House Hunt 2k12

Aside from impatiently awaiting the arrival of my new little boyfriend Jackson (come on Jenny... have him already!) ... I have been busy with a plethora of activities ranging from school to house hunting.  

I'm not sure what possessed, or rather motivated me to take 12 credit hours this semester, but I did.  Call me an overachiever.  Or Impatient.  Or a total nut-case, but it's not too bad.  Now, I'm not going to lie and tell you that I don't sit in my bed every single night and do homework/study/lectures/forum posts/etc - because I do... but it's not too bad.  What I will tell you however, is that the fruits of my labor will come after this semesterd when 1.) I have an official Associates Degree and 2.) I will have a deeper appreciation for taking 1-2 classes each semester.

Associates Degree?  What?  Why?  If some of you remember, when I decided to take the plunge and return to school, I set milestones for myself, so I would feel as though I were making progress and have goals to meet along the way.  The first was to go ahead and get an associates while I work on my Bachelor's.  While, I don't think there are any instant benefits to this piece of paper, at least from a current career perspective, it does make me feel good to have accomplished the 2nd goal that I had for myself.

So yes, the House Hunt 2k12.  For those of you that have been to my house, you will know that a family of 5 or 6 (My honey is probably choking at those numbers right now!) cannot comfortably fit in this love shack. Therefore, it is inevitable that we find another home.  I haven't quiet decided if we are going to try to sell my house or rent it out, but either way, this Team needs a home!

I'm super excited to go looking at houses and try to figure out what we want and need and it makes the realization that our lives will be joining very, very soon even more exciting. 

We are spending our Saturday afternoon looking at a few houses in the area while his sweet son is at a birthday party.  I can't wait!

Is it October yet?  :)

Wedding planning is coming along nicely.  Still trying to walk a fine line between what I like and my taste and what is considered tacky by our guests.  Not so much from a style perspective because I'm pretty neutral on colors and decor... but rather from a traditions/order of events/standard flow standpoint. 

Because I'm backwards, weird and pretty private about a lot of things, I could do without the hooplah of a wedding.  However, I thought it was important for our children to participate and witness the blending of our family, so I agreed to a small intimate wedding.

...which has turned into about 100 people. 

The best part of that number is that, while it seems so LARGE to me, it is 100 of our closest friends and family, which makes me feel so rich with people that love me (and us).  I am so blessed.

So, anyway....

that's that.

Better Days

I think people are brought in and out of our lives for a reason.  Most of the time, the reasons aren't clear at the time, which makes understanding the path of life difficult, at best.

Other times, people stay in your life for long enough that you can look back and realize how they impacted your life and the purpose of their existence.  I have a sweet girlfriend that I met a little over 10 years ago, and have had the priviledge of walking in and out of eachother's lives a couple of times over that period of time.  She's a person that "gets me", she doesn't judge and often thinks the way that I do.  She's supported me, like many of you, through some of the hardest times in my life and I am so, so thankful for that support from her.

At the same time though, we've had our falling-outs and it always seems that when we reconnect, we do so with complete forgiveness and clean slate.  I appreciate every single time I'm able to be in her company because I know that there's nothing I can't talk to her about and have her opinion/support/etc.

I have other friends, that it seems I've entered their life to use my life experiences to help them get through hard times and then our friendship starts to dissipate and take it's natural course of moving on.  They take what they learned from our friendship and apply it to others; and life goes on.

Others have entered my life at just the right times, making me believe in things I'd lost hope in.  And whether they stick around for the duration, or choose to spend just a small amount of time with me, I have to trust that there was or is purpose and a lesson to be learned from their involvement in my life.

Sadly, in some instances I may have to learn that 'trusting certain people' with your heart cannot be done lightly.  At the end of the day, it is what it is.

I try to face every "difficult" situation in my life with an open mind, and although I'm not the best at doing this on-the-spot or in the middle of conflict or issue, I always try to take a step back and say,

"ok, what am I supposed to be learning from this?" 

When i view situations in that light, it usually helps me level set and move forward with a positive thinking mind, instead of the instant negativity that accompanies hurt feeilngs, frustration, resentment, anger, devastation, etc.

