He Said, She Said...

About 18 months ago, it was Bobby's turn to plan our weekly date night.  He surprised me with the plan to design a "couple's web page" all about us, pictures of us, how we met, our relationship, etc.  We didn't get too far into it as we moved a few weeks later, finally went on our honeymoon, and then found out Johnny would be joining our family... only to move again and it goes on and on and on...

We did start it though.  This is about as far as we got, our individual versions of our love story.  I happened across them today, and reading them made me smile and lean over to Bobby and hug him tight.  I'm truly a lucky woman.  I'm so glad we took the time to do this.  Not only do I have the ability to reminisce and hear how my husband recalls falling in love with me, but someday our children will have the story to read for themselves.  I thought maybe I'd share them here...

Bobby's side:

Wedding Cake (Before the Wedding)

    

Things were just starting to calm down at work, everything slowing in the days before Christmas 2006.  Not having checked Myspace in a few days, I sat down in front of the computer.  Browsing through my messages, I found a few new friend requests.  Assuming it was spam, I deleted the Friend Request from one "Angie Candle + Monkey".  WTF kind of name is that anyhow?  I think it was the next day that I found myself looking through my deleted items and again I saw her picture.  Something made me click on it.  Fate?

    

After glancing over her *unique* profile - man was this girl "out there" - she even named her kids Jedi and Booka - I decided what the heck.  I added her as a friend curiously awaiting what would happen next.  I don't remember exactly how it started, but I was looking for a way to break the ice - I decided I would leave a witty comment.  As I sat there, going back to her profile over and over again to look for that one perfect lead in, I noticed this guy was leaving her comments, asking her out for Christmas.  Forget the fact that I thought his approach was lame, I guess I was getting a little territorial.  I, of course, had already invested hours to this relationship.  How dare he? 

So after knocking out the competition I guess I got her attention.  We began leaving each other messages, and that turned into IMing and eventually a phone call.  The phone call, though, wasn't to me.  Not knowing if she was a nutt ball or not, I was hesitant to give her my number, so I played it safe and gave her the number to my office.  Well, of course, she chose to call me at night and my phone covered into the call center - where my retarded brother Rich answered by coincidence.  I wont go into details, but if anyone's interested, I'll post a link to a recording of the phone call.  Long story short, my brother told Angie that I didn't work there.  It wasn't until a few days later that we straighten the whole thing out and had a few conversations by phone.  Having known that she was about to ship out, I didn't want to loose my chance to meet her, so we decided to go out.  I invited her to an A-List party at my pad.  lol  After having made plans to go pick her up, I jumped in the shower and then took a bulldozer to my apartment.  Between the clean up effort and the office calling, it was almost three hours later that I arrived at her "strip mall".

Safely in the truck, after almost having backed over her, we were off.  There was a lot of nervous conversation as we were on the way to my office.  I occasionally sneaked a peek out of the corner of my eye.  I remember taking great pains not to seem creepy, so of course I didn't want to get caught checking her out.  We were quickly done at the office and once again on our way.  In hindsight, I think I put a little too much effort into making myself out to not be creepy, because before I knew it, I had some strange little guy at my house - on his way to work, just checking on her.  We had been up almost all night talking -  it was almost 6am.

The next day, after having lunch at the Yard House, we were at the good old Goat Hill.still talking about the past and the things to come.  I remember Angie was telling me about having just lost her grandmother and what a big part she played in her life.  For the first time, she let her guard down.  I had known all along that Angie was soft hearted, though she tried her hardest to hide it.  It was at that moment that I felt myself falling for her.   That certainly wasn't what I was looking for.  I had made the conscience decision some time before that to be alone.  I wasn't looking to get involved with anyone, and above all that, I wasn't looking to fall for someone about to ship out and move in with Uncle Sam. 

It happened though.  No matter how much I didn't want it, it happened quickly, and it happened easily.  Before I knew it, I was on the biggest interview of my life.  The next day, I took Angie and the kids out to dinner.  Talk about a tough crowd - those kids weren't about to cut me any slack.  We picked them up at her Mom's house and I don't think I've seen them as quiet and expressionless since.  They didn't say a word.  They looked me up and down and apparently weren't very impressed.  In fact, when Angie introduced us, and asked them if they thought I was a cool guy, they very bluntly said "No".  Trying to warm them up a little, Angie asked them "Do you think he's a nice guy".  Again, the answer was an abrupt "No."  I was dying.  Fortunately, after a feast of Quesadillas and mashed potatoes, they warmed up.  Before I knew it, we were head banging together in the car on the way home - though I don't remember there being any music.  I was glad to get the kid's seal of approval.  Though, I still wasn't sure where this all was going at the time.  Little did I know we would be where we are today. 

    

After having dropped the kids off at Angie's parent's house, we were back at my house for a quiet night in.  We needed it after storming the beaches at Newport the night before.  Angie had wanted to see Talladega Nights, and it just so happened that Rich had left a copy at the house.  I can't remember how far we had gotten through the movie, but I found myself proposing.  I don't think Angie took me seriously, because the next day, she was shocked when I was getting ready to leave for Vegas.  This is where the title of our story comes from.

