History Worth Making

Sometimes in life you're granted second chances.

A chance to make something good -- Great

Something Special -- Fantastic.

Sometimes you're just given a chance to get something back that you may have been to stupid to see at first.  Yes, I said stupid, because sometimes we all have our moments when we aren't the brightest crayons in the box.  It happens.

Sometimes though, you find the Love of your Life on a second chance.  On a whim.  Out of the blue, or whatever y our story happens to be out there.

I heard this song and I love it so I had to share.  Sorry

The Things We Do!

The things we do to make it through life.



Yesterday, my wife left for her first business trip. This is the first time since our wedding that we have not fallen asleep together. This is the first time we have been more than 50 miles away from each other since we got married. I know it has been hard on her, and I know I haven't made it easier. :( I am having a hard time with it too. :(

It doesn't help that I've been sick.... there has been no one here to baby me. =P

All kidding aside, I have talked to her somewhat frequently through text and I'll admit I have been a little impatient. Unfortunatly that is because I was looking at this as a pointless trip.

However I recently have decided this is a test from the good Lord above. This is the time honored lesson of what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. I have realized over these last 20 hours or so just how much I REALLY LOVE my wife!! It hasn't killed me... yet (J/K) and my love for her is stronger.

We will make it through this and maybe... just maybe... she won't be too mad at me. :(

I miss you baby. I am sorry if I have irritated you =D I love you with all my heart!! I cant wait to see you tonight!

PS in case yall didnt know... I LOVE my wife!!!!!

Our Story - His Side

Our paths crossed long before we knew. Starting in kindergarten and first grade of course we were in different classes but we were at the same school. Then a few years went by and our paths cross again. In our home town there were 6 grade schools and they all shared the same band teacher Mr. Macafee, once a year the 5th and 6th grade band classes from all 6 schools would come together for a few practices and 1 performance. Again we still did not know each other but we were in the same place at the same time. There was only one Jr High school so when we hit the 7th grade we finally had a class together... (can ya guess what it was?)..... that's right it was Band. so we talked a few times in 7th grade I think and in 8th grade, then in the 9th grade we had a second class together. Animal science and boy was it interesting, I probably would not have passed that class had it not been for Nicole. We would even annoy the teacher together. Then in the 10th grade in High School we had 2 classes together again band and English. Again in English she kept me awake and helped me pass the class. (Now is where the good stuff begins.) During band that year we got the opportunity to go to Florida to Disney World, that place is where the beginning of the magic happened. We spent a lot of time together in that magical place and crushes developed. However it wasn't until a few weeks later I believe that either one of us admitted that. (Here is where i go dumb for about 9 years!) I finally asked her out on a date and was told that she needed to ask her parents. So... what did I do duhhhhh I went out and found a girl who would go out with me!! ;) (I love you hunny!!!) And I broke her heart!! :( So 9 years of Dumb and I have just returned from a tour in Afghanistan and I am sitting on my friends back porch one night when I get a push notification on my iPhone. It said that I had a facebook friend request. So I opened Facebook and was sooooo excited to see her name that I couldn't wait to send her a message and see what she was up to. So we began to talk through facebook then text and phone, and finally I asked her one night if she had plans for the next weekend that I was going to be in our hometown and she said actually she was going to see if I wanted to go to a thing with her and some of her friends... Little did I know that that night would be the beginning of the rest of my life. We went to a restaurant called Touch in Springfield and that night I knew that I loved her. We continued to date for a few month's and I decided I was tired of being so far away from her and my daughter, so I moved back to Missouri and started spending most of my time with her and her family, they took me in. I spent a lot of time wondering how I was going to come up with the money to buy her the ring that she deserved... and one evening, the night before we were leaving to go to Ft. Worth with her parents her mom approached me and proceeded to offer me her mother's Nicole's Grandmothers wedding ring. at that moment I began planning how I was going to ask her. Of course I had to ask her dad first which is in itself a whole other story. But finally I asked him... But I didn't tell her that in fact I made it a point to keep telling her that I was scared to ask him because I "was afraid he would ask me how I was going to support her without a job". So I finally figure out that I want to ask her at work. So its the day before Valentines day and I had sent her flowers. I conspired with people she worked with and got them to call me when the flowers arrived at the front desk and I had them hold them until I could get there. When I arrived I told them they could call her and let her know that they were there. When she walked up front to get them I snuck in to her cubicle with her mother. While she was walking back to her cubicle she called me and my phone was playing the ring tone that is set for her and it is one of a kind so I was scared that she would hear it and I dropped the ring box and the ring went flying and I was grabbing at my phone trying to turn the ringer off. I picked the ring back up and one of her coworkers who was standing in the hallway announced as planned very loudly that she had beautiful flowers so we would know she was coming. When she walked around the corner I asked her Tiffany Nicole Johannes I love you with all of my heart... Will you marry me?................ and it seemed like 5 minutes went by of her just staring at me. Finally she squeaked out the word that ensured my happiness for the rest of my life... Yes!!! I pryed her death grip off of the flowers and set them down and then...... that's right you guessed it... she tackled me and almost took us both to the ground!!!! Now we are engaged we have found a place to live and are looking forward to our upcoming wedding and spending the rest of our lives together!! The end!