My son is a lot like I am; sometimes that is good, and other times that is bad.  It's difficult to parent "yourself" when the individual you are trying to parent has the same train of thought that you do and it becomes a battle of will.  On the other hand, it's a nice challenge to look at my own life and the positive attributes that I have and attempt to nourish those traits within my son to help use his strong willed energy and turn that into a good leader someday, in whatever he chooses to do with his life.

On the other hand, it has been equally as rewarding and challenging to parent my daughter.  She is so polar opposite of me in many ways and has been since day 1.  I often find myself asking, in the midst of a challenge,  "how am I supposed to parent this child that is so different from me?"

More times than not, the answer is clear:

"Just learn from it.  Do your best, love her unconditionally and learn from it."

So, I do.

I've learned how to love people more; because of her.  I wasn't a good person at loving others with the hardened heart that I had protected from past hurts... yet, when i'm in the middle of a 'moment' with my daughter, where i'm fuming mad and furious, she looks at me and says, "mommy, i love you, I do still love you, even if you are yelling at me."

And it breaks my heart.

In that heated moment where i'm so frustrated that I cannot see straight, she can still mutter the words, "I love you" to me, despite my momentary rage.

All my life, I've wanted someone to just love me.  Through the good and the bad, just love me. 

And she does. 

What a lesson to me on how to love through good and bad.

Patience.

The word that is my arch-enemy.  I am not a patient person by nature.  Well, i didn't use to be.

Until my girl.

Because we think so differently, it has required a great deal of patience on my part to try to help her grow into the confident and independent young woman that came very naturally to me.  yet, at the same time, accepting her as she is.

Oh, Patience.... thank you for coming into my life in a sort of "baptism by fire" kind of way through my daughter.

I'm not the best at showing love and i'm not the most patient person.  I do try, but I know I'm not the best.

Yet, that's all my daughter wants from me... a great deal of love, and patience.

She's not a bad kid.  I don't get calls from the school about bullying, she demonstrates outstanding citizenship, cares about other people's feelings like none other.

All she wants is my love, support and encouragement. 

Sure, it's frustrating at times. 

Ok, a lot of times it is frustrating. 

..but for selfish reasons.  Because I don't want to take 30 minutes to love on her... i want to put her to bed and her go to sleep.

Really? 

I borrowed 18 years of time from her long life and I can't just relish in the moments alone with her before bed?

I can't stop loading the dish washer, taking out the trash, doing laundry, working, doing homework, texting, etc ....

...to spend time giving my daughter 'love'?

The one thing she is just craving, for whatever reason, and I'm too busy.

Is there ever such a thing as loving a child "too much?"   I think all children's needs are different.  Just as everyone's adult love languages are different.

I try so hard to meet the needs of the people that I love through understanding them and their love language.

And I really need to be more in tune with her love language and no matter how awkward or odd it makes me feel to deliver on that, I need to do a better job of it.

Admittedly, last night was a rough night at my house.  I started out wrong, when she needed love, I strictly enforced that I needed space.

When she needed reassurance, I forced my lack of desire to "do this right now".

I failed.

Last night, I failed. 

I didn't do my job as a parent, I was being selfish.  And it happens.

Some day, I will look back, in my days without children and wish for just one more moment that they were still little, innocent and demanding of my love.

For now, in times like these... days like today when I just want to throw in the towel on everything, give up, and stop believing in little things that make me happy.... I exercise the patience and love that i have learned in the past 8 years and i tell myself that:

1.) Love is a Proper Noun and a Verb. 

2.) Love doesn't throw in the towel.  Love loves no matter what.  If love doesn't love no matter what, then it wasn't love to begin with.

3.) Love loves those that you do love deepely, enough to do whatever is right to make them happy.  Even if it means they have to make tough choices that may hurt you.

4.) Love is patient.  Love waits it out.  Love is what is in your heart.  Your head might tell you otherwise, but you can't fool your heart.  Love is a feeling, not a logic.

5.) Love is not selfish.  Love looks out for others, supports them, encourages them, and doesn't judge them.  If you're not looking out for others, supporting, encouraging and judging on the basis of selfishness, then it isn't really love.

At least that's the way I see it.

I'm hoping there are better days ahead.

The Teammate

Last week while  Joe was in Mexico for work, I completed and sent our Save the Date cards.  I'd spent some time looking at different ideas and finally found one I really liked and began to personalize it with our info.  It was all fun and cute until I actually started printing and addressing envelopes and then it hit me....

