Real life happens

LOOK WHAT I FOUND! An unpublished blog post from a month into dating Josh. This is cool to see... Time to finish and publish this bad boy...

Oy, the things I’ve done and seen, and it’s not even July yet.  Let’s start at the beginning (stranded in Kentucky). 

We had been on the road about six hours, and in spite of taking a wrong turn in Louisville, we were making good time. We drove so fast that the lack of air conditioning in the Zambezi Zelda Fitzgerald didn’t matter. We blasted the 1940’s novelty hits as we went down highway 75.  Even sister was singing along—huge deal. 

Then I felt Zelda buck.  This wasn’t the typical, “No, I’m not enjoying this all that much. Go to White Castle or something instead of driving so long,” buck.  This was a, “Oh, you want to keep driving? Absolutely not.  See that hill?  We’re going down it.  Hang on, Skip!” buck.  I heard something crunch, and I watched the RPMs go from 2 to 5.  Zelda was down for the count.  We pulled over, called a tow truck, and sat motionless at the bottom of the hill.

True to form, I texted everyone who would care that I wasn’t dead.  This list included the readership of this blog (whose numbers weren’t deleted when my phone died), Matt Vernon, Bethany Lee, my four Disney chicas, and my future roommates (Benton and Josh).

Benton, who I had known since 2008, was MIA. Josh, the guy I had never met who just kind of accepted me as the girl who'd live on his couch, was the one who bothered texting to make sure I was all right. 

The next day, no response from Benton, but I got a phone call from Josh. I don't talk, mind you, I text, so I was nervous... in spite of that, we had a 36 minute phone call talking about work, animals, adventures, a party goat (...? I didn't know what it was, but, hey, he sounded nice...), Indiana Jones... Things were going way too well, so I ended up saying g'bye and going back to the hotel room.

"So... did you have fun?" Ma asked.

"Actually, yeah. He seems really nice."

My mom smiled and said, "And that's how I met your mother..." I laughed a little, but the concept was horrifying. There was no way that I just talked to someone I'd ever end up with. I was on hiatus...kinda... ok, so I really wanted something to happen with this guy, and if it was that obvious to my mother after one-- count em, ONE phone call that I was really into this guy, there was no way I was going to make it through the week I would be living with him and Benton-- whoa! When did that happen? Not Benton and Josh, Josh and Benton! This was bad. And I found myself getting excited to meet this guy who I knew I'd have no chance with. All the same, the rest of the drive was spent listening to Frank Sinatra and thinking about how beautiful life was.

Long story short, I moved in with Josh and Benton and spent the day hanging out with Josh. Sure nuff, he was even more fun in person. I started getting excited for every excuse to see him. And that was tough business. I worked nights at the Jungle Cruise. He worked mornings feeding the animals at Animal Kingdom and EPCOT. So somewhere between 2am and 4am every day, we decided to start dating.


It's present day me again. We still listen to Frank Sinatra all the time. We're still animal nerds. Indiana Jones is still one of the best movies ever. We've changed jobs, gotten engaged, we've both had to get new cars. Life gets weird sometimes. But it's amazing to see that no matter how much has changed, deep down, we've always known where things were going.