The Story

The few moments that I will tell you about get farther back in my memory everyday. Farther, yet more comforting like a pebble tossed into a pond - the pebble is left below as young eyes watch the ripples. The waves get softer and smoother, relaxing your soul.

The say a butterfly's beating wing can cause a monsoon half the world away. I'll tell you it's true. Who knew that on a snowy evening when I was 18, I would meet my future wife? (I fell off her front porch when I left that night) Thank God for the snow that broke my fall.

I think some of the same snow flakes that found new flight from under my plummeting body, were there the night I proposed beside the Christmas tree. They might have watched from the darkness outside her mom's windows. But I can't jump that far ahead in the story yet. There would be so much left to tell.

1998-2001. Three years would pass between my embarrassing first impression to her first flight to visit me in New Orleans. I was waiting outside terminal B when she caught my eyes in hers. When we hugged she noticed my shivering knees. I don't think I was the only nervous one though because she left her dress on the plane. She was to be my date on a Marine's favorite night of the year, the night of the Birthday Ball. We were 226 years old.

That weekend was the birth of 'us.' Or at least in to friends and family it seemed from then on we couldn't breathe without each other. Those four days were magical. Dinner on Lake Pontchartrain. Watching break-dancers in the French quarter. A walk through the zoo. I could feel our natural chemistry. It was as we stopped in the bird house at the zoo I remember most vividly. When I say bird house, most will think of those wooden houses on a stick in someone's back yard. Others will think of the countless (small white) treacheries that do accompany walk-through bird estuaries. I simply remember a stone bench.

The afternoon light passed through thick leaves of countless plants and trees before it showed us on that bench. I remember having her beside me when I realized I was in trouble. This is the moment, with bird songs and fluttering flights, that I realized I was in love. What was it, day three?

And then she was gone. For two more long years that was the theme. Amazing moments together followed by long droughts without. We grew as individuals and as a couple. We explored New Orleans together whenever she'd come. Our friendship supported our growing love. Hours and hours on the phone. The bumps and bruises and little victories we won were all a part of our growing process.

2003. So if I can go back to the snow flake part for a moment, the ones outside her mom's windows. I drove all day to be there with Alison. I had a ring I'd been carrying around for about a month. I could only disguise my excitement as 'wanting to do Christmas.' I think she knew. I'm admittedly no good at surprises, and I am no good at waiting for them. I remember being no more nervous in any few moments in my entire life. Kneeling before her as she sat on the couch, I offered my love for the rest of our lives. I asked for the honor of hers.

Our marriage has been the greatest thing that ever happened to us. I think what really makes us work is our willingness to give. We've made each other our top priorities. We're good friends, great lovers, and I know she'd do anything for me. She knows I will do the same.

Thanks, Alison, for being with me through thick and thin. I can't wait for tomorrow!