Our Story - Her Version

Freshman year of high school I signed up for Animal Science I. Finally I was going to get the chance to be a FFA member and wear the blue corduroy jackets! They wound up offering Animal Science I in 2 different sessions. Prince Charming and I wound up in the same session, 1st Hour. I sat on the back row and he slept on the 1st row (there were only 2 rows and only 6 of us). Well the girl that sat next to him wouldn't shut up and so the teacher swapped us places so then I sat next to P.C. Well that year the teacher would upset me so much because she'd tell me I was wrong when in fact she was wrong and would try to dock me points because of it and so I started acting out. Now I was actually the quiet kid who only really spoke when spoken to or necessary but that teacher hit some nerves and one day I started singing Garth Brooks "Two Pina Colada's" song at the top of my lungs and P.C. joined in with me. Anytime that year the teacher upset me I would sing at the top of my lungs and P.C. would join in. The funniest part is I did some of his work in that class because I was tired of seeing him get bad grades.

So summer hit and we went our separate ways. When Sophomore year hit we had 3 classes together again, Band, Animal Science 2, and English. Because Band was first hour and then A.S. 2 was second hour, P.C., my friend T and I would ride the bus from the band field to the VoTech center together for classes and P.C. and I became very good friends. In band he would always guilt trip me into carrying his Sousaphone to and from the parade starts/finishes to the bus or from the buses to the marching field because I "Only had to carry that little clarinet and look at what he had to carry". LOL. Yeah I was a sucker. That and he couldn't bend over to tie his shoes so could I possibly do it?? haha! Me being the ornery person I was would put my knee down on his toes and tighten as tight as I could. He'd lose feeling for a while but it would eventually loosen up. Me I thought I wouldn't be asked again but he (and everyone else I did that to) loved that they didn't have to worry about them coming untied so I got the pleasure of tying lots of shoes.

Every 3 years out school goes on a huge Band trip and Sophomore year was actually our year to go. We went to Walt Disney World that year. While down there sparks just kind of happened. It was very obvious that he liked me and I liked him but I tried to play dumb because I truthfully never could see him liking me. That and T really liked him too or so she told me a couple times. Well she got upset with me that he liked me but I couldn't help it. That's when I fell in love with the song by Tonic, "If You Could Only See". He sang that one of the nights sitting outside at the hotel and I went home and bought the cd but never fessed up to him about that until many years later.

After we got back from Florida like I said we had English together and he and I would talk (we sat at the same table) and there was a note started between me and him (that oddly enough I found all these years later) where he asked me out on a date. I was only 15 at the time and I had to go home and ask my parents. This was all late in the week so by the time I made it home to ask and get back to him with an answer, he came back the next Monday with a girlfriend. That was a slap in the face but I got over it. Figured it wasn't meant to be.

Through the rest of the years in high school I'm sure we both dated many other people (well me I had 2 boyfriends and that's it but still that's other people right) but our paths really never crossed. We had open campus lunch and I would see him in the parking lot but that's about it. After graduation I went on to college and got caught up in a whole nother world.

