My Husband

Thursday my hubby asked if I had blogged about him.  I replied not yet...   So Dear Hubs, this post is dedicated to YOU!

Let's see, where do I start?

4 years, 2 months, and 20 days ago-I married the love of my life! What a joyous occasion!

How we met: We attended the same church and I knew him-the black sheep of the congregation with his baggy, punk rocker styled clothes, tattoo's, and piercings.  My sister actually hung around him more than I did in the early days.  He was chaperoning her best friend's older sister and her fiance. So I knew who he was.  And he knew who I was.  He thought I was snobby and stuck up.  HAHA...  I guess I was a little (okay, a lot) goodie two shoes when I was younger, but man, a snob? Stuck up?  Sheesh.
Then he moved to Colorado for work.  My boss at the time, (the friend whom he had formerly chaperoned her relationship who was now married) talked about him all the time.  She and her husband were very close to my husband.  I was in a bad relationship at the time he was gone.  Thank God I finally got out of it, all the while my boss talked my husband up to me.  Hehe.  Excellent match making skills in the works.  I knew a lot about my future husband because of all the stories I heard.  At one point he came to visit to attend a wedding and go to a Metallica concert.  I was appointed manager at the consignment boutique I was working at the time.  When my bosses finally came back, I had to run something up to the store for them on my day off and it was early.  I decided to wear my pj bottoms...big mistake.  Hubs was there, and all I could think about was how embarrassed I was that I had worn them, and how self conscience I was in them.  He made me very nervous to say the least.  He was also present at our annual "It's Labor Day, so we shall labor by deep cleaning the whole shop" day.  I was so very nervous that whole day, too!!  At one point, I thought he had left, and so I relaxed a little...only to find out that he was sitting in our "man" chair in the shop reading magazines.  My nerves shot back up and I never lost track of him again.  We didn't speak, or if we did, it was very choppy and awkward.
Back to CO he went...
He was there for 3 years total.  By the time he came back, I was fresh out of a rotten relationship and very vulnerable.  My boss, who was also my best friend at the time, invited me to hang out with them a lot.  Of course since my hubs was their best friend, he was always there, too.  We hung out a lot, but barely speaking.  I was so nervous around him.  And he was really nervous around me too.
I remember one night we were all talking about the ocean and hubs was saying how much he didn't like the ocean and how it scared him because of the sharks.  The next day at work I told my boss how surprised I was that he was afraid of the ocean since I thought he was a big, tough guy.  (Hubs had his labret and ears pierced, and has a dozen tattoo's and is a very tough looking, guy!)  My Boss laughed and told me that he was really just a big teddy bear.  I couldn't imagine that, but found it quite funny that HE was afraid of the ocean.
I also remember the night that he introduced me to the band HIM.  He brought one of their dvd's over and we watched and listened to several of their songs.  I was instantly in love with their music and loved the way their music video's looked.  The next day I went out and bought their CD, Razorblade Romance.  I was in college at the time and sat listening to the cd during one of my breaks.  That was a Wednesday, because that night at church some of us were standing in the foyer and as we stood there, hubs had his nose stuck in the Bible.  Then, it was just us two standing there.  I was trying to get up the courage to tell him I had gotten the cd and how excited I was about it.  I finally took the step and told him about me buying the cd.  Nose still stuck in his Bible he said that was nice, glad I liked it.  What?!  No excitement like the night before when he was showing them off, no smiles, no nothing.  Just nose in the Bible...  I was hurt.  Didn't understand that at all.  Now I know that he was completely intimidated by me.  Yeah, ME.  Or rather, my beauty, as he once sweetly told me.  Awwwww.  He really knows how to make me blush!  Another time, all the adults I hung out with were wanting alcoholic drinks, (my boss and her hubby were 6 years older, and my hubs is 9 years older) so we all loaded up in the car and went to the liquor store.  Me, being the young age of 19, I couldn't obviously drink.  Right before my husband purchased drinks, my boss and I left so that he could pay without a minor (ME) present.  After he came to the car, he mentioned that the guy who checked him out said something about not giving alcohol any minors in our group.  He innocently told him that is why he had purchased the OJ.  I said "Thanks a lot...Joe" (That's the nickname some people call him.  That was the first and last time I ever called him Joe.)  He smiled sweetly at me.  I was furious inside.  So what if I was underage, did he have to point it out?  Oh well, I got over it. =0)
Another time, we went to see Constantine the movie.  I really wanted to sit by him, and he really wanted to sit by me, but we were both too shy to say so and it didn't end up happening, we sat at complete opposite ends of the theater...
At one point in our non-relationship-but-so-intensly-attracted-to-one-another-and-so-nervous-that-we-couldn't-speak-to-one-another I had injured my back and I needed to get some heavy things from my bosses apartment to my car.  He offered to help me out and then before he walked away he said "drive home safely." I started giggling on the inside.  What did you just say to me?  Really? Thanks, DAD!  I thought that was such a fatherly thing to say...
And then there was the going out to eat.  He took me, and my bosses out to eat often.  He was a single guy-had a good job, so he always paid.  There was one night that was very strange.  My boss called to tell me that mu husband wanted to take us all out to eat and wanted to make sure I'd be there.  We had just been out the night before...  She was acting weird.  Hubs was acting weird and even more nervous than ever.  We ate mostly in silence...it was a very weird, awkward night...I did not enjoy it.  Little did I know he was trying to work up the courage to ask me to court/date him.  He failed that time.  After dinner we went back to the bosses apartment and the girls ended up watching a girly movie because the guys went out to smoke their cigars and talk-where I was the main topic, of course.  As I was leaving, I stepped out the door and was instantly met with silence...but I couldn't focus on that because I had forgotten my leftovers in the fridge.  So back in I went.  Back out I came-into the silence again.  It's the kind of silence where you know you were being talked about... So I smiled and walked past my husband and my boss' husband and said "thank you for buying my dinner" and he responded "You're welcome, anytime..."
So the next night we were going to go out to dinner AGAIN.  I was thinking, DANG, this guy's made of money!!  He's always taking us out to dinner.  It was my bosses my husband and me.  We went to Tony Roma's (which is now closed).  It was a very quiet dinner, no one really said a lot, it was very awkward.  After we got finished eating, we were all just sitting around, quietly, awkwardly, drumming our fingers on the table...(not literally).  Then my bosses husband was like "We're not leaving until Joseph talks to you, Whitney..." And my head shot up and I was like, "Me!?" So then my husband turns to me and tells me that he's interested in me, and is wondering if I would court him! I said yes, and also that he'd have to get my Dad's (and Ma's) permission to court me as well.  (We're old fashioned like that.) So we waked out of Tony Roma's officially (pending my parents approval of course) courting.  We even sat next to each other on the way home in the car.  And because we wanted to, not because we had to.

So that's the start to our relationship.  That was in March of 2005.
But that's not the end of the story, no way! There's much more to come!
Our relationship has been a truly sanctifying experience for both of us.  We've had our ups, and we've had our downs; but we've managed by God's grace alone to come through the fire, to be a very happily married couple!
I love my husband. A lot.
This is for you, Babe. =0)