The Half Year Mark

So here I am, the 6 month mark since Ronnie passed.

Half a year has already gone by, some days it seems so fast and some days it seems so long.

But these past 6 months have been filled with so much, new experiences, new hurdles, new victories, deep sadness but always great love from all my friends and family. I always want each of you to know how much you all mean and how much I appreciate your love and prayers, its a huge part of how we are doing pretty good.

Today is the first day of school for both girls, Taylor starts 2nd and Nicole starts PreK, both their teachers seem wonderful so far, I have no doubt it will be a great school year for them both! Here they are at our back to school breakfast!

I wanted to share with ya'll our first date!! Taking you back to December 30, 2006!! That is our first picture together above.

But first a little bit about widowhood and how we got to the Chick Fil A bowl!

As time has kept moving forward I have noticed my singleness much more, I have had a few moments that remind me pretty quick, I am doing this alone. And by alone I don't want ya'll to think I mean there is no one there for me, not at all. Its just moments when you go from having someone there with you a lot, to moments when you know it falls on you. It can be hard. An example is when the downstairs toilet explodes with water on the kitchen floor. Or when your sweet girl gets hurt.

 All summer long the girls have been having so much fun with their neighbors and love having sleep overs, its what summer is all about! I want them to soak up every second of this precious and carefree time.

One night close to around midnight I was getting ready for bed when I heard Taylor scream from upstairs. She came down holding her mouth with quite a lot of blood coming out...makes me lightheaded thinking about it!! I am not a fan!

 She came in the bathroom and told me she accidently got hit in the mouth and her tooth was loose. I grabbed a big towel and put it over her mouth, the tooth was still there and just a little loose so I knew the kick was not hard enough to hurt her head. While I had the towel over her mouth she was standing in front of the mirror and saw the amount of blood for the first time. All the sudden her sweet little face started going toward the marble sink, and her legs turned into spagatti noodles! I was able to catch her and lay her on her back in the bathroom. I went into a deep panic, as you can imagine, I have some panic issues with a lot of stuff!

I was holding her in my arms yelling her name and she wasn't responding. I called for her friend to hand me my phone and called 911. While on the phone with the operator Taylor woke up and sat up. They sent an ambulance out to check on her and she was completetly fine, just fainted when she saw the blood. I think she gets that from me. I was so thankful my sweet Tay was ok, but my goals of no more 911 calls for 2020 were gone...kidding a little bit :-)

But once things calmed down and the girls went to bed a flood of emotions just hit me. I was glad I called for help but it brings back so many other calls that have been pretty scary. Screaming Ronnie's name while holding him with no response.

And it was also the feeling of being alone, it was just on me.

But you know what, I did it and everything was ok.

 So it kind of makes you a little stronger too knowing you can handle it.

I had a big hurdle a few weeks ago, August 1 would have been our 11 year anniversary. I knew it was coming obviously so I made plans to keep myself busy. That helps me so much. Overall I think the day went pretty good. My sweet neighbor kept the girls that Friday night so when I woke up Saturday I was at the house by myself.

Then I had a huge breakdown.

I was thinking I should go ahead and let it happen before I got my make up on :-)

I sat in my kitchen chair with my coffee and just cried.

I am really not surprised I am here without him, God had been getting my feet wet for a number of years. But it sure doesn't mean I don't miss him so very much.

So I let the tears come and go and as I have been doing, got up, got dressed and headed down to IFly!

Breakdown then flying=a snap shot of widowhood :-)

So what the heck is IFly?!?!?!

Well a little back story, I am a big fan of sweet Amanda at Dixie Delights, I have been following her blog for years and she always has the most creative and great ideas. She is also a GA peach like me and gives awesome restaurant recommendations. So every year for our anniversary Ronnie would tell me to pick a Dixie Delights restaurant and without fail, it was always a winner!!

 We have enjoyed JRI Kitchen, The Optimist and many more.

I thought about taking myself out to eat but was not sure if I was really up for that. I remembered Amanda had mentioned IFly once, its an indoor sky diving facility off Cobb Parkway. I checked out their website and knew right away its what I wanted to do to mark the day! I made my appointment at 11 Am for 11 years and had THE BEST time ya'll!!!

