100 Days

In 100 days, I will marry the man that changed the scope of my life.


...opened up my heart.
...gave me hope.
...and happiness.
...and made my dreams come true.


And for that, I will forever be grateful.


As a Project Manager in my day-job, I deal with alot of 'scoping'.  Asking people, "what's in scope for this project?"  "What is out of scope?"


If you would've asked me what was "in scope" for my life 18 months ago, I would've told you that I just wanted to be happy.  Just raise my kids, keep my job, finish my degree, live in the house I bought and just generally do the day-to-day stuff to keep going.


While I'd always dreamed of being married one day, at that time, it was completely 'out of scope'.




Time sure changes everything.


Here I am, 100 days from one of the best things that will happen in my life and I can barely believe it.


The closer it gets, the more planning I do, and the more real it seems.


I often think back to the first time I re-connected with Joe.  The first time I stepped out of my little Chevy Cobalt last summer to meet him for dinner at B-dubbs.  


I had spent a decade dating different people here and there but just knowing in the bottom of my heart that it wasn't meant to be.  That was not the "last stop" for me.  I wasn't sure what or whom I was searching for, but I knew the search was not over.


Until that night.  The minute I got out of the car and saw him I just knew.


...he is the reason I've spent a decade alone.


We needed a decade to go on with our lives, have our children, grow up, get established...


...and then reconnect.  


Time sure changes everything.


Here we are, months later, preparing for a day that I thought would never come; sharing it with a man that I never dreamed I'd ever have back in my life; and having the honor of some of the greatest friends in the world supporting me on this journey.


I look around at this house we have together; and it's more than just neutral colored walls with a combination of furniture from each of our past lives.


It's home.


It's a place where children laugh.
...and cry.


It's a place where we make memories as a new family.


It's a place where I take on a new role that I've never had before... a wife.
...and getting that title soon, means the world to me.


It's the place where our children will be picked up for their first dates.
... and park their first cars.


It's the place where we share secrets...
...and hopes.
...and fears.


It's home.


and I am so, so thankful to be here.