    

The night before, we had gone to get a few bare necessities at the grocery store.  Among which was a cake.  Little did we know, it would be our wedding cake.  It wasn't supposed to be, though Rich insisted that it was - even to this day.  Just as we were getting ready to leave, Rich was waking up and getting ready for work.  We swapped keys after I told him we decided to take a trip to Vegas.  I told him that we were getting married.  Rich, along with everyone else, chuckled and said "yea, right".  It wasn't until we were on the road that rich got out of the shower and found the computer on, from where I was looking up the licensing information for getting married in Vegas.  A slew of text messages followed as he was panicked, shocked, and awed.  I still think he doubted it until we got back with the certificate.

Long story short, neither of us took into consideration that it was the day before new year's eve.  It took us about 9 hours to get to Vegas, during which, we had "the talk".  This consisted of full disclosure and anything and everything we could think of that would ever give the other reason to say "Hey wait a minute, maybe this is a mistake".  We covered EVERYTHING by the time we pulled into Vegas.  It was just a few hours before midnight.  We had no reservations - hotel wise, anyhow.  We were both goofy with nerves.  YES, I CIRCLED THE SAME LEVEL OF THE PARKING LOT HALF A DOZEN TIMES.  Anyhow, we parked and when on the hunt for a hotel room.  Don't let anyone tell you that eloping is the cheap way to get married.  After we checked in, we went on the hunt - we still weren't sure how to go about this.  After consulting with the expert, the concierge, we went out and got a cab to the Las Vegas Marriage License Bureau.  After passing through the grueling application process, we exited the building still unsure of where the heck we were going to actually do the deed.  Luck for us, there were people ready to help.  In fact, they were just about willing to fist fight with each other to be the ones who actually helped us. 

    

It was a beautiful ceremony - performed by the revered Penn and witnessed by his annoying little Filipino camera man.  We were whisked backed to our luxorious accommodations by Tyrone, the limo driver.  Again, people, let me correct the myth that getting married in Vegas is the less expensive way to go.  Anyhow, back to the hotel for dinner and a night out on the town.  

My side:

Stronger than Army Strong...

    Once upon a time, long long ago, in a land not so far away Angie had been browsing through “single” MySpace users within a close range mile radius at the urging of a friend. Insisting nothing would come of it and that it would just be for fun, Angie went through with the plan and began sifting through the strange and even stranger. When she came across this guy Bobby though, something caught her. She looked over his profile and looked through all his pictures. He was 29, also lived in South Orange County, and had been in the Army at some point. He seemed to have a fascination with tattoos and a “me against the world” attitude. Something about this guy made her feel like a little girl with a crush but also “challenged” and she was determined that she had to get to know him better. 

After trying to send a message she realized that he had his message settings turned to “away”. She sat and debated how she should go about this without seeming like a stalker, but finally took the plunge to click “Add as a friend”. It was approximately 2-3 days before she heard anything from him, and yes, she checked her pending requests often to see if he was going to take the bait.

   On December 22, 2006, Bobby logged into his MySpace account.  As usual, he was being pursued by multiple fake porn profiles.  However, one stood out - after he had deleted the friend request.  Quickly, hitting the Back button on his browser, he saw someone who stood out from the others. In fact, she wasn't porn at all, but a nice girl. Changing his answer to "Accept", he looked over her profile and decided chatting wouldn't be so bad.

    

Her name was Angie Candle + Monkey.  She was 25 and apparently lived "where soul meets body".   For some reason her profile indicated some nonsense about her just enlisting in the Army and that she was to leave for Basic Training in just a few days, but he was certain this was fictional.  Glancing over her pictures, along with her profile text, he decided that leaving a comment wouldn't hurt.  But what was this?  Some creep was leaving her comments asking her out for Christmas.  Some how, Bobby could not help himself.  He had to leave a comment on Angie's profile, but not for Angie - for the creep.  Eventually, after about two or three of these, they were able to talk about themselves.  Comments turned into messages, instant messages, and phone calls. Eventually they met in person on the 27th.

    When the time finally came, Angie walked out to the front of her gated apartment complex just to be safe so that if danger arose, Bobby would not know where she lived.  After all, this was a man who a few minutes before, got lost after simple directions, and called asking if she lived in a mini mall.  After Bobby nearly ran over Angie, she hopped in the jeep, and they were on their way.

    

The next day they were hanging out again. It seemed as if they just could not stop laughing. Whether it was random stories Angie felt like telling out of nervousness or the revelation that Santa Clause is indeed a pervert, they were finding themselves in constant amusement. That night, Angie told Bobby she wanted to see the ocean "one last time" before she left for the Army. We don't need to go into details about what a fool she made out of herself screaming "Army Strong!" in the freezing temperatures of the Newport Beach salt water... but she knew the second Bobby picked her up and dried off her feet, carrying her to the jeep and then trying to warm up her freezing toes that she was in love, and that this was the man she wanted to spend forever with. In fact, she told a few friends later that night when she was being teased about moving off and settling down in the Army. Exclaiming: "I'll never do that! Me? Married? Never..." but then whispering while pointing at Bobby "Except for him. I'd marry him."

