Roller Coaster

Crazy and stressful... life has been a roller coaster the past few weeks and I am not a big fan of roller coasters. I mean the idea of them are fun and they have the exciting moments, but in the end I feel sick when I get off.

Well stress and craziness is just like that. You have the exciting and fun stuff and you have the moments where you feel like throwing up.

I like my life, I enjoy the things and people who are in it. I like the daily challenges and when it gets all shaken up, but at the end of the day I like curling up on the couch with a certain someone and not having a care in the world.

The past few weeks I feel like I haven't been enjoying life the way that I should and what its been offering has been too roller-coastery.(I'm probably just being a baby and over-sensitive) It started with a bad situation... then a few good ones... then a few disappointments, then nothing of importance, then a small complication, followed by some more good, then a little more complication... and then the waiting game. Oh the waiting game, this is where I have to wait to see if things will go back to "normal" if there will be a "new" normal or if the roller coaster isn't over.

I think sometimes I just need to vent and I start to feel better. (Thanks to those of you who have listened during this process) But when I look at the big picture, which I try to do often and try not to be a baby and suck it up. Things are pretty good.

The Good:
I have God
I have a fiancée who I am head over heels in love with, who treats me like a princess, and even when he is a big ol' pain in the butt I know I am #1 in his life (even if I pretend other-wise b/c I want to be a brat).
I have a job that pays the bills
I have a house and two dogs
I have "stuff"
I have family and friends who are supportive
I'M GETTING MARRIED IN LESS THEN A YEAR
etc...

I mean for being 27 what else can I ask for @ this point in my life... ok I could answer that w/more "things" but I think I am doing pretty good.

So I guess I just needed to type it all out so I can get over my pity-party and focus on the really good things that are happening in my life:
Two big things: Fulfilling(at least getting some kind of experience) a life long passion and marrying my best friend :-)

The Best Year To Date

2010 was the best year of my life... to date.
A few months back I gave a recap since it had been so long... but I am going to do a mini recap before I get to the main part :-)

We started the year by getting Abby, she was the perfect addition to our little make-shift family. (even though she had a few moments along the way as a terror, over-all she has been a perfect dog). In April we purchased our first house, which couldn't be better for us, we absolutely love it! In September Patrick got his new job, wasn't exactly what he was looking for, but has turned out to be pretty good. And then December got here...

I'll start by saying I have been a NAG for about a year, although most of it was done in a joking manner, I am sure Patrick will vouch that I was a pain :-D I had been bringing up the whole "when will we get engaged" topic. This was a weekly(maybe a few times a week topic) And it wasn't just coming from me... It was coming from friends and family too. The poor guy was getting it from everyone we knew. BUT December 18th @ our 1st annual Christmas party I was talking to some of the girls, one who was recently married herself and went thru the same thing as me. She gave me the advice that I had been trying to follow for the past few months: STOP ASKING... it'll happen when he is ready (There was never a question of if, it was always a question of when). So I told the girls, she is right, I need to stop. They all agreed and I made a promise to drop it and let it happen when he was ready.

So for the next week, I didn't bring it up once. I was SO proud of myself. I am not very good about keeping my mouth shut, but I did! I figured I would be keeping my mouth shut for the next 3 to 7 months. Our 2 year"anniversary" falls in February, so I thought maybe it'll happen then and our birthdays are in June so that was a possibility too. I was NOT expecting Christmas.

So Christmas eve we went out w/some of our siblings, had Christmas eve church and Dinner w/his family and then the family-friends came over and we all hung out until around 12:30 on Christmas eve. I was debating on getting up @ 5 or 6 on Christmas morning (we go to his parents by 7 to open santa and family gifts after opening our own together). I decided to sleep in until 6 (which meant putting a shower on hold). So we get up and we start opening our gifts.

He kept asking me (thru November and December) how many gifts I was getting him, I gave him ball park numbers, he wanted us to be able to open the same amount. Well all of his were wrapped under the tree, so he could see how many he was getting and instead of matching up evenly he went crazy and bought me tons of stuff. We were so excited and opening gifts and having a great Christmas morning. So we finish it all up by 6:40 or 6:45 and I say ok, we should probably head to your parents. He said, we can just hang out for a bit, watching Tom and Jerry.

By 7 I am getting a little anxious because I know his family will be waiting on us. But then he tells me there is still one Christmas gift under the tree. I go and look (knowing there is nothing there) and he laughs because there is nothing there. But he insists that there is one more, so he runs upstairs looking for it, but comes down w/nothing and I don't think anything of it.

So he asks me to grab his computer, he wanted to check something out on Facebook. I am thinking are you crazy, it is 7 in the morning and you can say Merry Christmas from your phone, but I get the computer anyways. He signs onto his account and he says you have to see this. Hands me the computer and tells me to sign into my account.

So I do and I am looking and I ask what am I looking at? He said just hold on a second. He said something will change, but I have a question to ask you first... well by this point it's dawning on me... because what question would he have to ask me at 7 on Christmas morning. (Let me just say, Patrick has probably "asked" me some sort of "question" that sounds like a proposal frequently for the past 2 years. They go something like this "Melanie will you merry Christmas" or "Melanie Wilcoxon will you be my best friend" things along those lines. The difference here was he pulled a ring out of his pocket and said "Melanie will you marry me" and I am a little in shock, when you wait to hear those words for two years your reaction is shock. So I smother him in kisses and say of course I'll marry you! After asking a few times if he is serious. Then I realize he isn't on his knee and he hasn't actually put the ring on my finger. So I say honey of course I will marry you, but you still have to get on a knee and put the ring on my finger. SO he does and he gets more kisses.

It was the best Christmas of my life :-D

I proceed to call my sister (who I wake up even though she has 3 kids) and I call Lyndsey and my mom (both knew he was going to be doing this, mom knew when, Lynds just knew it was coming)

He asked my dad on Thursday, my dad said "no" as a joke and then said, sure, but told him that I told him to say no when Patrick asked. Goof-ball.
His entire family knew and were waiting on us to get there, but knew we would be running a few minutes late.

My beautiful ring is perfect. I had been sending him pictures of what I wanted and he kept those in mind, but came up with the perfect ring for me. It's a solitaire, round, with 4 diamond chips on each side. The main stone was his great aunts and was a coal-miners diamond. All I really wanted was shine and clarity and he nailed it.

So March 10th 2012 I will marry my best friend, the love of my life, and my whole future. So 2010 is a year that will always be remembered and will take a lot to top.