So jump forward 10 years from my sophomore year in high school, I was dating a guy and had been dating him for 5 1/2 years. We constantly fought but a lot of times it was over the fact he hadn't made any more of a commitment. I was sick of feeling that I was waiting on nothing. In June of last year my whole world came crashing down on me. A rumor got started by someone who has a tendency to talk and this rumor went to his sister on Father's Day Sunday. We were at my house when she called and said he needed to call her the minute he left my house. He left between 7 and 8:30 probably and I'm really going to assume he called her. Next thing he did was call me and ask who my new boyfriend was. That was the beginning to the end. He decided I had cheated on him, when I hadn't but because his sister said it was so then so it was. Told me he was trying to get to the bottom of things but in the end, it just shows it wasn't meant to be. We spent the next week arguing either through text or the phone and I lost A LOT of sleep and for anyone who knows me, I love to sleep.

Thursday of that week after Father's Day (I had been doing research for months) I ran across a laptop that was good quality, that I could afford. My mom and I headed to Arkansas 1 1/2 hrs from my house to purchase a laptop. The following Sunday I went over to my friends the J's house to steal their wi-fi... much better than dial up! I was rooting around on facebook in the section where you can locate old high school classmates and I stumbled across his name. I was thinking surely it couldn't be the same guy even though his name isn't all that common. I also figured he'd probably never made much of himself (I know bad thoughts on my part and he knows this... we laugh now!) I went ahead and hit the request friend button and then waited. I got back on my internet on my phone the next night and he not only had accepted the message, but he also sent me a message through the inbox section. (now keep in mind I can't sleep through all this, I didn't sleep for like a month) So we started talking through fb inbox. The Tuesday after I got my laptop, I got my iPhone 3GS (yes I was apparently in the mood to spend money). Well go figure my iPhone won't allow me to see his messages on fb so I got annoyed, jumped on the dial up and read his messages. He made a comment that led me to believe he had AT&T and I thought if he does, let's just text if he has unlimited texts. Well instead, he called me and so it began... :)

He told me that he didn't sleep until late (and got up early) and me I couldn't sleep so we spent a few nights talking or texting. Then 4th of July weekend I went to my aunt's house in southern Oklahoma and every night got on the phone with him. One night while we were talking he asked me if I'd like to go to Lazy P for riding horses/rodeo, but it was the same weekend I had dinner club with a group of my friends that I really wanted to ask him to but didn't have the guts. Finally I said something about it and he was like absolutely. I was like you don't have to but we wound up going do dinner club.

I volunteered to drive since I knew the town we were going to better than he did so I drove over and picked him up. There were about 4 times on the way over I just about stopped the car and turned around or picked up my phone and called to cancel. I was so nervous! This was a guy I had a crush on 10 years ago and I was finally going on a date with him. Now he lived in Kentucky at the time down at Ft. Campbell and worked on the military base down there and I was just out of a relationship so I didn't want anything serious, At ALL!

So we went to dinner at a restaurant called Touche and then after some of us headed to the mall. Actually, Evelyn and I headed to the mall and the J's, Kalem & P.C. followed right behind. After we were done dress shopping P.C. and I headed to another one of my friends houses so she, her husband and their daughter could meet him also. We left their house around 1 or so and headed back to his mom's house so I could drop him off. We stood in her driveway talking for about 1 1/2 hrs until there was dew on my car and I was cold and then I headed home. He asked me to call him and possibly come over the next day until he had to leave to go home to Kentucky. I woke up on Sunday, called him and wound up going over and meeting his mom before she left for work. And in true Nicole tradition, fell asleep on the couch with him watching tv. I finally left so he could go back to KY and when I got home I looked at my dad and said I'm going to cry and the tears flowed. After a few minutes I stopped and I was better. I went and took a shower and for the first time, I felt better. I slept very well that night and every night after that.

The next week we spent a lot of time talking on the phone and he told me he was coming home to see his daughter and asked if I'd come over. They were having a get together at his sisters house and he'd like for me to come. I was so apprehensive about going I almost said no but something caused me to say yes. In fact he called me Friday night when he got in and I went over to his sisters house about 9pm to see him and meet his daughter.

At this point I wasn't ready for a relationship, I didn't want to get tied back down, NOTHING. So when I walked through his sisters house to retrieve my phone from charging one of the kids swung a light saber at me and his daughter yells out, Don't hit her, she might be my daddy's new girlfriend. I was speechless and just walked outside. He asked what was wrong and I laughed so hard as I was telling him this, I thought he in turn wanted to crawl in a hole and die or something. He was like I'm so sorry because he knew how gun shy I was.

