He makes all my dreams come true

Ever since I was little I had always wanted to go sky diving.
Something about jumping out of a plane just sounds fabulous.
My family is terrified of heights, and there is no way and no reason they'd ever jump "out of a perfectly good plane."
My mom actually threatened me with my life. She said I wasn't allowed to go. Ever.
She's so cute.
One of the first few times Josh and I hung out, I mentioned this dream to him.
He promised to take me one day.
I'd heard that before. Probably at least 20 times.
Nobody ever follows through on something they agree to do "one day."
I was pretty shocked when he called me at work and told me we'd be going in just a few hours!!
It was only two weeks after our first date. And now that it was real, I was a little scared.
Who makes a life long dream come true for some person they just met?
This guy. Obviously.
Right after work we met up and headed to the airport.
I was sooooo nervous waiting for our plane.
I even went to the bathroom so I didn't pee my pants during the free fall.
Josh was calm and cool. It wasn't his first time.
We walked onto the tarmac and hopped into a plane that held eight people.
I mean, it heald eight people like sardines.
We were crammed. I loved it!!
On the ride up, waiting to reach elevation, they strapped us to our tandem buddies.
My guy thought he'd be funny and mess with me.
He nudged the guy next to us, and pointed at my harness.
"Hey man, does this look right? I think I did it wrong?"
"I don't know. I guess you'll find out, right?"
Hilarious. Really.
But once we were in that plane, all nervous-ness was gone.
It was like, "Ok!! Let's do this!!"
They opened the door, Josh leaned out, and disappeared.
I walked to the door, stood on just my heels with the rest of my feet out of the plane.
My whole body was out of the plane except my heels.
Looking down was unreal. It's so unreal your mind doesn't even register it.
"We wouldn't really jump" went through my head probably ten times.
Then he pushed me out of the plane.
The free fall was amazing!! The floating with the 'chute out was even better.
It was so peaceful.
In a dizzy-falling-really-fast-heart-pounding-I'm-so-excited-I-could-throw-up kind of way.
Nothing like a huge adrenaline rush to bring us closer together.
I loved every second of it.
I couldn't believe this guy I barely knew did something so nice for me.
It wasn't just jumping out of a plane.
It was a life-long dream coming true.
I can't think of a better way to start a relationship.

the right kind

When Josh and I first started dating I was working two jobs to pay my mortgage.
I worked 7 am - 10 pm Monday through Friday and 7 am - 7 pm on Saturday.
It was rough and we rarely saw each other.
Every person I went on even one date with offered to help pay my mortgage.
But only if I'd quit working so much and spend more time with them.
They were only trying to help, but that wasn't the kind of help I wanted.
I wanted to be strong, and independent.
I had to prove to myself that I could do this on my own, without anybody's help.
Josh never offered to pay. He never asked me to quit my job.
He did offer to help though.
He promised to be there for me if I needed someone.
He brought me dinner every night just to visit me.
He even took care of my six month old puppy.
It was the right kind of help. Exactly what I needed.
Someone who got that I still needed to be me, and needed to take care of myself.
He never selfishly complained that he didn't get enough of my attention.
He never made me feel bad for being gone.
He was just what I needed. My rock.

First date

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget the way you made them feel." ~Maya Angelou.

When Josh picked me up I was nervous. Really nervous. I'd never been nervous for a date before.
I don't know why I was. Maybe deep down I knew.
He took me to dinner at Chili's. Still one of our faves!
I don't really remember what we talked about. But I do remember exactly how I felt.
I was happy. Really happy.
I hadn't been that happy in a long time.
I know we laughed. A lot. We are pretty much comedians.
After dinner he wanted to take me mini golfing, so we headed back to my house so I could change into more appropriate shoes.
I guess heels and mini golf are no bueno?
On the way there he asked me for a favor. Remember how he likes to tease my aunt?
He asked me to call her and freak her out. So I called her.
Aunt: How was your date?!?
Me: Was that a freakin' joke??
A:What?? M: Setting me up with that freak from your work!!
A: Omg what happened??
M: Well for starters he showed up over an hour late. He was drunk, and it smelled like he hadn't showered in a week!
A: What? Kara, I just saw him yesterday!! I swear he showers!
M: Well he stunk really bad. He swerved all over the road because he was drunk. Then, we got to dinner and I made him take me home because he slapped the waitress's butt.
A: *sharp inhale* You're joking!!
Me and Josh died laughing!! Apparently I was too convincing though, because she was about to cry. So I felt a little bad. But we all laughed in the end ;-)

I changed my shoes and we went golfing.
I kicked his butt. I think he let me.
I can drive pretty well, but I'm a terrible putter.
We laughed a lot more.
After golfing I figured he'd take me home and that'd be it. I was a little bummed cuz I didn't know if we'd talk again.
When we got in his truck, he asked what I wanted to do next.
I found out later he planned to take me home after that, but he had such a good time he didn't want it to end either.
My lover is so cute :-)
So, grasping at straws, he decided to take me up to the yacht club to see if his family was there.
They weren't so we just walked around and had a beer with some of his friends.
On the drive home, he told me he'd be up there the next day with his family if I wanted to come up and hang out.
I told him it was my sister's birthday, but I'd try.
He dropped me off at home, and right before he walked away he kissed me goodnight.
Our last first kiss.
Then asked if he'd ever hear from me again ;-)

I sat on my couch watching movies and I had butterflies so bad I couldn't sleep.
He text me a half hour later and said he'd had a good time.
I didn't want to text him too soon, or be the first. But since he started it, he was free game :-)
After his message my butterflies were even worse and I knew I'd never get to sleep so I went to a bon fire.
Even there, surrounded by all my friends, my mind was on him and I couldn't wait to get out of there.

I may have forgotten exactly what he said and did.
But I'll never forget the way he made me feel.
It's been over two years and I still get that feeling everytime I see him smile.

the beginning

It's probably the best place to start.  Yes?
Go back to a time a little over two years ago.
I was just out of a long relationship that was never very good for me.
I was 19.  Alone.  And loving life.
I went to a shoe party and my aunt asked me if she could set me up with a guy she works with.
Apparently he thought I was good lookin' and kept asking when he could call her his aunt.
He just likes to tease her.  He'd never date someone eight years younger than him.  She didn't know.
He was a red head.  That's all I needed to know.  I was in.
Monday she told him the good news.  He was thrilled.  Not.
He freaked out a little.
He called his mom and told her he didn't know what to do.  She's a genius.
She told him, "Just take her out once.  Be nice.  Then never talk to her again."
That way, nobodies feelings got hurt.  Genius.

I asked if he was going to call or text so I knew what to expect.
I didn't think she'd really ask him.  Holy embarrass me.
He said he'd send carrier pigeons.  I'm afraid of birds.
That Tuesday we talked on the phone for the first time and made plans to get together that Friday.
Friday the 13th.
I thanked him for not sending the pigeons.
He explained that he underestimated the difficulty level of training birds.
We text for the few days in between and we both laughed a lot.
He wasn't supposed to like me though.  He thought about cancelling because he was starting to like me.
Friday I got ready and he knocked on my door.
"Hi Tara."  "Ugh... it's Kara."  "Really?  I think your aunt said Tara."  "I'm pretty sure she didn't."
Waiting in the truck was a stuffed bird.  How sweet :-)
(After moving in, I found a bag of stuffed birds.  He went from store to store trying to find the perfect one.)