My favorite love story is, of course, Mike’s & mine. It’s funny how fate worked and brought us together in the worst of times when we really needed each other.
It starts in 2018 when I took an EMT class because I knew my marriage was coming to an end. I needed a career, and I thought EMS was going to be that… until I learned they only make $10/hour. Anyway, I took this class, and this smoking hot fireman came in to teach a few of the classes, we dubbed him Silver Johnny Bravo. He was funny, super fine, and well-dressed. In his defense, he does not remember me, but I sure remember the hot fireman teacher.
I was still married at the time and Mike was in the middle of being engaged to his abuser.
Fast forward to November 2019…
I am almost a year out of my abusive relationship, still living in my first apartment since being homeless, dealing with some horrible depression, having no access to medication because I had no health insurance, and being fresh out of foot surgery and on crutches. I called my best friend Brent and asked him to come to get me to take me to my favorite bar to day drink. I was depressed and just needed to check out for the day. (No this isn’t healthy but what do you do?)
I crutch myself into the bar with clothes that are 3x too big for me and not an ounce of makeup on. I wasn’t there to impress; I was there to driiiinkkkk. Until I saw who was behind the bar.
It was that hot fireman from the year before! I make sure to squeeze us a spot at the bar and make sure to mention to him that he was my EMT teacher, he smirked and that started our small talk for the rest of the day. He’d come over and I swore he was flirting with me but I really couldn’t tell for sure, that was until a third friend arrives. She finally asks Mike for me, “Hey Mike, ya single?” He gets my favorite smirk, looks straight at me as he’s filling a glass of ice, and says “Sure am.” My heart skipped a beat.
We continued our light banter until I crutched off to the bathroom at some point to only realize what a trainwreck I looked like! I wanted to scream. However, I mustered up my courage to go back out there and almost died when I saw that gorgeous silver head of hair sitting in my seat. So I did my usual thing, got awkward, and asked if I needed to beat him up with my crutch to get my spot back.
He stayed for another drink and then almost nervously handed me a slip of paper with his phone number on it. That slip of paper changed the course of my life forever.
My friend then pushed it further and told Mike to give my drunk self a ride home.
After that followed dates where I dated a true gentleman, but he didn’t try anything right away. He treated me like a lady and made me feel like a million bucks. Picked me up, opened my door, paid for my drinks, and treated me like a princess.
I swore to my friends I wasn’t going to fall in love with this one right away and promised I would do this right. That was until he brought the camera out…
Mike does photography as a hobby and he took me downtown with him to take pictures one evening while the Christmas lights were out. He ended up taking pictures of me and made me feel like a model! Then what did me in… As we were walking I saw a bridge and the way the light was hitting it was beautiful, so I explained how I wanted the camera set up. He spent 10 minutes taking shots of it to make sure he could get the very best one. That was it, I was done. Watching him take the photos to get MY shot, I was DONE. I snapped a photo of him, sent it to Sam & Brent, and told them I tried but that I was in love.
Then to make things even MORE romantic, he sets me on the bridge, sets the timer, and comes running to me. He places his forehead against mine and we end up with what is still my favorite picture of us. It took my breath away when I saw it for the first time a day later.
Shortly after, we had some rough spots when his crazy ex found out about me but you can’t out-crazy fate. We ended up on a 6-week “break” (yes, Ross & Racheal style). Our saving grace was that during our short relationship, we had bought tickets to fly to Denver. About 6 weeks into our break, he messages me to make sure that I can at least go to visit my grandparents. That sparked us talking again and I’ll never be more grateful for that text.
The last part I’ll share is a funny one. When I went over the night of the text to talk to him, to see if we could work things out, I made a point to be 5 minutes late. (With him I was always way early because a girl doesn’t know how to play hard to get.) We ended up on the couch watching the fights that night and doing this awkward small talk thing, which was weird because we never had awkward. Finally, the fights were over, I got all panicky, looked at him, and said “Guess we better do this talking thing” while doing FINGER GUNS! Yup. In true bisexual fashion, I did finger guns and I’m pretty sure I had my plaid on that night too.
Our relationship took off from there and now 3 years later we are approaching our wedding day in a matter of months.
I’ve truly found my best friend and soulmate in Mike. He’s what I needed in a partner if I had a chance in having someone who could balance out my mental health situation.
As stated in my previous post, Standing Outside the Fire, had I not been willing to take the chance after my domestic violence situation, I never would have found my soulmate.
To Mike, I love you so very much and I am so blessed to have you. I know it’s not super easy loving me but you make it seem that way! You are the ying to my yang and I don’t know what I would do without you. Your 3 Briscoe girls love you so very much!
Much Love,
M
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