The next few weeks and months were just a whirl wind of phone calls and texts and him driving home to see his daughter and me. He finally decided he was tired of being away from family so he quit and moved home for good in October.

Really the rest is boring for the most part up until he proposed to me. The week before Valentine's Day we talked about it and I told him no flowers. He didn't need to spend the money on that! Then we found an old time refrigerator that we both wanted so we went and bought it and said it was our Valentine's Day present to each other. We picked it up on Thursday night. Driving home with it we were talking and he made the comment he really wanted to marry me but was still gun shy to ask my dad. Heck I believed him, I'd be scared to ask my dad too... LOL. So on Friday when he proposed I was completely shocked. You can read about it here, I won't bore you with those details again. What really surprised both of us though, is how word traveled so fast around the company. People all around me knew it was coming and I didn't have a clue but that's what I wanted!

There is something you should know!

I LOVE my wife!!! Sometimes we say I love you but I dont think she really understands just how much I really do Love her! Love is so very hard to explain after all, and the degree to which one loves is even more impossible to explain so how do we get around this? I have decided that the only way to solve this issue is to show that person just how much you love them and what they mean to you. To show my wife just how much I love her there are many things I do for her, but the most important thing I can do for her is be there, when she is happy, sad, mad (the time when you want to not be there the most), tired, and when she thinks her world is going to end. Just be there. I am slowly learning that most of the time it doesn't even require words, just be there; so to my wife I would just like to say, I love you and no matter how happy, sad, mad, tired, and when you think your world is going to end, I will be here. I cannot put into words how I feel about you... however the first verse of the following song pretty much sums it up.

I would gladly walk accross the desert with no shoes upon my feet to share with you the last bite of bread I had to eat, I would swim out to save you in your sea of broken dreams when all you hopes are sinking let me show you what love means.

The intro is a little long but it is a great song.





I love you wife!

A Timeline

My Dearest Love

You have no idea how happy I am that God brought us back together.  We drifted apart, but partially I think we both had to go make our "mark" on the world.  You left yours on a wall in Afghanistan and I wrote mine in the beaches in Costa Rica.  We took very different paths from each other but it's so strange how we wound up back together.

I know there are times when the "what if's" in life fall into our heads or pangs of jealousy even take over (yes I said it), but at the same time we're strong as individuals but we're stronger as a team.  Never let those things rule our lives and I'll try my best too.  Sometimes I fall and I need you to help pick me up and guide me back on path, and I believe it's ok to ask for help.  Can't maybe died in the corn patch, but needing help sure didn't!

I love you more now than the day you proposed to me.  And we've had our struggles as every married couple do, but let's stay on track with each other by our side!

Love,
Cole

New Beginnings

I first met the love of my life in Jr. High School. We were close for a short period of time and then we drifted apart (Mostly because I am an ID10T). We both went our separate ways, went on with our lives for about 10 years. I spent most of that time feeling like something was missing, I didn't know what... but something was missing. I did a tour in Afghanistan in 2008 and 2009, and when I returned I was unsure of where I was going. a few months after my return I would get a facebook friend invite that would change my life forever. I received a friend request from this lovely girl from high school (who coincidentaly I had a pretty huge crush on in high school) and I was so excited I almost couldn't figure out how to accept it. I finally did and began perusing around her pictures and such trying to see how she was doing and what she was up to. I assumed since she was such a great girl she would already be married have kids... etc. A few minutes later she sent me a message and we began to talk back and forth on FB, which lead to texting and even talking on the phone. I learned she was not married, had no kids, and had just ended a long term relationship. I have to admit part of me was a little giddy to find this out. You have to understand I was SOOOOOOOOOOO excited to be back in touch with her. I had thought about her several times over the years and it was almost like a dream come true. Soon I finally got up the courage to ask her out the next time I was going to be in town. Fortunately she had other plans, and wanted to invite me to go with her. I was soo excited and nervous. We went to dinner in Springfield to a restaurant called Touch. We spent the whole evening in each others company, then at 3 AM we had our first kiss and by the end of that night I knew...... she was the love of my life.

More to come but for now I hope whoever you are and wherever you are that you have someone you can love and share your life with that is as special to you as my Cole is to me.

Sincerely,

Prince Charming