It all began with the word “No.”

Sean and I met in High School. He was a senior and I was a sophomore. We didn’t really get together then because of the age gap. He left to attend an out of state college and his roommate got wind that there was a girl he liked back at home. He got my number and made the call for Sean. That started us talking and he visited when he came home from college a few times. He showed up at my graduation and took me out that night. I had never really had a true relationship with a guy and didn’t feel confident that I knew what I was doing. I had been hurt and had hurt others so when he asked me to be his girlfriend, my answer was immediate. “No.” I told him that he was too special for me to mess it up this early. After that there was a three week period where not a day went by that we didn’t see each other.

3 years later we were at a Kenny Chesney concert and he played a song I’d never heard. It spoke to the exact way I felt about Sean. We’d talked about getting engaged before and Sean told me he wasn’t ready, but after listening to the song, I asked him to marry me anyway. It was his turn to tell me “No.” Little did I know, he had already asked my mother for my hand and gotten a ring. He had this elaborate (secret) plan to whisk me off to the redwoods where his dad had proposed to his mom. (That’s a whole different story.)

And now, 11 years after that summer in High School, I have everything I never thought was possible; a fabulous husband, three beautiful baby girls, a house, two (working) cars, two dogs and a snake. I am surrounded with great friends who have become family, that love and support me. I’m finally going back to school and loving it. All of it. Everything hasn’t always gone according to my plan, but life has been great! And I couldn’t have asked for anything better.