Thread: *~*~*Erica's (faeriecurls) Birth Lodge*~*~*

Welcome to your lodge, Erica! I'm so excited for you to finally have your lodge!

Welcome to your lodge!

Yay! I can't believe I have a lodge! I'll have to work on an intro after I finish writing a never-ending IEP.

Welcome to your lodge - Can't wait to read your story!

I guess I should start at the beginning.

I'm Erica (36) and DH is Michael (41). We met back in 2000 - I was living in NYC while I was working on my Masters. I was in a dying relationship at the time and really too busy with school, student teaching and work to bother with meeting people. My roommate at the time kept trying to drag me out with him & his girlfriend whenever they went out and I always had a reason not to go. I finally just gave in and went out with them one night, Michael was an acquaintance of my roommate's girlfriend and happened to be there that night. We got introduced, but didn't talk much (as it turns out we are both REALLY shy). A few weeks later, towards the end of February, my roommate convinced me to go to an exhibit at a museum with him, his gf and some other friends. Michael was there and this time we talked quite a bit. Afterwards everyone went out for dinner and we sat together and talked more. We exchanged contact info and spent the next month and change talking a lot on AIM and through e-mail and finally on the phone. We eventually made plans to go for coffee, but a few days before we were supposed to go he called me to cancel, because he was going out of town with a friend. I was disappointed, but we were able to reschedule for the night before he left. So a quick afternoon coffee turned into our first date - dinner and drinks and me going home at 4 am. That was April 7th, 2000.

We hung out as much as possible during the next few months, while I tried to disentangle myself from my bad relationship. In June he asked if would watch his dog while he went out of town for a long weekend. I agreed on the the condition that he brought the dog to my apartment because my place was a lot closer to work, student teaching & school and I was finishing up my next to last semester. When he got back, it wound up being a lot more difficult to get the dog back to his apartment (70 pounds of dog in a cab doesn't go over well, plus I was living in a part of Manhattan that was not very frequented by cabs. Neither of us had a car). I was moving to an apartment on campus for the summer in a few weeks, so we decided he would just stay with me until then and we would drive back home when I was moving. Turns out, we would just wind up moving in together a couple of months later because my roommate stood me up to go live with his girlfriend. We moved in together in September 2000 and have lived in the same apartment in Brooklyn since then.

We talked about marriage on and off for the first few years, but never really seriously made plans for anything. In October of 2003 we went on our first real vacation (not involving any family member's house) - we went to Paris for 2 weeks. It was amazing! I hadn't been there before and I loved it. One of the last nights we were there, Michael told me to get really dressed up and we were going out for a special dinner (we are both pretty big foodies, so I was excited) - we were walking through a park on the way to the restaurant and he stopped me, put me up on some steps and asked me to marry him (in French). I was shocked, and through tears, said yes! He put a ring that he had designed for me on my finger. Dinner was super amazing - he had made arrangements for one of those private dining rooms in one of the oldest restaurants in Paris - we had a staff of what seemed like 4 or 5 bringing us champagne and amazing food - it was amazing.

Fast forward to August 2004 - a few months before we were getting married. DH decides to take me out for a surprise date (he likes to do things like that so I never really suspect anything weird). Anyway - we go to this really nice restaurant in Brooklyn, by the water and have a yummy brunch, then we walk around by the water. We decide (I was actually "steered" that way) to take a water taxi into Manhattan and wander around there. Eventually we wind up at a store I like (and the place we we had our first kiss years earlier) and we go in - he brings me back to the approximate place of our first kiss and asks for "Another FIrst Kiss" (which is the name of a They MIght Be Giants song). When I opened my eyes, he had a ring box open with an engagement ring that I had been in love with for years (and it matched the wedding band I picked out) and asked me to marry him again. We were married on October 16, 2004.

Here are some wedding photos:








I'll write up TTC and this pregnancy later.

Welcome to your lodge birth board buddy!

Another August Mama! Yay. I really enjoyed reading your intro and getting to know more about you.

So romantic! I love reading your intro!

Yay, welcome to your lodge! I love your story, sounds like the dog was conspiring to keep you together.

loved your story of you and your DH!