Story In Progress

[Panthers Bride]

I'm going to preface this with the fact that I am not yet engaged.

However, I did tell my SO (today in fact) that I wanted to marry him. He wasn't scared off either, and said he'd been thinking about it alot as well. Therefore, I am hopeful.

Also, I've always said (well since I was 16 - I'm 33 now) that I wasn't getting married. Not that I'm opposed to marriage, it just wasn't a "goal" of mine. I had other things I wanted to do. I come from a small town in Nebraska, and let me tell you, most girls only goal was to get married. In fact, when I went to college, my friends and I would figure out who was there to get an education, and who was there to get their MRS. degree.

With all of that being said, here is the story of Mark & Amy.

(oh yeah, I'm going to post in blocks so that I have enough posts to start adding pictures).

[Panthers Bride]

This post is going to have a lot of seemingly unrelated information in it. The reason I'm posting it is to show how, I think, the grand universe works. Without a lot of "stuff" happening (some if it can be considered 'bad') I wouldn't be where I am today, and most assuredly would never have met Mark. So, you can just ignore the "filler" posts and get to the good stuff if you wish. :grinhappy:

The year was 2003. I had just been laid off, along with 150+ other people, including one of my best friends Minni. Since the local economy wasn't the best and I couldn't find a job that paid me even close to what I was making before, I decided to go back to school and try to finish my degree. I had a 2nd part time job, which became my full-time job, and enabled me to pay the mortgage, car and other bills while trying not to run up too much more in student loans. With 2 months of free time on my hands (Minni was looking for work and looking at going back to school as well), we started to spend lots of time on the net. One night Minni called me and asked me to go to Omaha (I lived in Lincoln, NE) and meet some people with her. She had met these people on an MSN messageboard, and she didn't want to go to a bar by herself. So to keep her safe, and because I didn't have anything better to do, I went with her. We ended up having a good time and they were pretty cool people, so I started to chat in their chat room. Football season was coming up, so a lot of the chat surrounded college (can't ignore the Huskers in Nebraska, even if you want to) and pro. I had no interest in college, but what they talked about (mind you these were men and women) intrigued me, so being me I asked A LOT of questions. They got tired of answering so told me to pick my own danged team and figure it out (you've got to hand it to brash farmers). Through my own, highly scientific methods, I ended up picking the Carolina Panthers.

[Panthers Bride]

Ok, so I had my team. Great. Only problem? I was (at least the beginning of 2003) the only frickin' Panthers fan in Nebraska. Soooo, again using the wonderful world wide web, I found the official fan site of the Panthers (now extinct do to drama/trolls). I got to chat with a good number of the non-trollish members and got to be on good terms with them. In the off-season a good number of us decided to get together and go to the next year's season opening game (Monday night game against the Packers). These included a guy from Michigan, a guy from New York, a girl recently moved back to NC from California, a SC native, other sundry individuals, myself (from NE) and of course Mark.
Chris, the guy from NY, got a motel room, and I decided to share it with him to help save costs - plus Chris was driving and had a car to pick me up from the airport and drive us around town, since we were all making a weekend of it. Chris was dating a Charlotte girl and she was going to stay with us as well. About a month before the weekend, Mark decided he was going to be there for the weekend as well (he originally was just going to come down for the game) and needed a place to stay. So it was decided he could stay with us as well. I agreed, but was rather nervous, since we would be sharing a bed. What if he got a crush on me and I had to stop his advances. I wasn't really scared that he'd attack me, because he was a big ole sweetie. Just worried that I'd hurt his feelings. I'd seen pictures of Mark, and admitting to be somewhat shallow, he just didn't "do" anything for me. However, my worries turned out to be totally backwards.

[Panthers Bride]

On Saturday I flew from Nebraska to Charlotte. Chris picked me up with Lisa and we hung out at the hotel. Then it was time to go the the bar and meet up with everyone (there were people who didn't get tickets to the game but we all had a "board" gathering). Mark wasn't there because he had to work until 9 pm. He was going to come down as soon as he got off work. A big group of us were hanging out having a good 'ole time. There was dancing, bowling, pool, and drinking to be done (although I'm not much of a drinker). Around 11:30 or so one of our group came up to me and let me know Mark had arrived. So, we went looking for him, and to tease him about being the party crasher. Well, we found him. He looked at me, smiled, and I was shell-shocked. It wasn't so much love at first-sight as it was immediate awareness. It's hard to explain, but I felt like "Oh, there you are, wondering when I would find you." Strangest feeling I've ever had. I didn't like it one bit either. The weekend was a great weekend, although we lost BIG AND BAD against the Pack. And by the time I flew home early Tuesday morning I was in love with a broken heart. The concerns I had about him trying to make a move on me? Totally unfounded. In fact, I tried to seduce him, and he told me "he couldn't" because he wasn't into casual sex. Of course, being told no, made me want him more.

