How'd We Get Here?

Today, August 8, 2010, is Jessica and my sixth wedding anniversary. I look outside and it's raining. That's way different than it was six years ago, when we had a beautiful day for our amazing wedding at Semiahmoo Resort in Birch Bay, by the Canadian border. A lot has changed since that day.

Since we got married, we've lived in four places. I've had four jobs, Jess has had five. We've owned a house, sold a house. We've lost two animals. We've had a lot of highs and a lot of lows. And we had Satchel, which is the most ridiculously amazing thing that has happened to us. In fact, I barely remember a day (nor do I care to) without him in our lives. That's been a wonderful change.

What hasn't changed in those six years is how much I love Jess. Yes, she snores. She farts. She drools. If she could, she'd sleep all day, every day. Patience is not her biggest strength. It's all part of what makes me love her.

She's also the most wonderful woman I've ever known. She's so beautiful, my heart races whenever I'm around her. She's so smart, I know I can go to her with any question I have, about anything (she'll at least sound like she knows what she's talking about). She's so funny, she might even be funnier than me! And she's an incredible mom.

She's changed me, and I'm so thankful. She's made me recognize and share my feelings. She's challenged me to think about what I think about. She stirs me to ask questions, to grow, to learn, rather than just glide by on who I've always been.

And if it wasn't for her, I would have never tried Indian food. So there's that, too.

Here's 10 things you may or may not know about Jessica:

1. She's a great cook. I love her enchiladas. She makes great breakfast burritos. About 10 years ago she made great potato poppers and promised me she'd make more. Still waiting.

2. She's an incredibly fast reader. I've never seen anyone get through books so quickly, though she admits she skims a lot. Her favorite books are historical novels.

3. She loves and hates scary movies. She loves the idea of going to them, and then spends the rest of the movie complaining about being there. But her favorite movie, I believe, is The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.

4. Her favorite song is Under Pressure. The Queen and David Bowie classic. But mostly she's into singer/songwriter things, like Nick Drake, Eva Cassidy, Patty Griffin, etc.

5. She's very competitive. I can't play video games with her. We played a wrestling video game in our early days of dating. I was just randomly pushing buttons but she insisted I was hiding moves from her. Eventually she just threw the controller at me. It's the last time we played video games against each other.

6. She has four tattoos. One just below the back of her neck. One on her foot. One on her ankle. And one on her thigh.

7. She gave birth to Satchel entirely naturally. No drugs, no nothing. It was pretty amazing. I know I don't have that kind of strength.

8. She's an incredibly impatient driver. She tailgates (though she says she doesn't). Any sign of any traffic causes her to huff, moan, complain. City living is not for her.

9. She says one word repeatedly during movies. "Jesus." But she says it in a hushed, "I can't believe it!" tone. I can count on her saying it about 10 times every movie.

10. She's very adventurous. We've white water rafted (she's a great boater). We've got hot-air-ballooning. Camping a lot (she's much better at setting up tents than me). She's water skiied, jet skiied. We've hiked. She's (usually) not afraid to try anything.

I've got a lot more I'll get to some time.

Jessica and I are an odd couple, though we're similar in a lot of ways too. She's the hippy, vegetarian chick, I'm the sullen sportswriter. No one would have really expected us to get together. I know she didn't. How do I know? She told me, from the beginning!

We met when we both worked at the Bellingham Herald, she as the newsroom receptionist, me as a sports writer. We said very little to each other for a long time, mostly because I said very little to anybody. But I always heard her laugh. She has a laugh that you can hear anywhere and it filled the newsroom and always lightened up the place. I recognized she was attractive but it took me awhile to make my smooth move.

So how did I do it? Stalking baby, stalking!

I would recognize when she was leaving - usually around 5 - and would strategically head out just ahead of her. One day maybe I'd be "looking" for something in my trunk. Another I'd be just steps ahead of her, knowing that she'd talk to me (her being friendly and all that). Maybe I'd be "heading" in from my car and run into her. You know, I'd change it up. She makes fun of me for it, but hey, it worked!

