HAPPILY EVER AFTER:

One thing I love about being a writer is the fact that you have complete power and control over happily ever after.  In fiction, it's the one place where "happily ever after is ALLOWED to exist".  Real life is a bit more tricky.  In my books, I enjoy the "all is well that ends well" approach.  Because at the end of the day, don't we all WANT that ending that allows us closure and comfort knowing our favorite characters are safe and sound and will be around for the sequel?

In real life, especially in love, our happily ever afters don't always go how we want, and more times than not, our happily ever after really depends on another person.  Will prince charming show up on his white steed, and the two of you ride off into a sunset together?!  Or will you kiss a frog and your frog just stays a frog and you wind up with warts on your lips for life?  Point being, in fairy-tales and in real life, happily ever after begins with magic, and it's that magic that sometimes, leaps off the pages of our childhood fairy-tales, and makes an appearance in our real life story.

Last night was a night like any other.  The chickens were nestled all snug in their coop.  Jerimy and I spent the day working on mowing, pulling weeds, I cooked some sketchy Parmesan crusted chicken from Aldi's that I'm still not entirely sure if I liked or not.  We picked up my new prescription at Rite-Aid, he got a new hood for his truck, and some friends stopped by at dark to visit and pick up the bottles that I sold.  Jerimy built a fire, and after our company left, he and I sat on the yard swing he bought me for our anniversary for some quality time before bed.  The night was dark, and oh so quiet.  I mean, you could of heard a pin drop, which is so bizarre for our back yard because normally there's about forty thousand toads chirping, some raccoons fighting, dogs barking, chickens clucking...road traffic...just trust me when i tell you, it's usually noisy-er.  We remarked at the strangeness of the quiet, and listened intently for something....anything at all to make even a peep.

Jerimy went to put some more wood on the fire, and I looked at my phone and saw the time.  I said to him "It's 11:11, make a wish!"  He replied, "Ok, what'd YOU wish for?" I said, "I'm not telling you!  It won't come true!"  He said "C'mon, just tell me."  And again, I said "No way, I'm not wasting my wish by ruining it!"  he kept on me about it, I kept changing the subject to try to lure him away from my secret wishes.  I mean, EVERYBODY knows you can't tell your wish if you want it to come true!

We kept swinging, and he put his arm around me and I laid my head on his shoulder, it was chilly out, so the warmth of his arm around me made me feel better the minute he put it around me.

"So you going to tell me what you wished for?"  He asked again

"Nope!"  I replied

"C'mon, if you tell me, maybe I'll make it come true."

"Yeah right, what are you a Jeanie in a bottle now?"  I said in a sassy fashion.

He attempted to sing "Jeanie in a bottle by Christina Aguilera but trailed off after like 4 words in....I helped him with some of the lyrics...we both snickered at the idea of two grown ass adults, trying to sing a Christina Aguilera song in the dark of our back yard at 11:00 p.m. on a Sunday that neither of us have heard since the early 2000's...and not very well I might add!

I stood up to warm my butt cheeks by the fire, Jerimy stayed on the swing.  I tried to coax him into the house to go to bed but he insisted we stay out and enjoy the fire and the night.  So I sat back down with him, and suddenly the night was no longer silent, I heard one of my favorite sounds...Our owls began to hoot somewhere back in the woods behind us.  Two of them, hooting back and forth, exchanging a secret conversation that couldn't be decoded, but in my mind, I just know it's a Male and Female, calling out for one another.  Both had very distinctive calls that allow us to tell them apart.  It's an excellent thing to be a part of, just swinging and listening to owls hoot sweet nothings at each other in the darkness.

Jerimy gave me a smooch, and then another....good kisses, the kind that make you feel a bit woozy, like you might fall over er' something.  Jerimy's kisses are crazy good like that.  Since the very first one over four years ago, he's been making me dizzy with smooches ever since.

He held out his hand which held a little white box and he opened it and he said "is this what you wished for?"  All the wind was sucked right out of me, and my eyeballs were unable to blink for a moment.  I finally said "What is that?  I can't see whats in it, it's dark!"  then I immediately said "Are you F*cking with me right now?"  (I'm super smooth aren't I?)

He said "this isn't a joke"

Me:  "is this really happening?  Is that real?"

Him:  "Yes, this is really happening"

"Can I touch it?" I asked

Him:  "Of course, Will you?" he asked as he pulled it out of the box and placed it on my finger...

I was in total shock, and then I said:  "But you're not even 40!"  {he always told me he wasn't getting married until he was 40!}  He laughed at that.

With the ring on my finger, he said "Will you marry me?"

Me:  "Oh my god, I can't believe you actually want to marry me!?"  and I hugged him and kissed him, and hugged him and kissed him some more, and then I said "Pinch ME!!!"  and he did, and I said "ouch" and kissed him intensely.

you could of knocked me over with a feather!  I've never been more happy and stunned all at the same time in my LIFE!

You guys all remember how happy I was when we got the house, take that times about a thousand, and THAT is how happy I was last night.

"Since we're getting married in the back yard, I thought I should propose here too." he admitted as I sat there still dumbfounded.

Today, on my finger is a solitaire diamond ring, white gold and perfect in every way.  I still cannot believe this is really happening.  I mean, how many times in your life, do you actually GET to be with the love of your life?!  How lucky does one person have to be, to get their hearts desire?  How many times does a guy propose and his girlfriend say "Are you f*cking kidding me?"

If I were any happier, my face would burst open from so much intense smiling, cupids would fly out shooting arrows and floating hearts, and then I'd float up into the clouds and into the stratosphere, fueled by sheer joy, unlike anything I've ever known or felt before.

He loves me and he wants to spend the rest of his life with me.

In good times and in bad times, through happy times and sometimes sad times, there's nobody in the world, that I want to go through life with like him!  He's "my person"....and officially, I'm about to be his "officially"...

I'm delirious from lack of sleeping last night, and from indescribable happiness.

If this is a dream, don't wake me up......EVER!