...this is it.  This is everything I've waited my life for... and it's coming true on 10.20.2012.

I can hardly wait!

Not that getting my dress didn't get me excited, because it did.

And reserving the venue made me excited.

And booking our honeymoon made me excited.

Oh, and the beautiful diamond ring made me excited.

...but save the dates? ...

Made it official... and it made my heart nearly burst with love for this person that I am so incredibly thankful beyond words that has re-entered my life.

This weekend, I didn't have my children, so I spent the weekend at his condo with he and his sweet boy.  It felt so good to spend the weekend with the two of them.  So different than my normal boring weekends without my kids.

I won't lie, the thought of marriage both makes me extremely happy (and obviously excited, as I stated before) but also a little scared, because like everyone... "you're only going to get married one time" so I want to do everything I can to ensure a successful and happy marriage for both of us and our children.

I am so thankful for this man because he is willing to talk through some of my fears and participate in some of the necessary and essential conversations that I feel need to take place in preparation for the joining of our lives and blending of families.

We've discussed attending some premarital counseling sessions, which I think would be very helpful to talk through some of the common issues that may come up throughout our marrige... and/or bring to light some of the differences we may have that we don't realize without external prompting or discussion.  Sure, there will be times when things arise that we aren't maybe fully prepared for, however I don't think premarital counseling would hurt anything. 

Our marriage is not one where we can just jump in and be flexible with life's twists and turns.  Our lives involve three other very special people who will be watching and influenced by every step we take in this process and I want to make every effort possible to create the most positive experience possible for our children.

Last night, after his son went to bed, we sat and talked forever.  And it was so nice.  I shared some of the things on my mind and he comforted and discussed things with logic and love, which was so, so nice.  Although I hope there will be many more late night talks with my husband-to-be, I will hold that one very dear to my heart because we both shared a lot of things with eachother that just made me feel so close to him.

Above all, one of the things that maybe others take for granted or rather may find silly and trivial, but I am so thankful to have a "teammate"; someone that is on my side, playing the same game as me, encouraging me and willing to support me in any way possible.

Why I was Forced to get My Ears Pierced

It's okay to admit that most grown women have pierced ears in our society.  In fact, I would suffice it to say that it's not only an assumption, but an expectation.


At one time, I had 2 piercing in each ear plus the upper part of my ear cartilage pierced as well.


My daughter requested her ears to be pierced at 2 years old.


But me...


You know what - i'm just going to go ahead and admit it...


I do not have pierced ears anymore.


I know, pathetic.


I guess I've always had a short styled haircut where focusing on my earrings was never really an issue, so I just never wore earrings.


Until the whole wedding dress shopping situation.  When my friend and my daughter forcefully instructed me that I am to wear earrings on my wedding day and demanded that we leave the dress shop and get my ears pierced immediately.


We walked into Castleton Mall and headed to Claire's for the ear piercing.  I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I was nervous.  Like, wanna run the opposite direction scared.  The only calming thought I could provide myself was the fact that I've birthed 2 children, naturally.  If I can manage that pain, SURELY.... SURELY I can manage ear piercing.


It didn't help when the ear piercing 'specialist' turned out to be about 3.5 feet tall.  I was sitting in that tall ear piercing chair that they make you sit in, being approached by a lady that LITERALLY had to reach her arms up in the air to reach my ears.


I am not afraid to admit that i was nervous the whole ear piercing, reaching in the air incident was going to cause some sort of vertical ear piercing in my ear.  But I had to suck it up.


So, as the next 3 year old victim customer watched in the distance, I  practiced the same breathing techniques that I used when pushing my children into the world and felt two clicks, instantaneously in each ear.  One side courtesy of the midget....  the other side compliments of a nice teenage girl.


And yes, i know i'm going to hell for the midget comment.


Admittedly, as I got through the second full "in your nose, out your mouth" breath, it was over and I felt like a total idiot because really, it didn't even hurt.




As my daughter told more and more people about taking mommy to get her ears pierced, and more and more people looked at her like, "are you serious? your mom?" I started thinking.... 


"how did I ever let my pierced ears grow shut anyway?"


So, I thought back many many years to the last time I wore earrings... which was shortly before my sweet son was born just over 11 years ago.


***********
I have rather sensitive ears and tend to need 'nice' earrings in order to not make my ears hurt.  At that time in my life, I had one nice set of earrings, which I wore faithfully every single day.

