In the beginning...

For a while now I have been considering sharing my love story. How did I get to where I am today? Readers always seem to have more positive feedback when I share personal things on the blog. With this I want to say that I am pouring myself out for you to read. Please be kind!

My love story obviously begins before meeting Rusty. It was my senior year of college. Up until my junior year I had dated the same guy throughout college. He attended college in Oklahoma while I was in the Northeast parts of Arkansas. It made for not many visits and ultimately lead to going our separate ways. My senior year I started dating someone younger than me. By younger I mean just starting college. It made things interesting in that he was always spontaneous and fun because as a freshman in college you can still be that way. As a senior your life consist of sorority duties, homework, internships, jobs and resumes. Throughout dating this guy I began to realize just how much we didn't have in common. He was very kind but I felt more like I was raising him than dating him. I did his laundry. I fed him dinner. I helped with his homework. I can remember thinking how much I liked him but knew he wasn't my future. Then the dreaded break up came in November and I can remember being so hurt. Even though I didn't see my future being with him, it still hurt. It took quite a long time to pick up the pieces, resist his charming smile and move on. But with moving on came strength, confidence and the promise of a brighter future.

I remember thinking back over our relationship and realizing the mistakes I made. I knew that I couldn't beat myself up but could only move forward. It was time to be confident in me. I decided that no man would ever make me alter who I am to fit him. I decided that I deserved the greatest kind of love. I love music so about this time Leona Lewis came out with "Better in Time." I listened to this song on repeat. I am surprised my roommates didn't kick me out! One line in the song says, "I am going to smile because I deserve to." My goodness....I realized I deserve this too. I deserve love and happiness. Every women does. Once I made these promises to myself I also made one more. The most important one. The next time I said "I Love You" was going to be to the man I was going to marry. I wouldn't give my heart away to just anyone. It was going to be the one. I was going to wait for him and pray for him. 

After our break up I focused my attention on my major. I was a Broadcast Journalism major and was nearing graduation from ASU. In my class was a group of girls. Their were 5 of us and we were F-U-N! I can remember sitting with these girls and laughing hysterically while getting in trouble by our teacher. We had the best time giggling, sharing stories and on occasion studying for tests. After finishing a newscast, one of the girls suggested we do a girls night. A local bar in town had cheap wings and beer on Tuesday nights. If you know me, I like to take a bubble bath at night and climb in bed to watch reruns of Frasier, not frequent the local watering hole. Call me a grandma. I promise I don't mind! I decided that I would try it out with the girls. We called an all girls night for the Radio/TV girls!

I can remember getting ready and not having anything to wear.....Until tomorrow!