    

The next day it was time for Angie to move out of the apartment where she had been living in Aliso Viejo. She waited and waited for Bobby to show up, as they were also to take her 2 children out for dinner that night. She had begun to run a fever and felt that she was having a setback from a cold that she had the week before. Bobby arrived and quickly took over the moving efforts, insisting that Angie sit down. Angie had noticed that Bobby was old fashioned and liked to take care of her, but this was particularly a relief and she felt very safe with him. This feeling was something she had always wanted to feel, but had begun to believe it was impossible to experience. In between trips, they were able to pick up Jeff and Becca and have a nice dinner at Mimi’s Café. Bobby had mentioned quite a bit how nervous he was about the kids, but Angie was confused as to why. She thought “Maybe he’s just not used to being around kids.” He didn’t seem to act like he was really that interested in her even though she was quickly falling for him. Just that morning she had told a few friends how disappointed she was that she knew nothing more would ever come from their friendship. At first it seemed as though Jeff and Becca would rather have all of their immunizations repeated than to enjoy this Bobby person. It wasn’t until Jeff was flirting with the waitress though he was at the young age of 5 that he started softening up to Bobby. Becca was slowly warming up also, and by the time came to get back in the car they were all laughing, joking around, and having a good time.

    

After two days of spending quite a bit of time together and a day of moving, they had decided that instead of a night out they should just pick up some junk food at the grocery store and hang out at Bobby’s. It was 2 days before New Year’s Eve and the crowds and traffic were just exhausting no matter where you went. Angie asked Bobby if they could watch his brother's copy of "Talladega Nights". She had been dying to see this movie and was determined to see it before leaving for boot camp. While laughing uncontrollably at the movie they both paused when Angie jokingly said something about "When we get married" (this joke had been going on since a few minutes into the first date) and followed with "Like you would ever marry me...” Bobby quickly replied with "I'd marry you". The conversation got pretty serious from there, of course. Bobby explained to Angie why he wanted to marry her and how he would not feel complete without her. Angie said, "How can I marry you? I've never even kissed you?!" Right then, like magic, they experienced their first kiss. It was amazing, naturally. After a few minutes of deep conversation, they began making their plans for the trek to Vegas the next day.

    

Angie woke up early on the morning of December 30th.  She remembered the events of the night before and was hoping that Bobby had not had a change of heart.  After letting Bobby sleep for about, oh, 2 more hours she dragged him out of bed and told him to get ready.  She couldn't wait to be his wife and start a life with him! After they were ready to get on the road they started out for what they thought would be a little road trip. But they were wrong... 9 hours were spent in the car that day. During this time they were able to discuss the "important" things, almost as if the traffic was there for a reason.  Once they finally arrived, they raced around trying desperately to find out where to go to get a marriage license, how to find a wedding chapel, and of course a room. It was the day before New Year's Eve and most of the hotels were booked. Once they finally got it all together they arrived at the "Garden of Love" and were wed at approximately 10:30 pm. It was a long day, but all so worth it. Angie often says that she wouldn’t have had it any other way, and falls more in love with Bobby with each and every day. Needless to say, she cancelled her enlistment and did not ship out to Boot Camp.

 

And now, just for fun, I want to include the blog Bobby wrote a little over 2 weeks after we got married.  It, also, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy every time I go back and read it...

Monday, January 15, 2007 

It finally hit me... Current mood:  thankful Category: Life Well, it finally hit me... I'm married.  Wow.  Funny that it didn't fully click during our limo ride from the chapel.  It hadn't even totally set in while house hunting.  Not even did it hit home during the first of many naked Saturdays.  But yesterday, I felt what I could only describe as a light headed pannic as we were on our way back from - it's still hard for me to say - grocery shopping.  Yes, only as I realized that I was on my way home after grocery shopping with my wife did it all hit me.  The radio slowly faded out, I couldn't hear the traffic along side us - total silence.  And then I looked over at my wife and giggled like a complete dork - something I catch myself doing alot these day.  While it's true, not so long ago even I could have never imagined myself married - now I can't remember what it was like before Angie came into my life.  It's easy.  I think it's easy because it's right.  I can't describe it - more then an instinct or a reflex, being in love with my wife is the most natural feeling I've ever known.  There's nothing more then I want then to have all the cheesey things that I swore I'd never "sell out" and live for.  So, Angie notices me staring at her and asks "What", as she always does when she catches me - and my ears pop, the surrounding noise fades back in and I do the only thing I could think of.  Scream like a big fat woman and laugh as I tell her what just happened.  lol  I love being married. 8:28 PM 6 Comments 8 Kudos