At some point, I lost one of the earrings and couldn't really afford another nice set, so I just let my earrings go.  I was so upset that I'd lost the earring and searched all over for it.  I guess time got away from me, because here I was getting my ears pierced again - all because of a lost earring.


The funny thing is, after all these years I remember exactly which earring I lost.  Not only because they were my only nice set of earrings, but also because they came from my first love.


And now, 12 years after I received those earrings (and later lost one...) I'm going to marry the same awesome man that gave them to me.


While I won't be able to wear the original set of earrings he bought me so many years ago, I will be sporting some sweet earrings to fit the occasion. 


And, if nothing else, my daughter has a really fond memory of "the day my mom got her ears pierced."


...at age 31. Seriously.  Lame.

Mr. Fix It

This week was a fun week at my house with unexpected home repairs.  


First things first... last week was like any other work-week.  I started my Monday off as per usual, got the kids off to school and then began working.  I usually take my daily shower around noon and then I'm all set for the rest off the day.


This was no different except, if I remember correctly, I hadn't taken a shower on Sunday, so by Monday at noon, I was SO craving a nice warm shower. 


I have a small stand-up only shower in my bedroom-bathroom, which is where I always shower.  I don't think I've ever showered in the main bathroom; as I've never really had a need to.


So, to give you some background - my shower head was spraying water everywhere and more recently had become so loose, depending on the way it was turned, would potentially spray water straight into the air toward the ceiling.


Not cool.


So, Sunday evening, Chas and I installed a new shower head and I was SO excited to use this sweet piece of machinery by Monday.


I get in the shower Monday in between conference calls and prepare to adjust my shower head when.....


boom!  water everywhere.


Apparently as I was moving the shower head, it messed up something in the wall where it was connected and i had water squirting out from the wall.


Fabulous.


So, I finish my shower in the main bathroom, which was odd to say the least, and call the plumber.


He came to my house the next day and got my shower fixed for about $50.  Good deal; I could now shower with my new shower head.  Yee Haw.


On Thursday, Chas had spent the night with his dad the night before, and i had to run into town to pick him up at 8 am to take him to school and drop him off. 


No problem.


Except my garage door won't open.


And my car is stuck inside.


And I can't get it to manually open either.


Once before, when the power was out, I figured out how to pull the lever on my door to manually release it and open it the old-fashioned way.  

But this time, it wasn't so easy and I couldn't figure out why.


So, i called my sweet neighbor and drove her car like I stole it... all the way into town to get my kiddo and then to school.  I felt really awesome having to explain that my car was "Stuck" in my garage.


It doesn't get much more awesome.


So, one of my friends sent her husband over to help me get my door manually lifted; with success.  We were able to effectively get my car out of the garage, but couldn't figure out what was wrong with the door.


It was time for Repair man #2. 


The garage door company came to my house that same morning and told me that the spring was broken.  They had it fixed and were out the door pretty quickly.  I wrote another check to the repair man and prayed there would be no more broken things in my home for a while.


Saturday was a fun girls day with my friend Jen.  We decided to go wedding dress shopping and I was lucky enough to find one that i like!  I had no intention of purchasing that day, but when I found this dress, couldn't find anything that I didn't like about it AND learned that it was on clearance for $99 , I bought it.    Done deal.  with the exception of not being able to fully breathe when it' zipped all the way, it fits like a charm.  


The only place it wouldn't comfortably zip is at the top around my bust-area.  Surprise Surprise.  


Either way, I confirmed with the alterations guy that if i don't lose 5 pounds in "the girls" this summer, he can let the dress out with minimal issue so I can breathe whilst wearing it.


Which leads me to another thing that I humbly must admit.


(I absolutely HATE when I have to eat humble pie, but I digress...  I'm cutting the pie now.)


After putting the dress on, getting everything in place and all the noteworthy accessories...


... I kinda wanna have a small wedding at home so everyone can share in that with me.


Ugh.  I cannot believe I just said that.


Additionally, the more I've thought about it lately, the more I wonder if, in the instance of the blending family notion that we are looking at... it may be more symbolic and 'real' to have the children present for the wedding and participate minimally in the union.


