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| Right now I don't have a program that will resize images, so until then there will only be descriptions of my loved ones. I will post images ASAP. My wonderful husband's name is Jonathan, and he truly is my best friend. I love him more than I could possibly say, and we have had an amazing year of marriage, not to mention engagement, ect. We met each other in high school, but didn't start dating until years afterward because I was in a long high school relationship. Jon and I were both in choir and, although we saw each other on a regular basis, we didn't really become friends until our senior year when a good friend of mine, Mike, met Jon and introduced us. After that Jon, Mike, my high school boyfriend, Jeff, and I became pretty good friends and hung out on a regular basis. Being preoccupied with my relationship with Jeff, I didn't think of Jon as anything more than a friend, but I did notice what an amazing person he was. Jon was the type of guy who didn't care what other people thought of him. He created his own idea of what was "cool" and wore an array of clothing styles, anything from renaissance garb to kung fu clothes, anything that caught his fancy. Similarly, Jon was/is very much into the martial arts and swordfighting, and is exceptionally talented in both. He has dreams to one day have his own dojo and teach kung fu, and if he could, I bet he'd want to teach swordfighting sometime in the future as well. During our senior year he brought Mike, Jeff, and me to his sensei's dojo where we all trained in the martial arts together, and there were even times when Jon himself would teach the class when our sensei couldn't make it. I got to experience personally what a great instructor Jon could be and, although I wasn't entirely concious of it at the time, I would get butterflies in my stomach anytime Jon had to get close to me and make contact with me when he was teaching me the kung fu moves. Jon holds within himself a delicately balanced sense of self-confidence and humility. He is confident, yet not cocky. Proud but not arrogant. He holds true to his personal beliefs, but is willing to re-evaluate them and admit when he is proven wrong. Jon showed me all the beauty within himself during our senior year, and I unknowingly started to fall in love with him. I never truly noticed how I felt about Jon during my relationship with Jeff because I loved Jeff. If I were to convey my feelings about Jon then I would have told you how cool Jon is. In my mind he was placed somewhere amazing where I couldn't touch him. The only time I could actually feel something between Jon and I was when we hugged, but I just assumed that Jon just gives really great hugs like that to everyone. Little did I know that Jon had had a crush on me since we were freshman, and he too felt something amazingly different when he'd hug me during our senior year. He also was falling in love with me and, unbeknownst to me, expressed his feelings to his family members and our mutual friend, Mike. After high school, I went away to Virginia for college, and the last time I saw or talked to Jon was during my first winter break back home. He had moved to San Fransisco and was trying to make a life for himself there, but was very unhappy. Jeff and I eventually broke up and I moved on to other things. It wasn't until a year later, when I went back home for the next winter break, did I hear from Jon again. I heard from Mike that Jon was back in town and that he wanted to get together. On New Year's Day Mike, my friend, Amber, and I went to the mall (we had stayed at Amber's to celebrate New Year's Eve) and we met up with Jon. I didn't even know we were going to meet him until I saw him standing outside the theater, and my face instantly lit up. I got a little nervous walking up to him, it had been so long since I had seen or heard from him and he looked completely different. He used to be tall, very thin, and had long beautiful blonde hair, but the guy in front of me had a buzzed head and, although he was still thin, had filled out... he was a man. It was at that moment when I was walking toward my old friend, this stranger, did I finally realize I am in love with him. I greeted him nervously, but then he hugged me for a long time and I remembered how good his hugs feel and much of my nervousness melted away. Then, my first question to him was "What happened to your hair??" I couldn't understand why he'd cut it all off when he used to take such pride in it. He looked a little surprised and said, "No one told you? I joined the Marines." I never thought Jon would join the Marines, or any branch of the military, but I thought it was a good choice of his to make since he was so unhappy and unsuccessful in San Francisco. Jon was on boot leave (he just finished boot camp) and because his leave landed on Christmas he got more time off than usual, about a month total. It was both his and my last week home, though. I was leaving to go back to school the day before Jon was leaving, but during that week we spent all the time we could together. We'd go out in the evenings with our friends and, while the rest of them went to sleep, we'd stay up until dawn talking, until one night when we eventually kissed. By the time the end of the week came, we started seriously talking about marriage. Jon did a couple months training in California until, as fate would have it, he was stationed in Virginia to do the last of his training. While Jon was still in California we'd talk on the phone every weekend all through the nights and we sent letters constantly. He was stationed in San Diego and bought me a plane ticket on Valentine's Day weekend to come out and see him during his 3-day weekend. He offically proposed to me the day after Valentine's Day at a mall in Oceanside where he bought our wedding bands and my engagement ring. My engagement ring had to be altered so I didn't get to wear it until a month later when I went home for spring break and saw Jon's graduation, so we wore our wedding bands instead. Finally Jon came out to Virginia. He was stationed 4 hours away from my school, but took a greyhound almost every weekend (which turned into a 7 hour bus ride one way) to come see me as often as my grades would afford it. Then, on Jon's 4-day weekend during Easter, I found a ride with a friend and went out to see Jon. We got married at the Virginia Beach courthouse on Monday, March 12, 2004. After my semester had ended, Jon still had one more week of training, so he came out to my school for the last time the weekend after finals and we rode the greyhound back to base together. I stayed in a hotel room on base during Jon's last week of training before going back home. Jon went to Washington ahead of me, finished his training, and came back home on a weekend to move me and all our stuff up to Washington in 4 days. We had quite an adventure too! I had sprained my foot really bad the week before we moved and was on crutches for more than a month. Jon drove a U-haul packed full of our stuff and pulled the new car we bought the day before we left behind us up to Washington in 3 days. So here we are 7 months later, very happily married and expecting a baby boy on May 17th. |
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