7. The Big Day

I don't remember much of what happened between Summer of 2006 and the wedding. It seemed to go by so quickly! My mom and I planned my dream wedding together. It was so much fun! I had known where I wanted to get married since I was a little girl. There was a perfect spot in one of my Dad's hay fields, right at the top of a small rise, up against a tree line. It was beautiful! 

6. The Visit, and What Became of It

It was August 3rd, and we were finally on our way to Colorado to visit him. I could hardly sit still for the trip. The anticipation was killing me! I couldn't wait to be in his arms again. It seemed like an eternity since I had seen that ruggedly handsome face. The drive took two days. Mostly because we had to stop at a hotel in time for my sister to swim in the pool before bed...

5. Guns, saddles, and separation...

And so I got on the plane and went home to Oklahoma. He was waiting for me at the airport. It was sort of a whirlwind for the next few months. That night that we decided to be a "couple" was April 21st. The next week, after I was home from NC, he sat down with my father and asked permission to date me. They had a long, serious talk, while my mom and I sat downstairs and wondered what exactly they were talking about. They never told us all of it. At least I don't think they did. But they both came down alive, and that was all that mattered! Oh, that and the fact that my dad gave him his blessing. That's always a good thing to have. I have a feeling that there might've been some small amount of threatening involved during that conversation; I can only imagine that it went something like this... "Now son, I can do things with a scalpel that you don't even want to imagine..." But I can't be certain about that.

4. Let's Get Together, yeah yeah yeah

... BUT, I didn't need to get up the nerve, after all! One evening he came over to my house. We didn't ride horses that day, but I was leaving to go to North Carolina the next morning, and I really wanted to see him before I left, so I invited him to hang out while I packed. I made sure that when he arrived I was trying on a really cute dress. I had it all figured out! (He liked the dress, by the way.) Then I remembered that I had let my friend's boyfriend borrow my English textbook. He only lived ten minutes away, so we jumped in the truck and went to go pick it up.