Wednesday, April 8, 2009

How We Got Here

My freakishly tall friend Brent published a story on his blog about how he and his wife met and started to fall in love. He put the challenge out to have people write their story, and because I cannot ignore a challenge, I decided to respond. Because I am pretty wordy, I decided to post the story instead of leaving a twenty page comment on his blog. I'm not sure about the blog etiquette, but I'm pretty sure that would be a big old no-no.

I have mentioned before that Marty and I met while working at Lids. I saw in the job book at customer service that Lids was hiring, and thought it said they were hiring for a manager. I walked into the store, and standing behind the counter was a good looking guy with amazing green eyes. I told him I was interested in the manager position, and he replied something to the extent of, "Well, I hope they are not hiring for a manager, or else I'm out of a job." I looked at him and replied, "Wow, what a tough way to find out you are getting fired."

I was hired as the assistant manager, and during the three weeks we worked together, we learned a lot about each other. I learned that he was a driven, talented smart ass who was a little too cocky for his own good. He claims he learned the same about me. I distinctly remember a time where I honestly thought to myself, "Wow, I pity the poor girl who marries this guy."

I was promoted to store manager within the first month. He moved on to manager another store, but still lived in his same place. Over time, a friendship was born. He had a girlfriend at the time, and I was kind of dating someone else, but we started hanging out to do laundry on our day off, since I did not have a washer in my apartment. While the laundry was going, we would go out and do stuff. We wandered Goodwill and Value Village, trying to find treasures. We went swimming, and to the movies. Eventually, both of us found ourselves "un-attached" to others, and Marty told me (and I quote,) "I am through with girls for a while, I'm just going to hang out with you."

I was fine with that, and we became each other's standing Saturday night "dates" and would go shoot pool at Dr. Cue's in Seattle. We would leave and go through the Taco Bell Drive thru, then he would take me back to my car at the mall and we would sit and talk. Sometimes we would sit for hours, just talking about everything. I started to really like him, but I knew we were just friends, and didn't want to say anything to ruin our friendship.

After about six months of being friends, we got together with another friend of ours and had a party at her house. Over the course of a few tequila shots, we finally got the courage to vocalize our true feelings. We started dating, which was funny, since nothing about our routines changed. I still went over to his place to do laundry, and we still hung out on Saturday nights. We still went to Taco Bell and still talked for hours.

Marty got promoted again to area manager, and was given four stores in his area. He moved to Tacoma to be closer to his stores. Mine was not one of his stores, but since he was still further up the ladder than I, and since our boss, Lloyd hated him (although our boss's boss, Steph, loved him) we did not tell anyone we were dating since it would give Lloyd a reason to get rid of Marty. This was a challenge as Marty's new roommates were other managers in the company.

We dated in secret for eight months, and then one day I decided that I needed to know if this was the guy for me. We had been doing the long-distance thing for a while, I was in Everett, and he in Bellingham. (That's about an hour drive one-way, for you non-locals.) I decided to move to Bellingham and see if anything changed. I called up a friend and made arrangements to become her room-mate. I started to look for a job. I forgot to mention this whole plan to Marty. He was a bit shocked when I told him I was moving to be closer to him, and looking back, maybe I should have talked to him about it first. Oh, well. He says it was a defining moment for him, too, hearing about my move and getting excited instead of scared.

I think a big part of the reason our relationship is as strong as it is now, nine years later, is because of the friendship that was in place well before the relationship. When times get tough and the 'romance' fades for a while, we have or initial friendship that is always there.We have worked together, which gives us full confidence in each other's abilities. No matter, what, he is my best friend and the greatest husband ever. And I can whoop him in pool.

6 comments:

The Campbell Family said...

Pitying the one who ends up with then the friendship thing has worked for Matt and I for 14 years and counting!!!

Anonymous said...

I LOVED when you said - oh - rough way to hear you're getting FIRED! Classic! If nothing else - most men APPRECIATE a challenge. I gave my 1st hubby no end of trouble - b4 I finally became more agreeable to him. He was used to women just falling all over him ... :) I beat you to the how we met thing .. on both marriages. ;) Not that it was a race or competition.

Now you may like to know - and I WON'T show you here - you can leave really LONG notes. I've seen ones that are longer than the web page. It seems to be unlimited characters. :) thanks!

Love my babes said...

Very sweet. It is fun to see how people met. I remember meeting you at Nate's 1st b-day and Marty scared the crap out of Corrin. But I think you had been dating for awhile by then. Glad you both are so happy together.

Marty said...

I'm not that scary.....Thanks for the kind words hon, does this mean I owe you chocolate?

Tiff said...

Yes, sweetie, you owe me chocolate! And I think you owe Corrin years of therapy so she can get over her fear of large men dressed as Tigger! Love you!

Jared said...

Don't forget about the part of how you guys got the heat off of your backs by throwing someone else under the bus at lids........