Dougie and I met in Feb 2005 as penpals. It was really sorta strange cos I had read his details and thought about contacting him but thought nah, we have nothing in common. Next day I have a message from him and we really hit off a great friendship. In April 2005 we were chatting online he had been stood up by a woman he had a date with and was really disappointed and depressed and I was trying to cheer him up and he made the comment that if I was closer he wouldn't mind taking me out. I told him if I was closer I would accept. It was kinda funny cos it left him completely speechless and his jaw dropped. I actually surprised myself by saying it as well cos I thought I done really well surpressing the feeling I had developed for him over the previous 2 months. Well then we both talked and discovered our feelings were very mutual and we ended up discussing long distant relationships and if it was gonna be worth it and we both agreed it would be. Over the next few we talked more than we previously did, both online and on the phone. In July 2005 he asked me to marry him over the phone. I was at work and he was at one of his mate's weddings and he was very drunk. The question stunned me, and then I realized he was drunk and at a wedding, so I didn't say anything and he asked again, and I turned to one of my friends and whispered "hes drunk and hes asking me to marry him and we havent even met yet!" She laughed and I figured he wouldnt remember cos he was drunk. He asked me to marry him again. I said yeah sure. He actually has a REALLY good memory regardless of being drunk the previous night. Plus he gets all mushy and romantic when he drinks and spends hours on the phone talking to me, which is sorta cute. Anyhow back to the story. After I said my verison of yes, he said he was coming over in August that he couldnt stand it anymore. On August 28 I picked him up at the airport. Keeping in mind I come from a very small town out in the middle of nowhere and have led a very sheltered life, I had never been to an airport before. I couldnt figure out the short term parking thing which read you had to have a ticket and how much it cost to park for x amount of time (this is my husbands favorite of all of our time together). Well it had a place to get the ticket but I couldnt for the life of me figure out where to put the money. There was this big green button, but it wasn't labeled as to its purpose and I wasn't about to touch it. So I backed up and not knowing what else to do I drove out of the airport and back in. Still didnt see him. Apparently after the 5th or 6th trip in and out of the airport he got tired of watching me drive in circles and I heard someone yell my name and I hit the brakes and here he comes. He said he waved me but I ignored him and drove on. He watched me drive past him again. He decided to have smoke while waiting, and I drove past a few more times. I saw him at one point but I didn't realize it was him lol. Anyhow he stayed 2 weeks and we had a really good time and alot of laughs. He decided to come back, and he did in December 2005 and stayed 3 months on the VWP. I flew to England with him in March 2006. Our 3 months together was wonderful. My family loved him and more importantly my kids loved him (I already knew that from the first trip though) but this really made it stick. They had so much fun with him. My son took his first steps to me and then tottered wobbly straight to Dougie. I stayed 2 weeks with him in England and it was great. When it was time for me to go home, we both cried. We decided (soberly) again to get married. He came over in Dec 2006, and we decided what the heck, and we got married on Dec 16 2006. It was wonderful. A couple of days before he was scheduled to fly back to England my grandmother passed away. He rescheduled his flights and his return to work to stay with me, and my dad asked him to be a pall bearer. Him being there during that time meant everything to me and I fell in love with him even more than I already was. He flew home and we started looking at immigration. In Feb 2007 he had an accident on his motorcycle on his way to work and we decided to put off immigration paperwork until he recovered physically from his injuries and financially from being off work. His bike had to be replaced so he got another one. I flew over in July 2007 to spend 3 weeks with him, his mother and stepdad threw us a party to celebrate our marriage with that side of the family and with his friends. Came home tearfully in August and started putting together immigration stuff again, and mailed it in Sep 2007. He came over one last time in Dec 2007, about a week after our anniversary. We didnt get our 1st anniversary together, but we got Christmas together. We got the NOA1 while he was here. We hit some rough spots during that time, with not being able to be together and such. We've had alot of ups and down the past few months with the stress of all this. But I can honestly say I love him more today than I did a year ago. I can't imagine life without him. My kids love talking to him, they love it when he is here and I'm looking forward to the day we dont have to say goodbye to one another anymore and dont have to hear "well look at it this way babes, its one less day" oh how I hate those words when you dont have anything to count down to.
