Friend Makin' Monday ~ A Love Story

Today is "Friend Makin' Monday" with Kasey over at All That is Good! Today's topic is all about how you met your spouse! This is the funniest story ..... no, really it is.

December 24, 2000 ~ I'm working at a car dealership in Marietta, GA and since I was the Assistant Finance Director at the time, I got all the crappy hours, ie: working on Christmas Eve ~ BUT I was also single, 25, no kids and honestly, now that I think about it, that got thrown in my face a lot during holidays (to justify why I didn't need off work b/c I didn't have a 'family') -- ok, back on topic.


The used-car manager came into my office and asked me if I liked country music. Yes. He said his friend, who was a pretty famous country singer (keep in mind, 2000) was coming in to visit as he was headed to the Atlanta airport and I was like "Kenny? Tim?" - who is it? He told me and I was like "Whatever, yeah right" ... so anyway, later in the day, we were working on a deal, and I went out to talk to a manager and I heard this "GUY" say to the my friend....

I kid you not .... "She has a NICE ASS!" ....

soooooo, I turned and looked over my shoulder and said "Yeah, thanks, I have on my space pants" and he stepped forward and said "WHAT?" ~ he was stunned b/c he didn't think I heard him. I said "uh huh - they make my ass look outta this world" and I spun on my heel and walked back to my office. That joker followed me to my office and said "OH MY GOSH, where have you been all my life!" and I laughed. I was not interested. I was practically living with a guy that I was sure I was going to marry - seriously, I knew I would be engaged over Christmas. I left the dealership, went home, did NOT get engaged, but continued on my life. Never heard from "country dude" again.

Fast forward 3 mths ~ my heart had been broken into a million pieces. I literally did not know I could hurt this bad. My boyfriend had broken up with me and I was a mess. Seriously, a mess -- so bad, I had to go to counseling. I remember thinking I had never felt a pain in my heart like this before. To this day, I can honestly say my heart has never been broken like that before - I LIVED for this guy and couldn't believe this was happening. I walked into workday after 'we need to talk' and was promoted, but was so devastated, I couldn't even enjoy it.

A few weeks later, as I'm picking up my pieces and getting on with my life ~ I see a message blinking on my phone. Actually, it was my day off and I had come in to drop off some stuff. I NEVER do this, but decided to listen to the message. It was "Country Dude" -- I couldn't believe it. He left me a message and said he would like to talk to me. I didn't call. I couldn't - everything was still a whirlwind. I waited a few days and then I decided to call him - maybe he could give me an insight as to why guys were so unwilling to commit. He was in some state doing shows. We talked, I told him about my break up and decided that if anything, we could just be friends. It was so funny to me to hear him on the radio and then actually be 'talking' to him. We talked and talked and talked. We were very open with one another and I never thought it would go anywhere.

Over the summer, he invited me to Nashville to come and watch/listen to his album recording. I really thought in my head, hmmm, well, at least I can say I've done this before, how many people can do that, right? Plus, I had never been to Nashville. I remember calling my girlfriend and telling her where I was going, just in case he killed me while I was there (seriously, I am that much of a freak - still am). We went, I met him at his house and that joker kissed me. RIGHT as he opened the door. It was just like out of a movie. OKKKK then .... we went and had lunch and then over to the studio. Just so y'all know - all albums (at least in the country scene) are recorded in the afternoon or later -- they can NOT sing in the morning. It just ain't happenin' ....so y'all will never guess who was in the studio ...... KENNY CHESNEY. "Country Dude" introduced me to "Kenny" and I thought "Hmm, he's pulling out the stops". He recorded a couple songs, we went to dinner and then I drove ALLLLL the way home to Atlanta.

We talked all the time over the next few months -- except for a week when he didn't call me AT. ALL -- WHATEVER. He did a tour over in Europe and we would talk late at night (like 3 in the morning) and finally, he said "Move here" .... just like that. I talked to my Mom and she was actually ok with it. I trusted her more than myself - they had met "Country Dude" and loved him. My biggest obstacle was the age difference - 12 yrs. It has never been an issue.

I packed up everything I had and literally left the life I had known for 25 yrs. I drove to Nashville and never looked back. That was in 2001. We were engaged in September and then "Country Dude" had to go do some shows in Vegas for National Finals Rodeo. He asked if I wanted to go and well, we could just get married while we were there. We were trying to keep everything "secret" ~ BUT I kid you not, when my sister was having her baby, I'm in the room with her and she's pushing, literally. We had CMT on (duh) and they had this little 'news break thing' every hour at the top of the hour. They had a video of us from a recent awards show and said "Is "COUNTRY DUDE" ready to walk down the aisle again? Atlanta native Natalie ___ says "YES!" (which is funny, because that was his biggest hit). ~ and I was like "HOLY CRAP!!" -- how'd they find out!! I had local reporters calling me at work -- I am not even lying. It was SO weird to me!!

SO anyway, we go to Vegas and we get married. I have no real pictures from the event b/c it wasn't really 'planned' - we do want to have a 10 yr vow renewal ceremony. "Country Dude" is now "Big Daddy" and we have 2 beautiful kids. Our story is awesome -- we've had our ups and downs - who doesn't??!? -- but we've had a great ride on this roller coaster!!