Love is Everywhere: Sharing a Love Story ♥

Our Marine Corps Love Story:

Alex and I have known each other since 7^th grade. He was friends with one of my best friends in middle school, but when she moved away we went our separate ways. In high school he had a beautiful baby girl with his then girlfriend. I didn’t hear much of him until my friend visited for a few days in summer of 2007. After seeing him again I added him on MySpace and we became quick internet buddies. We soon found out that we had a lot more in common than we thought we did, and I started developing this little crush on him. But, as the fates would have it, he had signed up for the Marine Corps and was going to boot camp in January 2008.

In early January we decided to go to a movie before he left. I forced him to take photo booth pictures with me afterward so I would have something to remember him by. The funny thing is that we were both dying to make a move, but we were too shy to do so! And then later, in true Alex and Kelsey fashion, we confessed our crushes to each other over MSN. The same thing happened with the second movie we went to. It seemed like all hope was lost, until he did something that caught me completely off-guard.

On January 27th I was sitting in my kitchen with my mom when a vehicle appeared outside of our house. The moment I see it, I scream and start running to my room to change clothes. Alex had come to my house! So my mom goes outside and keeps him company while I'm frantically trying to get dressed. After that I come out and we talk a little, but we both knew why he's there. I ask him anyway, and he says, "I didn't want to spend the next three months regretting not kissing you." And there, on that snowy January morning, we shared our first kiss. ♥

Not our first kiss, but still a great picture nonetheless.

We decided to stay friends and wrote each other lots of letters while he was in boot camp. At that point we thought it would be best to wait until timing was better for both of us, but of course that didn’t stop us from liking each other. He named his gun after me, wrote a few poems for me, and on Valentine’s day he had a dozen yellow roses delivered to my house.

When he returned for a couple of days we made plans to visit a few waterfalls, but being that it was still snowy, we ended up having a picnic in the snow instead. We decided we still weren't ready to be in a relationship yet, and he left for MCT shortly after. At least in MCT he got to keep his phone, so we texted a lot and asked each other hundreds of questions trying to get to know each other better. The more I learned about him, the more I liked him, and the more I was falling in love with him. They say Distance makes the heart grow fonder, and I have to agree!

We sent each other picture messages too. Sweet little reminders to show the other one that we were thinking of them. :)

After he graduated, he was stationed in Monterey, CA for a while and we began planning a trip for me to visit him. On June 17th, 2008 he asked me to be his girlfriend over AIM because he was sick of waiting! lol. I took a flight down to Cali to see him for a couple days in July. We watched fireworks together on the 4th. Later that night he gave me a Hello Kitty container filled with 100 pieces of paper with 100 things he likes about me and goals he wants to accomplish in our relationship. It was the sweetest gift anyone had ever given me. He also told me, "I think I'm falling in love with you." I was so smitten! On the last day of my trip, before he left for work, I sleepily said the three words, "I love you." Alex turned and said, "What?" So I replied, "um.... I love you?" He came back, gave me a kiss, and said, "I love you too." That story still makes me giggle to this day!

I visited California again the next month and spent a couple of weeks with Alex and his married friends. We spent a lot of the time playing disc golf and we even went to a Weird Al concert! That was when he gave me my locket. I love lockets! It is my most treasured possession.

Since then I visited him many more times, he took me to a couple Marine Corps Birthday balls, and we even got to see the waterfalls we were hoping to visit! I’ve lived with him twice, the latest being in North Carolina. His daughter even came to visit us! It was a very special treat. We had planned to spend a wonderful time together, but the Marines had a different plan for us because he was deployed early in April 2011.

June 17^th, 2011 is our three year anniversary and I couldn’t have spent those years better with anyone else. I have shared so many wonderful memories with this man, and I am hoping that the next 50 years or so will give us many more. I can't wait till he returns for us to spend our happily ever after together. He truly is my prince charming, my knight in body armor and combat boots, my other half, my best friend, and my perfect match ♥