Believe Notes: Instead of Sleeping...

Right now I should be sleeping, but instead I am working on putting together lists of songs to give to our DJ for the wedding.

I'm listening to all of these sappy songs and I can't help but feel a little emotional. Not emotional in a bad way, but emotional in a "wow, this is really happening" kind of way.

We met almost 8 years ago working at an outdoor amphitheater. Mr. Law was not yet Mr. Law, but rather, Mr - Burger - Flipper. Glamorous, right? On my first day of work he came over and asked if I had any friends yet (at work, of course) and I said "no" so he said he would my friend. Thanks! I thought his name was John - of course, it wasn't. Actually, even though I instantly liked him, I never thought he would ever return the feelings. As it turned out, he actually had a girlfriend at the time. Bummer, big, big, big bummer. Until they broke up, yay, yay, yay and more yay!

Our first summer together was, dare I say, magical? I suppose everything at 16 is magical though. We spent every moment at work together, and after working our shifts we would sneak off to the side of the stage and watch the concert. I remember standing by his side watching Incubus play "Stellar" and looking up into the crystal clear sky and just watching the stars. The next night he told me I was stellar. I had to look it up in the dictionary. Ah, young love.

Fast forward almost 8 years and here we are. We've lasted through a long distance relationship while I was at design school in Boston. He wanted to go into the army, and I begging him not to. When I came home from school he became a police officer. My life changed, I went through a period of extreme fear, but it subsided, and to be honest, I'm so used to sleeping in an empty bed that when he is home I make him sleep on the couch anyway (don't judge). We got engaged under the Brooklyn Bridge and I cried so hard I almost vomited. He brought a bag with him, because he knew me so well. Romantic, eh? I decided to have a major surgery and on the morning of my surgery he got called into work. He wasn't there when I went into surgery, but 6 hours later, when I came out, it was his voice calling my name that woke me up. He slept on the sofa with me for weeks while I recovered. That Christmas I was in too much pain to make holiday cookies, so he and my dad made the cookies themselves. Now it's a tradition that the men always make cookies. It brings tears to my eyes to see my dad and my future husband side-by-side, laughing and enjoying each other.

I graduated college and got a "real" job. I commuted for about a year, while my fiance and I searched for a home. We finally found one, and after eight months in contract the deal fell through. We were crushed but within a month something even better fell into our laps. We're now living in our first home, on the water looking at the New York City skyline. It's pretty amazing. And as you know, we rescued a puppy, Miss Juliet, who is the little light of our lives. After 7 years working at the beach I had to leave. And when the original wedding venue we booked fell though, my boss from the beach called and offered to let us have the wedding there.

Everything happens for a reason, doesn't it. We met almost 8 years ago as silly little 16-year-old's with our heads in the clouds - we didn't know it then, but that Incubus concert was the first day of the rest of our lives.

:)

I swear you won't get many of these sappy posts, but today I felt the need.

And here are a few pictures of us along the way, starting with the very first picture of us from the week we met.