5 years ago

Five years ago from today, I winked (an automated message) at a young sailor on an online dating site. He wrote back that same day and commented on my large family. I remember not liking his profile very much, but he was wearing a uniform and I thought that was sexy and his reply was perfect. He didn't flatter me, call me pretty or propose to me (messages I had already gotten from others that week). We talked online for about a week before I tried to find a way to make him call me. :) Gosh, and I remember that first phone call! He called me right when I was having my mom dye my hair red and all I said to him was ... "Do you mind if I call you back in an hour, my hair is purple." I didn't explain it to him or anything ... just said that and hung up. LOL! An hour later we talked and I can still recall the giddy and I-can't-stop-talking-this-fast-when-I'm-nervous feeling. He was very polite and I noted that he never cursed or spoke rudely. One month later he came to visit me. I wasn't attracted to him and apparently he hated my red hair. But we got along well enough and he asked to see me again. And the next time we saw each other he asked if he could keep seeing me and about 4 years ago he asked if he could see me for the rest of my life. :)

This picture was taken the first week that Isaac came to see me. 

I can't believe Isaac and I have known each other for five years now. So much has changed and I feel so much older than I did then. We met when I was still 20 and now I am almost 26, married for over 3 years and I have a one month old. Isaac has had a deployment, got married, transferred to another command,  is now over 30, has almost completed his bachelors degree, he became a dad, and is almost out of the Navy and moving on to a whole new job and way of living. That is a mouth full!

Now that we have a young one, my thoughts go back to dating before. It was so easy to have dates. By the time we got married dates became ... I dunno ... not quite as necessary. They were more of a chance for adding excitement to our lives then pursuing romance. Now that we have a baby, my thoughts turn to wanting to actually DATE my husband again. Paying a babysitter seems COMPLETELY worth it to have a couple hours to flirt with my husband and remember that we are still in love with each other. Heck, it doesn't even need to be about dinner. I would totally pay someone just to go to a coffee shop and sit across from Isaac, talking to him and NOT constantly bouncing a baby on the side.

Tonight, Isaac actually told me that he wants to hurry and get homework done so he can spend time with me.  Do you realize that he would never ever have said that to me before William??? We never had to carve out time for us before. Ah, it feels so nice to be pursued again. :) And to steal kisses whenever we can.

Well ... my time has run up. William needs to be nursed and hopefully, Isaac will be done writing soon and we can sit down together while William has his next nap.