We started talking, then started hanging out a little, one day at her house the next at my tiny little one-bedroom apartment. We talked (she did most of the talking), ate, watched movies (look up Jimmy Fallon's song Idiot Boyfriend for a fairly accurate look at our early days). We went to a couple movies, including Amelie, which I would never, ever see, but went to because she wanted to. We went to Royal Tennenbaums, she fell asleep, I slyly put my hand on her leg, she stirred, I quickly removed hand.

We went out to eat at an Italian place in Bellingham. This is where, at one point, she said, "Oh my god! I could never date someone like you!" She said it jokingly, we laughed, but inside I died a slow, painful death. Though I knew she was wrong. And while she said that, we continued to be together, pretty much every day. She was housesitting at a farm she volunteered at near Christmas, and the morning I was driving down to Seattle for the holiday, I swung by very early while she was still asleep and left a large back of snacks on the doorstep. I'm very romantic. Then on the drive down I realized, hey, there's a lot of animals at that farm wandering around. Luckily, the treats made it to her.

I also made her an incredibly romantic dinner. At the time, I wasn't vegetarian, so I was a little at a loss, because I also wasn't a good cook. So what did I come up with? Boxed mashed potatoes, boxed stuffing, and frozen corn, baby! She took one look at it, laughed, and said, "Do you have enough carbs here?" But hey, it's the thought that counts, right?

One day we decided to take a day road-trip. I was so excited. I waited by my cell phone. And waited. And waited. She said she'd call. About 3 p.m., she finally called. I'd written the day off. Clearly, I didn't know her that well. Remember how I said she'd sleep all day if she could? 3 p.m.? That's nothing. So, we were on.

We got food, packed Dundee (our dog. ...well, her dog at the time) and headed out up a mountain that was still covered with snow. We got out and ran around in the snow and Jess fell. I laughed and kept right on heading to the car. She doesn't let me forget that.

We reached the top of the mountain and that was the first time we kissed. It was the most electric moment of my life, to know that she (at least kind of) felt about me the way I felt about her. My heart was going a hundred miles an hour, I was so excited. In fact, I nearly drove off the road on the way home. She asked me what I wanted between us. I said I'd like to date and see where it goes. She said, "OK, but nothing serious, and nothing exclusive." I agreed, though I knew I was serious, and she was the only person for me.

I did what I could to impress her. I shoveled horse crap at the farm she volunteered at. I mowed her ridiculously overgrown yard. I even became vegetarian! And even though she continually said nothing serious, we were together, exclusively, from that point.

Eventually, without us even discussing it, she moved into my one-bedroom apartment. Just, like, overnight, all of a sudden, there was all her stuff. So it was two people and four animals in this tiny apartment.

Eventually, yes, we moved to a house and got engaged. Our engagement was another smooth move by me.

We went to Las Vegas and I snuck the ring (which she knew we ordered but she didn't know I had) with us. When we got to our hotel (The Flamingo), Jess, predictably, fell asleep within about 10 seconds. I knew how deeply she slepts, so I called room service while sitting right next to her and asked if they could have the ring delivered. ...they said no (in retrospect, I should have just ordered something and then put it under there while she was asleep, but I was thrown off, alright?). Then I called the improv show they had going there, but they weren't cooperative either. So I fell back on Plan C, which was just doing it.

Later that night, we walked around the (actually) prety nice little garden area the hotel had. We were by the pools and I told her I had to go to the bathroom (but really, I wanted to get some flowers). So I wandered off, and of course, couldn't find flowers anywhere. Nothing was going my way. So I wandered back, and, of course, got lost (hey, it was a huge hotel!). I just wandered aimlessly for what seemed like about 48 hours and was finally about to just sit down, cry and yell "Jessie! Help!" when I accidentally found her. She said, "You got lost, didn't you?

I dropped to a knee, she thought I was hurt. Then I asked her, she looked a little stunned and then said yes. The oddyssey was over, and just beginning.

Our wedding was phenomenal, beautiful weather, a great turnout including almost all of my East Coast family. Jess looked amazing. So much fun. Then we had our best trip ever, our honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta. I swear if our animals weren't at home, we wouldn't have moved back.

So, that's the story of Jess and me, at least, on a somewhat abbreviated scale. I'm so lucky that she picked me, fell for my stalking ploy, stuck with me. She is truly the love of my life, the most beautiful, smartest and funniest woman and I don't know why she picked me, but I'm so glad she did, and I don't need an anniversary to remind me of that.