[Panthers Bride]

I'll continue this story tomorrow night.

[Panthers Bride]

After an amazing weekend I had to fly home to Nebraska. I was at a stand still in my life and decided to move to North Carolina so I could see my beloved Panthers live. I chose Greensboro, because UNCG had a grad school program I was interested in. In May 2005 I moved and Mark, and our friend Will helped me set up my apt. During that time Mark and I became better friends (on line) and I cried many a night because I knew he didn't want anything more than friendship. I had to make a decision: either let him go, or let him be a part of my life "knowing" that he'd probably end up with someone else? He is such an amazing person, I decided to suck it up and bear with it. In the summer of 2005 I refigured my budget, and came to the conclusion, that after moving 1200 miles, I wouldnl't be able to afford to go see the Panthers. I was disappointed, since I hated Greensboro, the job market sucked so I was making 1/2 what I was making back home, and I lived in the ghetto. Then I found 2 PSLs (Personal Seating Licenses, it's how stadiums get built without using taxpayers $$$) for $1300/apiece, plus the season ticket price. The buyer was willing to pay half the transfer fee. This was a great deal, but with the move (and my identity getting stolen) I had neither the money nor the credit to buy them. I talked to Mark about it, and since it was his dream to go to games as well, he made the decision to get the loan so we BOTH could go to games (and I'm still paying him back). So now I got to see Mark on homegame weekends. We started to get closer, then my heart was broke as I discovered he was dating someone. :( That relationship didn't last long, and at the end of the season, we started to spend Sundays together (when he was off work) in Winston-Salem, just hanging out togther. We got closer, and I told him I wanted more than friendship. He wasn't interested, because it had to be the "right" girl. All three of his exes had lied and/or cheated on him, so I understood his hesitation. However, we WERE getting closer, and all of our mutual friends treated us like a couple. So I was disappointed, but not too much so.

[Panthers Bride]

This past summer, Mark invited me to his family reunion for his mom's side of the family. I said yes, and we made plans. He told me all of his family was wondering who Amy was, and teasing him about his girlfriend. Then two weeks before the reunion, his dad suddenly passed away. Mark was devistated, and since I was one of his best friends, I took the time off work and drove up to be with him (since he wanted me too), That's when our relationship became deeper. I met all his family, and was welcomed with open arms, and Mark could see I was EXACTLY who I said I was. No artifice, no lies, no misrepresentation, just me. Afterwords, his family told him how much they liked me (with winks). When I went back up for the family reunion, I had a lot of fun. Although, Mark was somewhat put out that all of his cousin's kids would take time to come and talk to me and hang out with me. The next week we went to Spartanburg, SC for training camp. We had a lot of fun together, although most of the time was spent sitting, sweating profusely, watching grown men run and tackle each other. It was still a lot of fun. The last day of camp we were playing around in the hotel room between practices, when we took the next step and started our romantic relationship. Now I am trying to find a job closer to where he lives (we were going to move to Charlotte, but that would kill his mom, plus I like the small town atmosphere that he lives in) so we can be closer together. No date has been set, but he knows I want to marry him, and he knows that he'd better say something now if he doesn't want this to progress. In fact, he asked me if I'd set a date yet, since I asked one of my best friends to be my bridesmaid.

So that's my story. Sorry it's so long, but I wanted to tell it my way. And to show those people who are going through tough times right now, that God sometimes has a purpose for us. We've just got to be patient. I am not the most patient of people, so that's hard for me. But being patient with Mark and letting him be my best friend, has made us have a much stronger relationship than if we would have started to date right away. He doesn't have to worry about me pulling the **** his exes have pulled, because he knows me too well. So keep your chins up girls!! It WILL get better.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

This is Mark and I this past spring at the Caravan tour in Winston-Salem. This is Sir Purr, the Panther's Mascot.http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/Bastet13/65c0a999.jpg

[Trin]

Hello! Hope you get engaged soon!

Sorry about your FH's father passing.. hug.

[BriansBride07]

Best of luck to you on getting engaged I hope it happens real soon.

[Orgirl1969]

What a nice story, I really enjoyed reading it! My FH and I are both Chiefs fans and even though I wasn't too crazy about the guy I dumped coffee on at first (that's how we met), being sports fans gave us something to talk about when we were getting to know each other. He turned out to be the perfect guy for me. We bought our season tickets this year and are loving every minute of it!! Best of luck!

[Panthers Bride]

Thanks for the kind words. You can bet that all you girls here will be some of the first to know!

[MissJakob]

Hi Panthers Bride. I'm not engaged either, but u sound like u're closer to it than I am!