Our love story... part trois...

Okay... so where was I? Oh, right, we were living in sin... :o)

We moved in with Rick's bestest buddy's ex-wife and daughter. Oh yeah, it was about as odd as it sounds! LOL It seemed like forever, but we only lived in her house for 2 months! :o)

Rick, Kiera & I stayed in 1 room in the 2-bedroom/1-bathroom house. We had 2 twin mattresses directly on the floor, Kiera's crib against the wall (and about 6 inches from the mattresses), and my oak armoir that I'd had since I was about 7. We also had one of those bouncing pony-things in the room for a bit, until we finally put it in the front yard. :o)

I have 3 very distinct memories of that house.

-The first was before I moved in, Rick made me dinner... lemon chicken and fettuccini alfredo. It was amazing! And whenever we have it, I am reminded of that day. It was a GOOD day! :o)
-The second was Halloween 1999. Kiera's first Halloween. Rick's bestest buddy's father was there, along with his ex-wife, her boyfriend and her daughter. Rick was working. I dressed Kiera up as a Harley Davidson fan :o), because I didn't have a costume for her, but I had a Harley outfit! LOL
-The third memory was buying ourselves a Christmas tree. It was a total Charlie Brown Christmas tree, but it was our first tree together. I loved it! We went to a tree lot, bought the tip-top of a tree (I think it was about 2ft!) and they put it on the shaker... we almost died laughing and were thankful that there were needles left on it when it was over. :o) We brought it home and put it on the table and decorated it. Now the lady we lived with, she kept her heater on 24/7 and cranked REALLY HOT! This memory leads into the next part of our story...

December 24, 1999~ We're at Rick's parent's house for Christmas. As are his brother, younger sister and older sister (with her husband and son). Before we headed for their house, we had gone to Wal-Mart and bought rings... we weren't sure when we would get married, but we had our rings and we were going to show them off. :o) I don't remember where we slept, but I know it wasn't together. Even though they knew we were living together, in the same room, we weren't sleeping in the same room there! :o)

Christmas Day~ It was a lovely day in Victorville. We woke up, sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, opened presents and enjoyed the rest of the day. That night, at about 10P, we were all standing in the kitchen. Rick told his parents that we needed to get to bed, since we were getting up at 4A to drive to Las Vegas to get married. :o) Merry Christmas! :o) Needless to say, they were shocked. But their response? Well then, we all better get to bed if we're all driving to Vegas in the morning! :o) Rick's older sister was a bit concerned about Rick marrying me, to put it lightly :o) She thought maybe I was marrying Rick so Kiera would have a father. To tell the honest truth? I was marrying him to be Kiera's father, and because I loved him from almost the moment I met him. As a single parent, your first thought is for your child... so if I wasn't marrying him to be Kiera's father, THAT should have been cause for concern. :o) She was also concerned because I was not a Christian, and Rick & his family are. I think God spoke through Rick that night though... he told his sister that he understood her concern, but that he loved us and he felt such a peace in his heart about marrying me. He said that he KNEW I was his Eve.

I have to tell you, I found out about his sister's objections 3 years ago after my BIL's wedding. And she apologized profusely. I love her so much more for it, too. She was just looking out for her brother. I also found out Rick's answer just a couple WEEKS ago, when we started writing our love story for KLOVE. :o) Let me tell you, it brought tears to my eyes.

December 26, 1999~ We left the house just after 4A. Rick, Kiera & I in our car. Rick's parent's, his grandfather and his younger sister in their car. We headed for the Little White Wedding Chapel, where Britney Spears 2-minute marriage started... but also where my mom & stepdad were married. We bought our wedding 'package'; limo to & from the courthouse to get our license, ceremony, a 24-exposure roll of film that they took pictures with AND we had our wedding aired on the Discovery Channel!! :o) We drove to a Denny's on the strip and had breakfast while we waited for our limo to come pick us up. :o) Rick's family took Kiera while we went to the courthouse, and met us at the Chapel. And then we had our ceremony. I cried. Rick cried, too... but don't tell him I told you! :o) And what is funny is that I cried because I was so overwhelmingly happy. I barely knew him. We had met just 4 months and 12 days before. And yet, I KNEW that this was right, that this was the forever kind of marriage. Not to knock anyone who felt the same and it didn't work... it is just how I felt, and I still feel to this day. :o)

We left Mr. & Mrs. Piccini, because I am TOTALLY old-fashioned :o) We got stuck in massive Vegas traffic, and then made our way back towards Morro Bay. We TRIED to make it home, but the fog got SOOO thick in Carpinteria that we stopped at the only hotel sign we could see... the Motel 6 :o) So we spent our first married night in a Motel 6. That was our one and only honeymoon.... to this day. The next day we had to call into work married LOL Our boss let us come in late :o) And I had to tell my mom that I got married without her. And we got to come home to a FRIED CHRISTMAS TREE!! LOL We were so thankful it didn't ignite!

I think 2 more installments... I don't think I can fit 9 years into one more :o)

Thank you for reading... I'm enjoying sharing!