The year was 1997.
I stood there, my heart racing a mile a minute. The anticipation of waiting for your mother to answer the door was killing me. It was 11 p.m. and I was a young 18-year-old dude, about to leave for senior trip with three of my closest buddies in the world. The car was loaded with supplies that all 18-year-old boys pack for a senior trip to Florida—snacks, swim trunks, cases of … Pepsi. They were parked at the end of the driveway, hanging outside the car, waiting for me as I stood there all alone with a rose in my hand.
She stared at me, giving me the once over. It was hard to
tell what she was thinking. Was she wondering why I was ringing her bell so
late at night? Was she wondering why I was standing there holding a rose? Was
she wondering why one of my buddies was peeing in her neighbor's yard?
I concentrated not to stumble over my words.
"Is Brittany here?" I asked.

"Are you Jeff?"
Well this suddenly got awkward.
Your mother and I had actually met months before.
You see I had just split up with a girl at the beginning of senior year. She was nice and sweet, but she liked Dave Matthews and I, like many young high school boys at the time, pretended to like Dave Matthews. We ended on kind of a sour note and I swore off girls.
You see I had just split up with a girl at the beginning of senior year. She was nice and sweet, but she liked Dave Matthews and I, like many young high school boys at the time, pretended to like Dave Matthews. We ended on kind of a sour note and I swore off girls.
But a funny thing happens when you suddenly meet the girl of
your dreams—you can't stop yourself from falling in love. It just happens.
There are a lot of other stories I could tell you—like the
night of my graduation party or the Ben Folds Five concert where we both
attended with friends and my friends, all of whom lived by the high school guy
commandment "When You Have A Chance to Embarrass Your Close Friend, You Do
It," did all they could to "help" me get close to your mother.
Or the party where our friends debated whether or not your mother would date me
(I don't think they were taking into consideration this newfound information
about me and sweater vests).
But I don't want to ramble on for what will feel like nine
years. So I'll get back to the key story, the one where I stood on your Nonni and
Poppi's front porch in the middle of the night, with a single red rose in my
hand, just before leaving for Florida with my friends—who were now all peeing
in the neighbor's yard—trying to win over your mother.
I had been called a lot of things in my life before, but I
had never been called "Jeff."
I'd later find out from your mother that "Jeff" was her friend's boyfriend3, but for all I knew at the time, he was her boyfriend or worse, a Cubs fan. My confidence shrank faster than a post-PED Barry Bonds head and it took everything in me to muster up a response.
I'd later find out from your mother that "Jeff" was her friend's boyfriend3, but for all I knew at the time, he was her boyfriend or worse, a Cubs fan. My confidence shrank faster than a post-PED Barry Bonds head and it took everything in me to muster up a response.
"Uh, no."
"Oh," your Nonni said. "Just wait right here
a minute while I get her."
I could hear her call up to your mother's room. If there
were a time to bail, this was it. But like I said before, you can't stop
yourself from falling in love.
When your mother arrived at the door, she looked like an
angel. And for the next 90 seconds I professed my love to her, telling her I
couldn't stop thinking about her and how I wanted to spend more time with her.
She didn't say much, but she didn't have to. I was wearing a sweater vest.
With that I left for Florida with my friends. We had a lot
of fun, drank a lot of … Pepsis, narrowly avoided getting beat up (twice) and more. But
I couldn't get your mother out of my mind. And when we got home, she was one of
the first people I called.
So that's the story of how I met your mother—or, at least,
the most important moment of when we met. I hope you girls have a
fun story to tell describing the amazing night when you meet your future spouse. Of course, this can't happen until you're 55. And
I'm dead.
-------------
1 When your mother tells this story
she claims I stopped by after a high school dance where I was someone else's
date. In truth, her memory is a little foggy because that night she had a
little too much … Pepsi.
2 No bands ever make it. Though my
band, Optimus Prhyme, totally would have
made it. But we chose to step away from future glory to focus on something even
more important—our softball careers.
3 I'd like to think that he actually
spells his names with quote marks around it.

(A Dad's Survival Guide to Raising Daughters)
******
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10 comments:
Very cool, Jeff. It's great to pass on those stories to future generations.
-Justin
Nice story. I am sure your kids will enjoy reading it. All of us like to know how our parents got together.
Thanks Justin and Larry! Figure every kid should know how their parents met. Figured with the season finale of one of my favorite shows, How I Met Your Mother, on this week it'd be the perfect time to post. :-)
Love it! Haha... Pepsi :) I'm watching the final episodes of HIMYM right now. I know I'm late to the party - so no spoilers please!
Man driven to suicide by ex wife and divorce courts
Chris Mackney committed suicide on December 29, 2013 because his ex wife was using the divorce courts in America to torture him and kidnap his children from him. He wrote a 4 page suicide note before killing himself.
http://www.brainsyntax.com/Portal/Material/1/Lasttestamentofalovingfatherabusedbythefamilycourtsystem.pdf
LATEST UPDATE: The ex-wife is such a psychopath that is she trying to copyright her ex husband's suicide note, in order to prevent it from being circulated on the internet. She is using her lawyers to threaten legal action against websites that published Chris's suicide letter.
The website "A Voice for Men" also got a letter from her lawyers and wrote an article about it yesterday:
http://www.avoiceformen.com/mens-rights/family-courts/here-come-the-lawyers-to-avfm-yet-again/
Here's a couple more updates:
http://henrymakow.com/2014/04/Ex-Wife-Removes-Husbands-Suicide-Note-from-Internet.html
http://www.crimesagainstfathers.com/usa/Forums/tabid/362/forumid/261/threadid/9799/scope/posts/Default.aspx
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140425/11184127030/ex-wife-allegedly-using-copyright-to-take-down-husbands-suicide-note-where-he-blames-their-custody-battle.shtml
Hello,
Thanks for sharing this great blog post with us, I think this site is cool and got all stuff about dads. Thanks Again....!!!
Hi love your blog its lovely for your children to grow up to know the story of how you fell in love their mother :-)
Thanks for your related posts!
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