How we met

This post is dedicated to the love of my life, the thorn in my side =) …my hubby. You should know today is his birthday and this was his birthday meal:

Medium grilled rib eye with fresh cut potato fries, fresh corn on a cob and some mini Yorkshire puddings with a gorgonzola mushroom onion sauce. Just the right celebration meal for my birthday boy!

Next to food he is the only one who is always on my mind. I choose him over food any time so that says a lot. I don’t think I’ve ever blogged about how we first met. It is such a great story to tell.

It started end of 2003 when we first met online on a chat site. That time chat sites were just hitting the internet and getting somewhat famous. I’ve been “online” since my 18^th so I knew my way around. I’ve made some good friends online so chatting was something I was familiar with.

He asked me to come to Rome for his sister’s wedding. I said no. Rome is too far for me to return back home if things didn’t work out. And by that time we were only chatting for a few months, barely enough to become “friends”. Then I was supposed to see him in Paris, but I wasn’t sure if I could have time off so I invited him over to Holland. I had just move to my very own little apartment and didn’t had anything to worry about so I thought why not. If for some reason I didn’t like him I could still kick him out. So we decided to meet in Den Haag and I would pick him up from the train station. Guess what? He was late!! Missed his train and had to take the next one. Good thing he had my number so he could call me to pick him up otherwise he would still be standing there.

He stayed for a long weekend and the first night we went to eat out and clubbing. The next day I introduced him to a good friend of mine and we hung out there. The third day we had steak dinner and a movie. I think the first movie we ever saw together was Troy, with super gorgeous Brad Pitt.
The last day he was in Holland I had to work. I remembered thinking: “I hope all my stuff is still there when I get back home”. I did came back home to make noodle soup lunch for him. Funny the things you still remember.

He wrote me a poem on a postcard and left that with a little present (Mont blanc pen) on my table. And days after he left he sent me a postcard from Italy. I still have both as a reminder of how our friendship started and grew to what it is now.

We didn’t instantly fell in love. I didn’t thought I would end up with him the first time I saw him. After he left we became closer and closer. At one point we talked to each other every day either on the phone or online. Those were the days that I barely had any sleep and I didn’t seem to need any either.

We were from two different worlds. My world was 7 hours ahead of his. When my world was covered in darkness and a new day started, he just finished work. I didn’t sign up for a long distance relationship but when we came to realize that we wanted to be together things got better. We had more peace and less doubts. I didn’t get to see him for one year and in that year we got to know each other pretty well. Amazing how well you get to know someone if you aren’t able to physically be together. He totally run me over with his personality. That first year laid the foundation of our relationship.

After one year he took me to California to meet his family. They instantly took me in as one of their own. I remembered the first question his mom asked me was “when are you guys getting married?”. It was soo weird, but also flattering.

In the next 3 years we were flying back and forth. Since I had 5 weeks holiday every year I tried to fly to the States as often as I could. And beginning 2007 I was done flying. I didn’t have enough holiday days left and I couldn’t do it anymore. The flying and staying up late was wearing me out. So after his brother’s wedding he packed his things and left the States to be with me. To live with me in the apartment where we first met.

I haven’t been cooking as much as when I started living together with my hubby. The moment he came in my life things chanced. No more eating the same dish for at least 3 days in a row, but freshly cooked homemade meals almost every day.

We tied the knot about one year after he came to Holland in April 2008. The whole family came together for this event. Since his brother’s wedding in 2007 the family has been able to have a reunion every year. The next one is planned in January 2012.

So this is in a nutshell how we met. He is the most kind, sweet and generous man I ever met and I am very luck to have him in my life. Every day has been an adventure and it is one I don’t want to share with anyone else then my BOEBOE (my nickname for him). I hope we can enjoy each others company for many more years to come.