4 Years Ago Tomorrow....

I married Panda. It was an AWESOME wedding and we even threw in a little surprise to shake it up. Below is the story that I had to write for Panda's brother (he married us). Panda had to write his own story as well but I cannot find it....Go figure.

Our Story

Our friends and family have always inquired on how we met. The story was that we met at the Yard House in the Irvine Spectrum. The questions then began to snowball- Who was he with? Who talked to who first? Boy this is tough!! The lie has to come to an end. The truth is that Panda and I met the way that many people are meeting these days, online. We met on Match.com. So there it is, the truth!!
I originally was helping my roommate at the time find a date and then the tables got turned on me. With the help from my roommate, I signed up, created a profile and started receiving some of the most hilarious emails. I never responded until I saw Panda’s email. There was nothing that really stood out but something pulled me to reply. So I responded and we “chatted” a few times and then exchanged phone numbers. When we talked on the phone, we talked for hours on end about anything and everything. I knew he was separated, so I was a little hesitant but that all soon disappeared. The decision finally came to meet in person and we set up a date. During our initial conversations, he knew what I looked like since I had a picture attached to my profile. I on the other hand did not find out what he looked like until the day of our date. He sent me a picture and I have to admit, he was handsome but was not the type I typically went out with. According to some people, my type includes tattoos and goatees. I knew from our conversations that we would get along whether or not a “love” connection was there.
Our first day was March 28th at Habana’s in Costa Mesa. I agreed to let him meet me at my apartment and of course, I was freaking out!! All my nervousness vanished once I opened the door and saw the big bouquet of flowers. Since it is a rare occasion that I receive flowers, I took pictures of them and even saved a flower in my keepsake box. Since he was willing to drive to my house, I volunteered to drive on the date (what a brave, brave man!) The dinner was amazing, it never seemed to be lacking in conversation and there were no awkward moments of silence. After dinner we were planning on a friendly round of miniature golf but it was raining so we went to Dave and Busters instead. We spent the next few hours goofing off like little kids. Once we arrived back to my apartment, he walked me to my door and we kissed. The date was more than I could have asked for and I knew from that point on I wanted to get to know him better.
I am going to skip a few dates and tell you about my birthday, the best one yet!! Panda was working a 5 day prior to my birthday and I took my birthday off to spend the day with him. We started the day off by having “breakfast” at In N Out. Gotta love it!! Next we proceeded to go to the firing range. Where are we? Springtucky?! From the shooting range, we finally got our game of miniature golf in and then went and had some drinks at El Torito. The fact is that day was completely spontaneous and I love that Panda was just willing to do anything, no plans, just go.
Soon after that day, my world came to a screeching halt. No one that knew Panda, knew that he was dating anyone. Some people had an idea but Panda freaked out and decided to break up with me. I know, unbelievable. I did my best not to call him but a few weeks passes and I called him and left a message. I knew he couldn’t stand to be away from me!! A couple weeks after that, I met the family at the Harley’s annual Labor Day pig roast and as I type this, I realize that was two years ago.
The first time I came to the realization that I loved Panda was when he went on his annual hunting trip. He came back from the being away for almost 2 weeks and during that time, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. The first night he was back I asked him what he would say if I loved him? He said he would say he loved me too. With Panda I never doubt his love for me. He supports me when I did not realize I needed it. He makes me laugh when I need it the most and is there to hold me when I cry. I knew that he was the one I was going to spend my life with.
Panda is not the type of person to bring certain types of conversation up unless someone else brings it up first. I brought up the conversation of the “M” word several times but never did I imagine it would have happened when it did.
We received a phone call from our favorite Oregonian couple on a Sunday letting us know they just got engaged. Little did I know that KDog and Panda were planning their proposals around each other. Pegs and KDog made the trek down to Laguna Beach for Christmas and were staying in the luxury suite on Glenneyre. Pegs, Panda and I went to the Penguin one morning to have breakfast and of course the wedding talk started. Since I am a girl, I started talking about what I would like for my own wedding. Well, once I opened my mouth, it was over. Pegs and Panda were insisting that I was obsessed with getting married. Duh, I am a girl, I think about these things!! Seriously, I was getting really ticked off. All day, they kept bringing up my obsession. Anyhow, that night a few people were over at the house and Pegs has an idea, “Carrie, why don’t you and Panda take Hankers for a walk tomorrow morning?” Is she serious? Does she not realize how cold it is in the morning at the beach? I said, “no” and she kept pushing the issue. I told her that if she wanted she could take Hank herself. Note to self, Pegs always wins. So we set the alarm for 7 in the morning. As Panda and I are talking before going to bed, I asked about my “obsession” and he confirmed I had an “obsession”. I have to admit, this is the first time I have ever really gotten upset over something Panda has said. Actually the breaking up speech was bad, so this is the second time. I need to cool off, so I go sit in the front room and am watching TV and here come Panda. He put his arms around me and said “Do you want to get married?” (I did not notice the ring in his hand!), I said yes and then through the tears I saw the ring. Oh my gosh, is this real?! We went back in to our room so that we did not wake Pegs and KDog and talked and then he said that we still needed to go to the beach. Darn it, I thought I got out of it!!
The alarm buzzed at 7 am and I have to admit I was looking very snazzy in my raggedy sweatshirt, shorts and Uggs. As we got down to the beach, we let Hank run free and Panda proposed to me again. We returned to the house and Pegs was waiting there for me holding my very own Bride Magazine. From there the phone calls started, tears and a feeling that this was all a dream. It turns out that Panda was supposed to ask me over in Catalina for New Years but apparently he was a little too anxious, or obsessed?
The past 8 months of wedding planning have been amazing. I still pinch myself to make sure this is not a dream. I am so thankful that he was brought into my life and I could not have asked for a more amazing family to join. Our parents combined have over 70 years of marriage and we look to them as examples on how a marriage works. We know there will be good times as well as bad times and through it all we have each other.

Our Engagement Pic