Part 1
Part 2
Have you ever been watching a television show at the end of a season, and it ends with a spectacular cliff-hanger, and you wait all damn summer to see what happened, and when the new season starts, they just move along like it was any other episode? Almost like the cliff-hanger never happened? Yeah, just wondering if that ever happened to you.
So Melissa came up for the weekend, and we had a wonderful time. It turns out that the feelings we had for each other while just talking on the phone were real. I felt like we had known each other forever, and at the same time I felt like we hadn't seen each other in ages. Friday night we went out for dinner, Saturday we went into the city (that's New York City to you), Sunday was the "Plan B" day, which means just sitting around doing nothing but enjoying being in each other's company.
Then it came time to drop her off at the airport on Sunday evening. I waited while she went through security, then I saw her wave and turn the corner. I got out my cell phone, meaning to call Steve to tell him she was on her way. I didn't even get out "Hello" before I began crying. That's me, the big, blubbery baby, crying like a, um, baby. I wrote this to Melissa when she left on Sunday, I think this will explain things:
This has been the best and the worst weekend of my life.
I spent a fantastic few days with the woman I love. Every moment together was bliss. This weekend proved to me the feelings I've had for her for weeks are real.
And then I watched her leave. The tears I shed proved to me the feelings I've had for her for weeks are real.
We haven't seen each other for two months and I was fine. 30 seconds after watching her turn that corner and I wasn't.
I'll see her again in a week and a half, but that seems like an eternity now, an eternity I can't bear to spend without her.
I'm dreading going to sleep tonight. I feel like I haven't slept alone in years.
I look forward to the time when we'll be reunited, but I know these feelings I have tonight will return.
You, my love, truly have a hold on me. I don't ever want you to let go.
I miss you.
I love you.
k
Funny side note about the trip into the city. One of the places we went was to Tiffany's, because she wanted to buy herself a ring and get the pretty blue box. Well, she did that, then marched right up to the engagement rings section. Basically pointed and said, "That one." I took good notes.
When she got back from Italy, we had another great weekend, which included seeing Phantom of the Opera, lunch with my sister, and a lot of "us time". I knew I wasn't going to see her again until November when I went down to visit for Thanksgiving, so I wanted to burn her image into my brain (or something like that).
It was around that time when we decided that Melissa taking the job overseas with USAID wasn't going to work, and we began working on having her move up to New Jersey with me. See, Melissa had these great plans before she met me, which included working for USAID in Washington for about a year, then going overseas for, um, the rest of her life. Steve and I spoke at length about this, how we could take train trips to see each other on weekends and such. I personally thought that was a completely sucky plan. I wanted to see her way more often. That's where the "overseas job probably wasn't going to work" happened. We decided on another plan, one which had us both staying here (and together, believe it or not). I was to visit for a week in Arkansas, both of us to spend xmas in Atlanta with Steve, and then flying to Arkansas to drive her stuff up to NJ. My plans also included proposing to her on xmas morning. Little did I know that my "big secret plan" wasn't so "secret" (more on that later).
Actually, a lot of things happened around this time. We began working on "The List". We (ok, she) picked the chapel. I fretted mightily about asking her dad for permission to marry her. And on October 22, 2004, at 10:35pm EST, I asked Melissa K Bridges to marry me. Yep, you heard that right. Not xmas. Not in person. No ring in sight. I asked her, she said yes. I was happy.
Round trip tickets to Arkansas: $200
Round trip tickets to Atlanta: $500
One way to Arkansas: $200
Uhaul rental: $700
Spending the rest of my life with the woman I so dearly love: Priceless.
Yep, we had a lot of things set. My November tickets bought. Her tickets from AR to NJ bought. My ticket to AR bought. Our tickets to GA bought. Uhaul rented. Hell, date for wedding picked. Guestlist rough draft complete. Mayor booked. Things were going very well. The worst part was waiting for December 22. Yeah, I know I'd see her in November, and for a week at that, but it was only temporary. There was still a month to go until we were together for good.
Ok, I think that's enough for Part 3. I promise I won't wait that long until I get to Part 4, where I stop going straight from memory and use my journal and emails to get dates and times and situations right (some of you may know that my memory is pretty crappy).
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