How Time Flies

Fall is always a special time for me. I used to hate it. It was cold and I knew it wouldn't be long before melancholy set in. That was until I met my man. I think that is so funny. It's amazingly easy to write "my man" but I've tried to say it out loud. Nope, doesn't sound right. Anyway...
After talking to my sister (who I miss very much) on the phone tonight, I realized that nine years ago last night was a very special night.
My sister and I had been riding horses that day. We were having a great time until her horse got spooked and bolted. Unfortunately her boot got stuck in the stirrup. As she was being drug, the horse was also stomping her. Long-story-short, she ended up in an ambulance. In the commotion, the horses were turned loose. When word got out about Mandee, someone got the word to Shawn, who was friends with my parents and it was a friend of a friend kind of thing. Shawn helped me catch the other horse and unsaddle them. He then gave me a ride to the hospital to check on my sister.
At the time, we hadn't spent much time together at all. He was all about finishing his thesis. I was all about hating men. BUT, there was still an attraction there.
Shawn waited in the ER waiting room with me for a couple of hours until they said that Mandee was going to be okay. Shawn and I walked outside while Mandee was being discharged. The sun was behind the hill and the wind was just starting to get chilly. Standing there chatting about nothing important, Shawn ask me about places that I had lived. In my bitterness I said, "I'll never leave Fayetteville again!" There was a long pause and I looked up at Shawn's face. He had the strangest grin on his face. We ended up leaving that night without saying too much more. We were engaged on Valentines day.

(Picture taken not long after becoming engaged. I look like I'm correcting his posture.)

Then we were married in May and moved to Little Rock the next weekend. Not long after we were married, Shawn and I were talking about the first time we ever really talked to each other. I told him about the weird grin on his face when I told him that I would never leave Fayetteville again. He laughed and said, "I was right." Puzzled, I asked what he was talking about. He said, "When you said that, the first thought that went through my head was that when you marry me you will!"
So, nine years and still not in Fayetteville. That's okay. The trade-off has been worth it!