Friends Forever - Lovers for Life

I know, I know, so young, I was a very mature 14..... and a half year old though, really.
He was my first, he is my one and only and there will never be another.
Our three precious Children won't need to know this little bit of information until they are at least 20.

I heard a rumor that Lee had seen me around and happened to 'like' me.
Quite flattering actually, even though I had no idea who he was.

So upon meeting him, through a mutual friend, I was quite nervous. What if he didn't 'like' me after he had met me? I was outgoing, a little shy, but I was tough though, I could take it.

Initially, when I first met him I was attracted to the way he looked also.
He was so muscular and mature looking for his age and I was instantly attracted to the whole bad-boy image that he portrayed.
He did happen to 'like' me as a person, which I could tell while we were talking and being funnily flirtatious.
There was definitely something that set him aside from the other boys I knew from School.

As we met I had a feeling come over me as though it was instant love, I strongly felt like he was the one that I would be with forever.
We got along so well, almost like we had known each other for years.

I actually never told Lee how I felt that day until a few years later.

In May of 2001, the day after my 22nd Birthday, my very soon to be Fiance surprised me saying that I needed to get dressed up tonight because he was taking me out for my Birthday somewhere special.
How exciting, what a nice surprise, he was/is a romantic, but never had he done the whole surprise get dressed up thing for me!
A very surprise Bungy jump organised for me on my 18th was extra exciting, but this time I was able to anticipate the fun.

So I went last minute shopping and found a beautiful little dress and shoes for the occasion.
He got home from work late in the afternoon, (I later found out he wasn't at work at all) and I was all ready to go.
We were driving towards the city in our home town of Melbourne and Lee drove into the valet parking area of the Crown Casino Complex, he said that he was lost and needed directions.
It was funny because I was sitting in the passenger seat saying, Lee this place is for superstars, you can't park here.

Well, it turned out that I was the superstar....
A man in a top hat and tuxedo opened my door for me, saying, step out mam, I innocently replied saying " Oh no, thank you, we are just getting directions".
Then Lee popped open our boot and proceeded to take out my suitcase, it was all becoming clear to me, we were staying in this beautiful hotel for my Birthday, yay, how exciting.
I stepped out of our car, smiling, thanking the well dressed man and went around the back of our car to hug my cute boyfriend for what I thought was 'the' Birthday surprise.
All the way up to the top of the Crown Complex in the lift, I was glowing with excitement, hugging and kissing Lee, thanking him for everything.

We get our room door, smiling Lee hands me the card to swipe my way into our luxurious hotel room.
How gorgeous, red helium balloons for my Birthday.... I thought.... Chicken and Champagne on the table over in the distance, metallic red love hearts layed out on the floor.... So this is where he was all day instead of working, how sweet!

Oh wow, I looked closer, hanging from the balloons were numbered metallic hearts and the balloons had something inside.
I turned to Lee, who was watching me take all of this in, the look on his face was a look of question and excitement, he was trying to gauge whether I had caught on to what he had prepared for me to discover here.
My heart was racing with excitement, I was to pop open each balloon.
There were 7 balloons for each year that we had been together, they strategically led to the bedroom and inside each balloon was a message that Lee had typed out, stating the reasons why he loves me.
(There are pictures at the end of this text of each note.)

As I popped balloon number 7, which was up above the foot of the bed, Lee got down on one knee, reached into his pocket, opened a ring box containing the most perfect sparkly gold diamond engagement ring, looked at me so sweetly nervous and lovingly and said Mandy will you marry me?
Without even a thought, my arms were hugging his neck ever so tightly, I obviously told him, yes yes of course I will!

We had the most beautiful night together.
He had organised for some family and a couple of close friends to meet us at the Casino and we all had a lovely celebratory night.

While planning our wedding, Lee and I made the decision to try for a baby, aware that for some couples it can take a while.
To our delight Molly decided that she would be conceived within the first month of us trying, I was 5 months pregnant when we got married, barely even noticeable underneath my wedding dress.
Both of our families are very down to earth and were very understanding and excited for us.

When we got married I was 25 and Lee 26 and we were more than ready to make this next step in our lives together.
I was always under the impression by others that planning a wedding was stressful and not enjoyable.
I found it to be a wonderful and positive experience and although some parts of it were trying on my patience, it was all part of the ride.
Lee and I balance each other out in many ways, but the most obvious to us both is that I am a very positive person by nature and he can sometimes have a more negative outlook on certain things.

We got married on my Dad's 2.5 acre beautiful property.
He owns in a lovely home in Melbourne in the picturesque Dandenong Mountains.
We had a gorgeous white wedding marquee for the reception, the wedding was deliciously catered for our 90 guests, who had the night of their lives also.
Everyone in our lives had followed us on our journey through life together and were all very proud and happy for how far we had come together.

The weather was perfect that day, everything went according to plan.
We had a celebrant to marry us in the lovely gardens of my special Dad's house.
My older Sister was the maid of honour and my bridesmaids were my 2 sister in laws and my beautiful younger sister, who very suddenly passed away 18 months later, which is a very sad, heartbreaking part of my life. (A potential new Lense story.)

After all of the usual wedding formalities, us and our guests had such a wonderfully great night.
Dancing, chatting, laughing, enjoying the company of all around us.
With the freedom for guests to leave when they pleased, unlike wedding venues with a curfew, we departed our own wedding at 2am and the last to leave were a couple of our friends, my Aunty and my Mum at 5am.
We were so pleased to hear back from majority of our guests saying that it was the best wedding they had ever been to.

So now, three special, happy little children later...
8 wonderful years of being proud parents...
19 eventful years of being together...
8 lovely years of marriage and here we are with many more years ahead of us...

Lee and I have both worked very hard at our relationship and life hasn't always been smooth sailing, but we have always stuck together, we are still very much in love, we still hold hands, laugh together, still frequently enjoy our 'alone' time together, cuddle on the couch watching tv, talk in the dark late at night and tell each other everyday that we love each other.

I have no special clues to a long lasting loving relationship and to this day am amazed and proud of our togetherness, but all I know is that letting your partner be the person they need to be, giving them the freedom in life that they deserve and within limits, not restricting them is the best way to respect your partners long term needs.

I look forward to the future and the surprises that life may present to us.
I see life as a blank canvas and your life is what you make it.
Sometimes we have no power over what happens to us or those we care about, but as long as we take the ups and downs in our stride and deal with things in the best way we can, give things your best shot, then ultimately you are heading down the right path to happiness.