The First Seven Months

After I decided I wanted to be with the Redhead, it was as if I forgot what it was like before.  Like in an single moment, I went from Casey BL (before love) to Casey AL (after love).  And I don't mean that in a bad way - not that we were codependent or anything like that, but just that once I realized what it felt like to be with Redhead, I never wanted to feel what it would be like to be without.

Our first few months of dating were filled lots of hours in the car (mostly on my part - I lived in LA at the time and Red lived in San Diego, he began soccer season weeks after we began dating and couldn't get away much), many kisses, and very many sappy text messages during the week when we were apart.  I drove down to San Diego every weekend I could, both because I couldn't get enough of Red, and because I hated my life in Los Angeles.

I know that had I lived in LA under different circumstances, I could have had a really fulfilling, fun life there.  However - I lived there for an internship, while taking classes at the local community college, under 21 (no bar scene for me!), and with no friends living there.  Wouldn't you know that about four years later I would have nearly as many friends living in LA than living near me - funny how timing can change everything.

After just weeks of dating, we exchanged the inevitable I Love You's, and it was only a few more weeks before we were talking about the future.  I felt a little crazy at the time, but it's like in When Harry Met Sally -

We hatched up a plan that I would move down to San Diego, continue taking classes (at the time my end goal was to tranfer to SDSU and get a degree in Business Admin/Marketing - oh, how things change), and get a waitressing job to fill my time and pay some bills.  The plan was for Summertime/Fall when Red's lease would be up, though that seemed excrutiatingly far away.

However, in the plot twist that changed everything, one of Red's roommate wanted to move out early.  They needed someone to cover his portion of the rent, and it will always make me smile when I think of one of Red's other roommate's suggesting me as a replacement.  Red and I knew we wanted to live together, but never did I think his roomates would be so supportive as to suggest it.  Red's roomate had moved out by mid-September, but I wouldn't move down until finishing up the semester and giving adequate notice at my internship.

Telling people about the change was both easy and hard.  Keep in mind, at this point we had literally been dating a month (though I wouldn't move in until January - 4 months later).  Some people took it way easier than I though, like Gardnening Mom who was completely fine with it, and Mother-in-Law Red who didn't seem phased.  Others, like friends and extended family, were shocked and a little concered at the pace at which we were moving.  I will always be grateful to friends like Fashionista who basically expressed "Seems a little fast, and maybe not the smartest move - but if you're happy, I'm happy".  I hope that looking back, even though it might have been a little whackadoo at the time, everyone thinks it was ultimately a good decision!

From January to April, we enjoyed being submersed in one another's lives.  I got to start a whole new life, meeting new friends, taking new classes, and living in a city I'd never even thought about living in - a city I fell in love with, by the way.  I got to really get to know Red's friends, especially our roomates, most of which I now, five years later, consider my friends as well.  Red and I talked incessantly about getting engaged, getting married, what our lives would be like.  We got to know each other's families (though not nearly as well as Red got to know mine a few years later when we moved in with my parents), and fell into a happy groove in our life together.

I knew we would be getting engaged at some point sooner rather than later (albeit with plans of quite the long engagement), but I had assumed Red was going to wait for our 1-year annivery to pass.  Well, in April of 2009 (just seven months after we became an US), he had a little surprise for me.

Want to catch up on the story of how my Handsome Husband became my Handsome Husband? Find out how we met, what it was like going to high school with HH, how he reappeared in my life after moving to San Diego for college, and how he went from a memory to a best friend in weeks. Read about how I found out he wasn't thinking of me as just a friend, what he did for me while in Europe, and our first kiss. You can also read about how he was a total jackass played hard to get right when I was ready to give him a shot. Then we decided to make things "official" on 08.08.08, and I said something stupid shortly after.  I shared photos from our first few months as an "US" last time.