After comparing several options as it relates to different options for the nuptials,  I believe it would be very similar in cost to pull off an extremely simple-Gin-styled wedding for about the same cost as a destination wedding.  I could still have a honeymoon and time to start our lives together alone, but I must admit, I'm considering a small Fall-ish wedding here.


Ugh.


The humble pie doesn't taste so good.


But we will see!  He has been busy moving to his new place, so I didn't want to bother him with all the details just yet.  (Surprise honey!)  So, once I get the options and prices organized, I will give him the options and see what input he has about this whole thing.




So for those of you who were slightly disappointed in my proclamation of a destination wedding alone... there MAY be hope.


ha!

Oddities

A list of oddities about me:

1.) I do enjoy eating Mexican food, however there is a specific method to the Corn vs Flour Tortilla selection. If I am eating Chicken Tacos - that requires a Corn Totilla. Any other type of taco, such as beef, requires a Flour tortilla. There is absolutely no method to my maddness with regard to this. This is just how it is.


2.) Since taking my Lean Six Sigma courses, I find myself analyzing daily processes in terms of liklihood, statistical outcome and sample size. And no, I don't think that's normal. For instance, when I go to my favorite gas station to get a drink each morning.. I fill my cup up with ice. Sometimes, it's too much ice. Other times, i have to add a couple more pieces. I truly have no idea what the threshold is in my head for the appropriate amount of ice, but there is one. Sometimes, as a challenge, I think about how I should do a sample size to see how similar in number my ice pellets are each day and look at it on a Bell Curve to determine what the ideal # of ice pellets each day should be. And yes, apparently I have too much spare time.


3.) Trying new foods. I didn't realize I did this until this past week when my sweetie took me to an Indian restaurant to try their food. They bring you a clean plate and then the food comes in separate dishes. Instead of just piling the food on my plate in the center, I started by putting it right on the edge. The whole rest of the plate was clean except for that section. When I tried some of what he ordered, it also went on the edge. I determined that in my mind, I do that because i'm not comfortable with the food yet and it begins to cross the invisible line of personal space and begins to 'own' me; instead of me owning the food.


4.) I hate being caught off guard by anything. In many aspects of my life, I'm a planner. In other aspects, I just fly by the seat of my pants. But I do not handle it well when I am caught off guard. It can be something as simple as dinner plans, driving routes, etc. It's really the dumbest thing... if a plan gets thrown off, I can instantly feel my blood pressure rise and I start to process how this change is going to affect everything. Even if the effect is minor, I still have to have a minute to deal with it. Seriously, so dumb.


5.) I'm a procrastinator... until I'm ready that is. Thinking too far ahead seriously stresses me out. But I know that if you don't plan things ahead of time, often you are left with half-baked plans. For instance, this wedding situation. Part of me wants to hurry up and get it planned so I know what is going on. Because it's such a cumbersome thing to plan, the other part of me wants to just put it off and hope that some wonderful plan will fall into my hands and it'll be taken care of. Dress Shopping. Oh good grief... another thing I will need to put some time into, especially if I have to wait for it to be ordered and shipped... but not something I can execute right this minute, so it's easy to put off. Um... the decision to have another child. Oh. My. Goodness. Starting over with my youngest at 9 or 10 years old by the time the baby would be born is a HUGE decision! On the flip side, everything that is holding me back from just saying YES! I love being a mom.. is selfishness. Then, the possibility of regret if I choose not to have more children permanently - what happens if in, 3 or 4 years I regret not having one more with someone I love? Anyone have an extra Prozac? So yea. There's really no rhyme or reason to which situations I apply procrastination and which circumstances allow me to apply planning.


6.) Shampoo and Conditioner always get squeezed in my left hand. It doesn't even feel right to have it begin in my right hand. .


7.) I work for a Technology giant, but am scared to death of Technology. I think we discussed this briefly before, but I cannot process all of the 'apps' available for iphones, androids, etc. It was like pulling teeth to get me to purchase an Android cell phone last year because I did not undersatnd its purpose. I still don't use it to the maximum capacity. I am baffled by some of the other apps out there that people show me and I think they're great, but I do not understand their practical application in my life. My guess is that I may be an old bat in my later years as I will simply refuse to get on board with technology. My grandchildren will probably laugh at all of my 'old school' appliances... unless my husband buys the up-to-date stuff. But don't count on me to know how to use it.


I'm sure there are many more, but that's it for now.

I said Yes... I think.

