For the sake of posterity, let's wrap this thing up.
Somewhere between acceptance to and enrollment in business school, life became totally awesome.
In January, I started dating the most wonderful woman in the world. We worked in the same building, down the hall, and not really together. She's pretty amazing. She makes me happy happy.
In April, I was fired from my job. A mass firing. Seven of 45 or so. Only one who deserved it. Mostly due to cost cutting measures, though my boss would have never said that. She said (in fact, she swore at her remaining employees - literally, f-bombs all over the place) at a post-firing pizza party that we were fired because we didn't appreciate our jobs and didn't fit with where the company was trying to go. (It's going downhill, for the record...two of my seven clients were gone before the month was through.)
The next day, I went to Bloomington. I loved it, quite a bit. I had to tell everyone I worked for a small online marketing company in Northern Michigan rather than, you know, "I got fired yesterday." That was weird.
After pondering the possibilities, I also decided to just go to Bloomington - settle up rather than wondering if I'd get into Chicago from the waiting list. The Cats and the Wolverines had said no, pretty definitively...
Later in April, I got to see my ailing grandfather. I wouldn't have seen him had it not been for losing my job. So that was nice, in a way. He passed away in early May. He was pretty awesome.
In early May, Harps got married. E2 wedding #2, and totally balls to the wall awesome.
In mid-May, I went to Mexico for my lady friend's sister's wedding. Over those four days, "All-inclusive" became my favorite hyphenated word in the English language.
In late May, I accepted an offer to move in with my lady friend, who spent her time in her family's summer cottage, about 35 minutes north of where I was. (Her work commute was, therefore, 45 minutes in the summer and, whoa, an hour-plus in the winter.)
I spent my summer, mostly, sitting on a lake. Sometimes reading. Activities included looking for Bloomington apartments and, say, getting the mail. Mail came by 10:20 a.m. I tried to run just about every day. I mostly read, though. And I watched the MLB draft for about two straight hours. I was busy.
We threw a kickin' barbecue sometime in mid-June. About 10 came over, and we labelled salsa bowls by flavor, as my mom does. It was cool. We drank.
It was pretty apparent that we were pretty much totally and completely in love.
In late June, I proposed. She said yes. There wasn't a ring, so we kept it a secret.
You see, she had already agreed to move to Bloomington with me. I tried to do right by her. But, again, we kept it a secret.
In early July, I was set to formally ask her father for permission. We were golfing. The round was over. It was time. But then I left my pitching wedge, say, at the 7th green. We drove backwards looking for it. It was embarrassing. I didn't ask.
On Monday, July 7, my beautiful fiancee came home from work. She peed on a stick. She cried. I went to the grocery store. I purchased two more pregnancy tests and a Klondike bar. "How are you?" I was asked. "We'll see," I said, trying to smile. The clerk laughed, thankfully.
Monday through Wednesday, we hugged a lot. We cried a lot. We hugged more. We cried more.
Thursday, for some reason, it felt right. It felt good. On Friday morning, we talked for about four hours straight about how excited we were to be parents. After she left for work, I had my fastest run of the summer.
On Friday, July 11, we announced to selected members of the world that a) we were engaged and, b) we were having a baby. Shortly thereafter, it was determined that the wedding would be soon.
Long story short, over the next seven weeks we successfully set a date, got married in front of about 15 friends in a Michigan courthouse, moved to Bloomington, and got married (my dad, an internet reverend, presided) in front of about 70 friends and family members in the beautiful city of Chicago over Labor Day weekend.
From there, I've not had time to breathe. School is tough and exciting. I'm learning more than I could've ever imagined. I'm loving every moment with my wife. Every single moment, for real. And I can't wait to spent the rest of my life with her.
It's a boy. He's awesome.
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For the record, this thing (ed: this blog) was amazing. I love it. I'm also officially out of time.
I'll probably leave it up until the end of the year.
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Also, because I'll never do it again, let's name my albums of the year (I didn't buy much, and haven't listened to much, really):
1) The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
2) Okkervil River - The Stand-Ins
3) Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster
4) R.E.M. - Accelerate
5) Spiritualized - Songs in A+E
6) TV On The Radio - Dear Science
7) The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
8) Destroyer - Trouble in Dreams
9) Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
10) The Walkmen - You and Me
11) Brian Wilson - That Lucky Old Sun
12) Headlights - Some Racing, Some Stopping
13) The Futureheads - This Is Not The World
14) Stephen Malkmus - Real Emotional Trash
15) Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow and Blue
16) Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold
17) The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me
18) Tapes n' Tapes - Walk It Off
Also, The National's Boxer was definitely my album of 2007. Woof.
I'm looking forward to The Killers record, because I have no taste.
And with that, friends, I hereby retire. Officially. Go Cats.
