and another thing: A very touching episode of Biography

I realized yesterday, after my rant after work, that I should have started the blog, first post, with a little bit about us (well, more me. We'll get to Terrance later.). I figure if someone stumbles upon this who hasn't seen or heard from me in a while, they might be curious. I mean, everyone scours the Internet looking for clues about people who were in their life at one point or another, right? No? Just me? Oh well, here you go:

Kelly's life in a nutshell:

After high school (and if you need to know further back than that, ask), I attended the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. It was fabulous, made great friends, loved it, etc, etc. I think everyone should live by the ocean one at least once in their life. To this day, nothing brings me back to center like sitting on a beach watching the waves. It's downright spiritual.

After college, I decided I would take the first job I got, no matter where it was. I wanted to be in a big city, by the water, with a good mass transportation system. Somewhere I could create my own "Sex and the City" in. I applied in New York, Boston, Seattle, Chicago, Washington. I ended up in Indianapolis. No water. Not much bigger than Charlotte. NO MASS TRANSPORTATION. But, it was the best thing. Moving somewhere on your own where you know no one in a 650 mile radius and making it is a good thing. The first day was weird, but then I started my job. My workplace was made up of about 20 people, the oldest of which was 30. My boss was 25. It was like college again, only we all had bigger pay checks and our own apartments. I had a blast. I would not give back my time in Indy for anything. I made some wonderful friends who I still speak with regularly. I was having a blast, making my own Indianapolis version of "Sex and the City" happen. I was sitting at work one day and my phone rang. It was my mom, and I almost sent it to voicemail, but picked it up at the last minute. My father was in the hospital, hanging on.

It was the scariest phone call I have ever gotten. My father's health wasn't great. He had his first heart attack at 45, and while years of smoking and eating poorly didn't help, he does have a major genetic factor at work here. Every male on his side of the family has died from something heart related. His brother has congestive heart failure. As he does. (Not that I let him off the hook for smoking and eating poorly. I think he called me the drill sergeant for a while...) He was in the CCU for 5 days, and in the hospital for an addition 2. I made it home the first night, thanks to the lovely people at USAirways and my mother's frequent flier miles. I was spooked. I decided to move home. Before, being so far away and on my own had been independent and freeing, now it just seemed uncomfortable and scary. After a little over 2 years in Indy, I moved home.

I regretted it almost immediately. My job fell threw, I was living back at home, and I was a flippin Barista at Starbucks, catering to all the kids that made me feel invisible in high school. AS they ordered their skinny latte with no whip. I wanted to scream to them that I had done something with my life, I had seen things. Instead, all I could do was smile and ask if they had heard about our new drink, the banana frappachino. Not that they remembered me from high school, anyway. Eventually, things got better. I found a job (local health department), moved out, and lived in a big city townhouse in downtown Charlotte. Thing were starting to turn around, though I missed my Indy friends terribly. Surprisingly, during the 7 years since I had graduated high school, my local friends had not sat around waiting for me. They had gone on with their own lives. Made different friends even. The nerve. I was lonely.

The internationally recognized symbol of the cult of Starbucks. Because it's weird there.

Jess, a friend from the dub, came down one night. We had drink at my place before hand, talked about how we liked being single, had more drinks, and went out. At the first place, we got drinks. The rest of the night is kind of fuzzy, because there was no food with those aforementioned drinks, but I met Terrance, a SWM not looking for anything serious. He's a chef (bonus). By the end of the night, I had:

1. told Terrance I loved him. A lot. Because finding out that the guy who sits next to you in a bar knows (not even likes a lot, but just knows) your favorite band is a perfectly good reason to drop the L bomb.

2. initiated our first kiss. I'm sure observers probably thought I was trying to eat his face. It was romantic, really. Sweet.

3. decided that I was going to marry that guy. If only I can remember his name...

The dude

We had an actual date the next day (it was supposed to be lunch, but I was, um, tired...), and then the day after that. I think since we met of all the days we've been in the same city, we've spent about 3 apart. And they sucked. After six months, Terrance and I moved in together, 2 weeks later we got our first dog, Leo, and 2 weeks after that he proposed. We got married a year later, bought our first house 2 months after that. Along the way, we've picked up 2 more dogs. Baxter's a permanent resident, Sadie's just passing through on her way to her forever home.