For those of you that are women, you may agree that since the time we were little girls, we always had the fairy tale dream of the day we got married.  As we grew up to understand the process more and hear about others' engagement stories, we began to think up all the amazing ways that we could be proposed to by the man that we love.

Some stories were tear-inducing while others resulted in a great deal of laughter and joy. There were stories that seemed to come straight from a Hallmark card and tales that made me thankful I wasn't there.

But there's nothing like a story that is all your own.

I can tell you that on December 30th, 2011 ... everything I'd ever hoped for came to fruition as my sweet guy asked me to marry him.

Sounds sweet, doesn't it?!

Yes, group "awwwww".

Now that that is over, let me tell you the real story, in typicall "me" fashion. 

We all know that I am a little bit extremely private about my life.  Well, that is until blogs were born and I began to write on a blog back in the MySpace days of perhaps, 2006?  Wow, that's forever ago! 

Since then, i've opened up significantly, but I'm still very backwards about sharing things with people.  Thankfully, everyone that is close in my life understands that and doesn't seem to be too offended when I hold back.

Because y'all are blog readers and apparently enjoy reading about my life, i'll go ahead and give you the mooshy details of the proposal, to the best of my memory. 

Bear with me here, it was a big moment in my life and you might have to consult my "better half" for a more accurate timeline of the events.

So, he’d been hinting around here and there about wanting to marry me, and I kept telling him that he needed to make 100% sure of it before he took any permanent steps.  We went with the kids to Great Wolf Lodge last Wednesday/Thursday and had a really good time together.  Even with 3 kids in tow, it was fun, and he seemed like he was having a good time as well. 

So, we came home and all of our children went to their respective parents’ homes on Friday night.  He told me he was dropping his son off at 4:30, and we could get together after that.  I called him at like 5:00 when I finished getting my hair cut and he didn’t answer.  I didn’t think much of it, maybe he had the radio up, etc – so he texted that he was “at Castleton Mall looking for Skylanders for (his son)”.  I knew right then, there was no way he was seriously at Castleton Mall on a Friday night.  So, he called me back about 10 minutes later and it was really, really quiet and he was telling me about getting ready to leave Castleton, etc.  And I’m like, “ok, just let me know when to be at your house”.  I knew something was up...and had a very strong feeling that he may have been at a certain jewelry store "just off I-69 at 96th street and hague road.  open weekdays till 8... saturday and sunday till 5..."  You get the drift.

So, we go to dinner at O’charley’s and head back to town.  He decides he wants to stop and feed the ducks some “leftover popcorn from earlier” and goes to the park. 

To be quite honest, I have no idea what he said to me once he reached behind the seat and I realized what was about to go down.  I think he might have said something about marrying me, and I am pretty sure I asked if he was serious and told him not to cry.  I don’t really know if I said ‘yes’ or not until we got back to his house.  In the middle of all the fury and anxiety about the ring and engagement, I ended up having an asthma attack, had the call my dr. to call in an inhaler and we spent a couple of hours running to CVS by A.U. to get me an inhaler so I wouldn’t die. 

Yea, I like to make things awkwardly memorable.  Score for me!

I did go ahead and tell him "yes" when he confirmed and we are officially working out the details of the nuptuals.  I figured I owed him an affirmative answer after the whole "I'm seriously going to die in a second" scene.

In other news....

I hate to break it to y'all but the guest list is as follows:

1.) n/a
2.) n/a
3.) n/a
4.) n/a

and so on.

We are 99% certain that we are going to go away to get married, just the two of us, spend some time together on our Honeymoon, come back and begin our official lives together.

I've been threatened by a few people that if we don't have some sort of a celebration (that can go by another name, like... Sunday Dinner Party)... I will be killed.  So, that plan is still under construction.  I'm not opposed to a celebration with our closest friends but you all know how i am about attention and having all eyes on me.

Yea, so let's not go there :)

On the flip side... the thought of having my very own wedding cake to not share with others makes me really, really happy.  Because... yes - you guessed it...

I love cake.

So that's the story folks! 



Boy meets girl in high school.

Girl breaks things off with boy after 3 years.

Boy gets married and has son.

Girl has son and daughter.

Boy and Girl reconnect after 12 years and fall back in love.

Girl demands a private wedding because she's weird.

Boy agrees because he loves her.

...and they live happily ever after.