*This post has taken me a bit longer to write than I thought it would and is getting a little long so I thought I would break it up. Here is part one - enjoy and look forward to part two hopefully following in the next couple of days.*
Since February sees both Valentine's Day and our wedding anniversary and since I've been looking at pictures from 'way back' recently I thought it would be a great time to write about the courtship of Mycal Brown to Stephanie Stohel.
As with most things there is a long story and a short story. The short story is that we met through a mutual friend, dated and got married. (Okay right now even I'm impressed with my ability to keep a short story that short, because we all know that concise generally isn't in my bag of writing tricks...) And when people casually ask how we met that is generally what they are told. The long story is however much more fun.
It all really started when a friend of my set me up on a date with with brother-in-law. Being the fun loving and naturally affable gal I am most of my friends wanted to set me up with their relations or close friends - it's the best way to make sure you like your in-laws/friend's spouses. And being the fun loving and affable gal I am I'd generally agree to these attempts at matchmaking. (Okay truth be told I liked dating and I wasn't exactly called up every weekend of high school so I was okay with 99% of the date offers that came my way.) The date with aforementioned young man went well enough that we continued to make plans together for the next few weeks. About this time he wanted to do something with a few friends. Now it may seem odd to some of you but I distinctly remember the first time I met my in-laws and it wasn't as their son's date. The gentleman I was dating and Mycal were friends from work and the former wanted the latter to meet me so we had driven up to Mycal's house along with a few other people to watch a movie. (*side note* Forrest and SuZan seemed like wonderful people the first time I met them and I my initial assessment was only wrong in that wonderful is far too mild a world for how amazing they are.)
For the next week things went pretty well with the gentleman I was dating, we went on a couple dates, did a few things with his family, spent some time with friends (which included a thing or two where Mycal was present) and generally had a good time and I thought all was well with the world until a few days into November when his demeanor suddenly shifted. While he continued to make plans with me and accept my invitations to events he was very distant and a bit cold to me. Confused is a subtle way to put how I felt. Shortly after this sudden change in behavior Mycal came into the shop where I worked to see how he could get tickets to the Disney on Ice performance his friend and I were going to that night. I'm not sure why but I asked what the deal was with his friend - asking why he was acting the way he was. Mycal was great - I don't remember much of what he said just that he was reassuring and comforting that things would be alright. Then he told me to get some lip gloss because guys can't resist glossy lips. (Yeah I know I remember the weirdest things...I can't remember what he said other than to get some lip gloss. Sadly I remember exactly what lip gloss I bought after work that day. What it looked like and what it smelled like...) I thanked him for his help and told him I'd see him later since he was going to be at the performance with his date. That evening my date picked me up then told me that we were going to pick up Mycal and his date as well after which we all drove to the performance center together. We parked and watched the show. My date maintained the same distant demeanor that he'd exhibited the last few days despite my use of lip gloss. Valerie had also gone to the same performance with her boyfriend though they had driven in a different car than us so at the end of the show we decided to all meet back at my parents house and have dinner. Easier said than done apparently as the four of us couldn't find my date's vehicles - pretty impressive considering it was a huge truck. So we spent about an hour wandering the parking garage looking for a truck. While neither of our dates were amused Mycal and I had a great time laughing, joking and playing around whilst questing for the truck.
After a few more evenings of mild torture (dates with Mycal's friend) I did the girl thing and asked him what was going on. 'Nothing' was the only answer I got so I said that if he was too busy or needed to focus on school or work that was fine we didn't have to do stuff together that much I just wanted to have a good time and that was not what was happening. I don't remember what he said after that I just remember going inside and crying.
*This post has taken me a bit longer to write than I thought it would and is getting a little long so I thought I would break it up. Here is part one - enjoy and look forward to part two hopefully following in the next couple of days.*
Since February sees both Valentine's Day and our wedding anniversary and since I've been looking at pictures from 'way back' recently I thought it would be a great time to write about the courtship of Mycal Brown to Stephanie Stohel.
As with most things there is a long story and a short story. The short story is that we met through a mutual friend, dated and got married. (Okay right now even I'm impressed with my ability to keep a short story that short, because we all know that concise generally isn't in my bag of writing tricks...) And when people casually ask how we met that is generally what they are told. The long story is however much more fun.
It all really started when a friend of my set me up on a date with with brother-in-law. Being the fun loving and naturally affable gal I am most of my friends wanted to set me up with their relations or close friends - it's the best way to make sure you like your in-laws/friend's spouses. And being the fun loving and affable gal I am I'd generally agree to these attempts at matchmaking. (Okay truth be told I liked dating and I wasn't exactly called up every weekend of high school so I was okay with 99% of the date offers that came my way.) The date with aforementioned young man went well enough that we continued to make plans together for the next few weeks. About this time he wanted to do something with a few friends. Now it may seem odd to some of you but I distinctly remember the first time I met my in-laws and it wasn't as their son's date. The gentleman I was dating and Mycal were friends from work and the former wanted the latter to meet me so we had driven up to Mycal's house along with a few other people to watch a movie. (*side note* Forrest and SuZan seemed like wonderful people the first time I met them and I my initial assessment was only wrong in that wonderful is far too mild a world for how amazing they are.)
For the next week things went pretty well with the gentleman I was dating, we went on a couple dates, did a few things with his family, spent some time with friends (which included a thing or two where Mycal was present) and generally had a good time and I thought all was well with the world until a few days into November when his demeanor suddenly shifted. While he continued to make plans with me and accept my invitations to events he was very distant and a bit cold to me. Confused is a subtle way to put how I felt. Shortly after this sudden change in behavior Mycal came into the shop where I worked to see how he could get tickets to the Disney on Ice performance his friend and I were going to that night. I'm not sure why but I asked what the deal was with his friend - asking why he was acting the way he was. Mycal was great - I don't remember much of what he said just that he was reassuring and comforting that things would be alright. Then he told me to get some lip gloss because guys can't resist glossy lips. (Yeah I know I remember the weirdest things...I can't remember what he said other than to get some lip gloss. Sadly I remember exactly what lip gloss I bought after work that day. What it looked like and what it smelled like...) I thanked him for his help and told him I'd see him later since he was going to be at the performance with his date. That evening my date picked me up then told me that we were going to pick up Mycal and his date as well after which we all drove to the performance center together. We parked and watched the show. My date maintained the same distant demeanor that he'd exhibited the last few days despite my use of lip gloss. Valerie had also gone to the same performance with her boyfriend though they had driven in a different car than us so at the end of the show we decided to all meet back at my parents house and have dinner. Easier said than done apparently as the four of us couldn't find my date's vehicles - pretty impressive considering it was a huge truck. So we spent about an hour wandering the parking garage looking for a truck. While neither of our dates were amused Mycal and I had a great time laughing, joking and playing around whilst questing for the truck.
After a few more evenings of mild torture (dates with Mycal's friend) I did the girl thing and asked him what was going on. 'Nothing' was the only answer I got so I said that if he was too busy or needed to focus on school or work that was fine we didn't have to do stuff together that much I just wanted to have a good time and that was not what was happening. I don't remember what he said after that I just remember going inside and crying.
