how #54 became my husband, part the second

* Click here to read Part the First *

The first email from Christopher came on July 21st, and between then and August we wrote, wrote, wrote. We had computers and keyboards and we knew how to use them. Then Mr. #54 announced that upon coming home, he would have a month off and would we like to meet? That statement initiated the following actions:

1. call Autumn (obviously)

2. reply that yes, that would be nice but only if some of my family came too (I am ALL about safety.)

3. tell my father that I had been emailing some man I met on the internet through a blog (pause in the conversation to fully explain what a blog is) and that he was thinking of coming to our neck of the woods to meet me. That was one interesting conversation.   

4. send more emails back and forth about when and where and the like

5. Dad (who was still slightly shocked) and Christopher talk on the phone

6. Sarah and Christopher talk on the phone. As far as phone calls go, it was quite lengthy. I believe it was somewhere near 2 hours long.

At the appointed time on August 23rd, we meet at an art museum. (This would be a good time to point out that I had no clue what Christopher looked like. There were pictures in the post Stephanie wrote, but I didn't store them in my memory to pull out at a later time. I didn't want to ask for a picture, and since his profile picture on Facebook was a drawing and not of him, I had no other choice but to pray that he was not old, fat, and bald. I don't know if I've ever been so relieved in my life to see what another human being looked like.) Mom and the twins came with me to the museum which was good because I was so shy I barely said anything the whole day. Mom and Elizabeth talked to him more than I did. According to Christopher, I only said 15 words but that is a total exaggeration. I said at least 18. It's not that I was bored or anything, I just was very shy and the pressure was a little intense. One thing I regret about that day is not taking a picture with him. My brain said, "What if you marry him someday? Won't you want a picture of your first meeting?", but the rest of me said "I'm not going to tell him I want a picture! He might think that's weird!" I now wish I had taken a picture of our first meeting because obviously we did get married. Apparently my complete charm made up for my complete lack of words because as we sat in a little Buddha meditating room at the museum, we discussed his next visit. Elizabeth informed me in an intense conversation that evening that "you need to talk more next time or YOU'RE GOING TO LOSE HIM!!!!!!!!!!", so I made sure to open my mouth more for visit #2. 

When I told Christopher I was going to write this and asked him if there was anything in specific that he would like me to include, he said to mention his little green book. In his little green book, he writes his plans and goals for life (as well as grocery lists and recipes, both of which are good to plan). According to him, he left the museum and went straight to his L.G.B. and rearranged his life to include me. I felt very honored upon hearing that.  

The second time Christopher came to visit, he brought me not only a silver necklace with a dove on it, but an invitation to accompany him to a military ball. I may have seemed very calm on the outside, but let me tell you, there was nothing calm on the inside. A few weeks later, Mom and I flew up to New York for the ball. Here we are dressed in our finest: 

And later that same trip:

On December 10th, I took my first real train ride up to visit Christopher. When I reached my destination, he handed me a fancy button that he just so happened to have in his pocket. He had started calling me Button a few months before so I assumed that's why he was giving me a button. I did think it was a little odd that he "just so happened" to have a fancy button in his coat pocket, but he periodically does things that are a little odd. As we drove from the train station to the hotel and on to the restaurant, he kept handing me more and more buttons. Once we were seated, I started making little flowers and butterflies on the table with the buttons because I am very sophisticated and klassy at fancy restaurants. By then I figured out that he had quite a supply in his pocket so I started making requests for certain colors and sizes. Around this time, he dumped a handful of buttons on the table and went to find the restroom. Upon his return, he placed 15 buttons on the table in a very specific order to spell a very special question: 

And this is what I said:

Christopher made a very sweet little speech as well, but sadly I don't remember any of it. A lady sitting at another table was watching us, and all I could see over Christopher's shoulder as he spoke was her facial expression changing. She was too stunned to even drink her wine. It was fascinating to see how surprised she was that a proposal was happening right in front of her, but unfortunately it was also a little distracting.  

So that's how we came to look like this on Aril 29th, 2011 (yes, we DO realize it was the same day as the prince and Kate!):

Just for the record, I'd like to state that I no longer have any problems talking to him. It's a definite fact that I say many more than 15 words every single day.