14 Days of Kent: Day 5

The next thing I love about Kent is that he decided to marry me. Does that seem too obvious? Let me elaborate. Our dating relationship was not the smoothest ride. Now that I think about it, it followed the path of a good romantic comedy: Hero and heroine find each other, decide to date, heroine is too weird in the relationship, hero decides to bail, they mutually decide they enjoy being friends, continue to spend time together and become better friends, after months of dating again, friendship is what eventually helps the hero realize he is in love with the heroine, hero pops the question with a grand romantic gesture.

Despite it being a bumpier ride than most would hope for, I’m grateful for the way our relationship developed. It gave us time to really get to know each other, see each other in all different kinds of situations. Over the two years we knew each other and dated, we really became best friends.

A long time ago I was talking to my dad and asked him how you knew when you were in love with someone or when you’ve found “the one.” He told me honestly that he had no idea how to answer that question, but for him it was easy because he married his best friend. From then on I knew I wanted something similar. I knew I wanted to marry someone I had fun with, who knew me and all my faults and still loved me. Someone who could support me through the not-so-great moments, who would make me laugh and help me be a better person. Someone I could spend every day with and still never get tired of them or run out of things to say. Kent is truly that person for me.

After our ups and downs, I was surprised when he invited me to go home with him for Christmas in 2006. His sister had lived in Boston with her family while her husband earned his MBA and Kent never once invited me to meet them. I only accidentally met his brother-in-law because we picked him up from the airport on our first date…But I agreed to go and it was a great trip. Kent wanted to surprise his mom, but I vehemently opposed. Not the way to make a good impression: SURPRISE! You have one more person to find a bed for, feed, and entertain! Yeah, I don’t think so. I stayed with his family until Christmas Eve and then flew back to Boston so I could spend Christmas Day with my sister. Kent says that it was during those few days apart that he decided he wanted to marry me. And I am forever grateful that he came to that realization.

I feel so lucky that I have married someone I am genuinely excited to see every day. All day long I think of things I want to tell him, share with him, and I can’t wait for him to get home. Oftentimes I don’t and just text, IM, or email. In true BFF fashion, some nights we stay up late talking and laughing when we should be sleeping. We’ll be watching TV and pause the show to discuss something or share a joke and sometimes not even finish the show because we get to talking.

I am so glad my dad gave me that advice so many years ago and that I had the example of his relationship with my mom to follow. And I am even more grateful that I was able to find that with Kent.