kuwait. I haven't been able to write or talk much about it because I honestly just want to stay numb. My friend Beth knows what i'm talking about. Being numb is so much easier than letting the flood of emotions wash over me. I cant lose control because I have to hold it together alone now. Conrad has done an amazing job of trying to make this easier for me. Sending flowers, emails, calling whenever he gets a chance. He even sent me an edible arrangement to work for Valentine's Day. The girls at work all ohhh and ahhhed and proceeded to talk about how our marriage was like a Nicholas Sparks novel ( ; . We have an amazingly strong marriage and so far this deployement (although only a week in ) has strengthened it, but the fact remains that the better half of me is thousands of miles away. This isn't a romance novel, or a fairy tale like some people I know compare it to. I'll never kow how people can romanticize a situation like this. It is in no way, shape or form romantic. It is lonely and scary and miserable, but I'm getting through it. I've dealt with it better than I ever thought I could. I'm staying busy and and going out and for the first time this weekend I am going to see a movie all by myself. It feels almost a little empowering, I was never really single or alone. I got married 3 days out of highschool and moved right in with my husband. Now for the first time in my life five and a half years later I almost have to learn how to be single ( of course without the whole dating thing thank god! ). Wish me luck!                                                                      

( and no I will NOT be seeing Dear John anytime soon lol )