I finally found him!!!

(photo taken by the amazing Katherine-MacLaine-Design-Photography)

Every time I hear Enrique sing.....finally, finally, finally found you....well, it makes me think of Dan! I can't believe I have finally found him and every day I realize he is more and more the perfect match for me!  So indulge me a little, my handful of readers, who I know love me...so you probably won't mind.....here is my story....a short version!! hahah

A long, long time ago (way back in 2011), I got an email from a friend asking me if I wanted to go on a date with her bro! I was scared and nervous and very reluctant to do this! I have always been against blind dates personally because I always dreamed of having a best friend that just naturally became my husband! So I kinda refused a few times but inside I was thinking...why not...what do you have to lose!!! So there was a point that my brain switched to start to welcome the idea. So one day I got a little message from Danny Stretch asking me if I wanted to go to a Fundraiser for his cousin! I was scared to death, and my best friend Jules was visiting me so I didn't know what to say. Later that weekend I got a call from a number I didn't recognize and I was sooooo awkwardly nervous when I answered it and heard a super low rumbly voice telling me it was Danny Stretch calling. So I kinda said no to him but was also trying to say that I would be up for hanging out but he could obviously tell I was sooo nervous and pacing around. Anyways...a few days later his sister invited us both over for games and I....well lets just say I felt SICK to my stomach driving to her house that night! But as soon as I walked in I saw Dan leaning over the counter...pretty relaxed and chill and I was still nervous and he was a little intimidating...but his voice was gentle and he was funny! After that it was a few random hangouts and MANY MANY MANY debriefs with my sister and Amanda and emails from his sister and pretty much any girl who would give me the time of day and their word of advice! So we started hanging out a bit more but he was also studying for his first year plumbing tests so there was a few weeks that we weren't really connecting well...and "typical EB" as he likes to lovingly say sometimes to me.... I send him an email and just kinda said....this isn't really working out so well....I don't really want a FRIEND at this point in my life....and he sweetly wrote back and said don't give up and tried a bit harder to hang out with me...this happened a few times and I remember one other time that I sent him a message implying that I was discouraged that we didn't see each other or talk that much and he sent me a text that I should call him that night....so that was another milestone of mine and I had to build A LOT of courage up to call him that night but I did and it was really sweet and fun to talk to him. So the more I hung out with him the more I was starting to really have fun with him. It was the week of my birthday that I hung out with him and we made curry and watched a Chinese/English dubbed KungFu movie and I was thinking....oh man I really wish I could hold his hand!!! (But we didn't!!) So I had a really fun birthday week in June (with surprise visits from my cousin and best friend) and was feeling like I was starting to really like this dude....And later that month (ON JUNE 17TH TO BE EXACT) he invited me to go camping with his friends (VERY NERVOUS) and on our *quiet* drive over to Halifax I was convinced he was bored and definitely NOT into me....but just as we were driving into the city, he said...Do you think your ready to define our relationship? And I said....UM YES!!!!! and he held my hand for the first time and that is how we started our love story!!!!

                        

 It only took me a few months until I knew I loved him (it was at Basinhead Beach--camping again!!!)
He told me he loved me in December and made me the happiest girl in the world!
I fell so much more in love with him during the next few seasons of fun.....so many times of cooking yummy meals, having picnics, swimming at Rice Point, Fort Amherst and Canoe Cove after work, playing games with our families, going to church together every week, helping him tear down his barn a little!!, playing video games together, family meals and camping trips......every minute I feel like my heart will explode with love for this guy!

So on December 14th, he came over after work, after sending sweet encouraging texts to me all week and took me to North Rustico to see the crazy lights. And right after we took some funny pictures of ourselves...he said " I want to give you something...but before I do I want you to know I love you so much and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you" and he got on his knee and I jumped into his arms and said over and over...I can't believe it...is this real!!!

                                                       

And we drove and told our parents (and he had sweetly asked my mom and dad the night before) and we celebrated with warm butter tarts and facetimed his mom and dad (and his mom was the happiest screamer of anyone) and started telling the news with so so so so so many people who have loved me and prayed for me specifically over the years to find a good man. And I can hardly believe the gift that I have been given. Its amazing to be loved by such a good man and I look forward to spending the rest of my life loving him and being loved by him!