Happy 4th of July

Good morning Every one... unless I dont get this done before I have to leave... good afternoon and good evening!
But mostly Happy 4th of July!

Today is also the one year anniversary of when I met my soon to be Husband (OMG).... or at least when we started talking.

The 4th of July use to be my all time favorite. For someone who jumps at the toaster when it pops it was still my favorite.

My brother always put on an awesome firework show when I was a kid. Me and my niece would spend days after talking about it. Pretending that we had our own fire works (Or imaginations were really brilliant... once we pretended my swing set was an egg... yeah I dont know..) We would pretend that they would transform into ponies and dragons.

Every 4th of July we would hope we had enough rain to be able to let off fire works but not enough rain that it would stop us from having a good night.

As I got older it started to lose its magic as most things do when we grow up.
One year stands out the most.
It was the last 4th of July I would spend with my big sister Melissa. She battled with cancer and even though she put up a good fight it still won.

I remember that summer, it was the first summer my best friend was going to come visit me when I lived in New York. School had ended (New York ends in June) I was complaining that I had to go to summer school to redo a history class I didn't pass. Me being me I was freaking out. I never been to summer school before. I felt like a complete failure. But Melissa coached me through my worries as she always did. "It will be over before you know it" She told me.

Here she was battling this evil disease and she was coaching me!

She passed in August.

The point of this... isn't to make you sad...

The point is life is short. Dont let stupid things like summer school or a bad day at work get you down.

July 4th has always been a dark day for me. I didn't want to ever do anything because I still held on to the sadness that I didn't have my sister.
Dont get me wrong. I am crying as I type this. I miss her and I wish every day she was here.

But She wouldn't want me to stop my life.

Last year, July 3rd to be exact was the last day of my bad luck streak. Although that particular day I was worried about something else that made me feel like I wasn't going to be loved...

I still decided to open my online dating app and browse through the list of singles.

I actually opened it to delete the app if I am being honest. But as if fate had something to do with it the first picture that popped up was a guy in my area. Cute. no kids ( A rare thing anymore)
Most of the guys that would pop up on this app were usually hours away. So it was odd that he was in my town.

I read his profile, it made me laugh. I sent the message.

He asked me to go out to a local pub for a drink... Remember this was the 4th of July. I was already in my pj's eating chocolate ice cream and watching 13 going on 30. Because thats what I do when I want to remember the good times with my sister.

I told him no, and I even told him why. The next day I was kicking myself for saying no.
I was worried that he wouldn't want to talk to me after that.

I was wrong.

He waited.

Then I got sick...stupid flu.

I cried because I was worried that this perfect person was just barely in my reach and I was going to screw it up because I was sick and I said no to drinks.

He waited.

July 13th he decided he wasn't going to wait anymore. He demanded (In the nicest way possible lol) that he was going to see me. He was going to bring me coffee at work... I freaked out. No way was I going to let the people I work with meet him before I really got to.
So we hatched a plan. We were going to meet at this park near by and he told me to bring my dogs.

This was very important to me on so many levels.
1.) I really dont like eating in front of people especially when I am nervous.
2.) I honestly feel bad for guys always having to pay for dates.
3.) Parks are my favorite.

We talked for hours... I think I didn't end up going home until 1am. This is super unusual for me.
at around 9 my mom called me because I hadn't called her that day. Yes I answered it.

My best friend kept texting me to make sure I was alright. This was my first (and thankfully my last) first date with online dating.

It was a great night.

But back to the 4th.

Today I don't feel the darkness I usually feel on this day. I 100% owe that to Chris.

I cant wait to be Mrs. Reed

SO SOON!!!!

Happy 4th of July everyone. ENJOY
BE SAFE!