Aahh... Fall

September is here and I'm so happy to say goodbye to the dreaded month of August. In my world, there should be no August. Actually I'd be happy to go right from Vacation (and I think of it like that, capital letters and all), straight to sweaters. I'd almost be willing to go right to Christmas, but I do like Halloween and the crunchy chill of autumn.

We haven't really been up to a whole lot since the reunion in Pulaski. Jeff and I did celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary on the 13th. I vacillate between feeling like it's been a blink of an eye, or feeling like it's been forever. Some days, I still think "wow, I married Jeff Lacey! That's really crazy!"

You see, Jeff and I met in college and, ahem, "dated." Since my mother may read this, I will not go into details, but suffice it to say, we weren't exactly a long term, meaningful relationship. However, when we did break up, it didn't go well, and we didn't speak again for 9 years.

Then one day in February 2002, I received an email from my good friend Annie Brown about some idiot frat guys in Frostburg who had torn up their frat house. I forwarded it on to a lot of my friends, and one of the people I sent it to was Jeff Lacey. Much to my great surprise, he emailed me back! Turns out he and his wife had just signed separation papers and he was SOOOO happy to hear from me. Strange as it sounds, it really seemed like fate at the time and in hindsight, still seems too good to be true. Our email relationship took off like gangbusters. I was in school at the time and I would rush to the library between classes to check my email to see if he had written me. When I was at work, we would IM constantly. Finally after a couple months, we actually spoke on the phone. When I heard his voice, I knew that I had to see him. And when, a month later, I flew to Maryland for my friend Heather's baby shower, I saw Jeff waiting at the airport with a daisy in his hand for me, I knew that I could never, never let this man go.

I moved back to Maryland on July 1, 2002 and we were married September 13, 2003 - 11 years after we had first met. Now, 6 years and almost 4 kids later, I am still surprised at our good fortune. I love Jeff with everything I've got and as I often tell my friends, I got a deluxe model husband!