You take a class, suit up and for 2 minutes its total freedom and adrenaline!!!

My instructor said he had never seen anyone smile as much as me :-)

I did it by myself and hope to do it again, I think Ronnie would have been really proud of me too. Below is a little pic from my flight:

And to so many of you who texted me, called me, messaged me and prayed for me, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I felt so loved and I am so grateful. I ended the day with a beautiful bouquet of yellow roses from my neighbor's The Turner Family, just like Ronnie use to give me XOXO

I took this right after my flight, pure adrenaline!

So how did August 1, 2009 even happen?

Let me share with your our first date on December 30, 2006!!

But a little back story on this one too :-)

My brother G really helped me remembering the details of this game, he has a great sports mind!

So in April of 2006 I scored a new job as a receptionist at the company I am still with today, they are absolutely wonderful and are a big part of support team. I work with some of my closest friends. All my life I have been a proud Bulldog fan, so at my desk during that time, I had a little Bulldog statue and pen for guests to sign in with, it was always a great conversation starter!! I love talking football with all kinds of fans, I have been going to the games with my family since I was 5, I bleed red and black :-)

That season though was not a great one for my Dawgs, GA had lost 4 out of 5 games including a lost at home to Vandy...YIKES!!

If ya'll know anything about the "Deep South's Oldest Rivalry" you know GA and Auburn are usually duking it out in November for something significant for one of them, especially with the SEC Championship just weeks away.

My Dad had gotten 4 tickets from one of his customers and gave them to us, pretty cool right?

So that Saturday, my brother G, cousin Andy, our sweet friend Gray and I headed to the 11 Am game (if that shows you how bad our season was going) against the #5 Auburn Tigers...IN AUBURN.

Even though it was pretty early, we stopped by the store first and got some adult beverages to help us get thru the game :-)

Little did we know what would be in store for the UGA fans that made the trip!!!

We arrived there and hooked up with our family friends The Poland's, some of the sweetest Auburn fans I know. UGA fans really didn't have that much to say on this one, we kinda figured what would happen. Then the game started. Our tickets were awesome, we were on row 8 from the field, great hook up HDawg!

I think that eagle even got pretty close to us when it flew by!

If you are not a UGA fan you are probably wanting to skip over this part (but Bama fans may enjoy it). Bulldog Tra Battle had 3 interception's, a record!!! And we got to see them so close!! We were going nuts jumping up and down!!!

After the game the GA fans stayed and celebrated with the Redcoat Band and the players came by and gave us high 5!! Its also when we scored the famous Trez Glove. Here are some pics from the game!

Victory!!!

Me & G!!!

GO DAWGS!!!!!

It was an awesome game, and that long story I just told ya'll once the exact same thing I told Ronnie the following Monday when he came into my office.

At that time he was working as a food caterer, all meeting food came to the front desk so when the cute guy with a brown hat on and earrings asked me how my weekend was, he got an earful!!!

Ronnie was a BIG Bulldog fan too, so he shared in my excitement!!

He told me how he had watched the game that Saturday too on TV and thought it was so cool I was actually there. I remember after we were dating Ronnie told me he left my office that day and told his coworker he had just meet his wife.

Ron was not much on social media (unlike me!), but I do remember he wrote this one year and it referenced what he had told me earlier, here is a screen shot of his post:

So after that conversation I started seeing him more often and he would also come surprising me with either my favorite salad, Cuban or peanut butter bar.

Then comes Christmas and Dad gave G and I each 2 tickets to the UGA vs Virginia Tech Chick fil a game. I was thinking about who I would ask and immediately wanted to ask Ronnie. But I was so nervous! I seem to be the kind of person who is just like "lets go ahead and pull the tooth, it may hurt but its done", rather then just having a hurt tooth. I figured the worst he can say is NO.

And if he does, at least I know and tried!

I still am like that today. I have asked many uncomfortable things and have gotten flat our REJECTED!!!!!

But at least I asked. And I hope you do too. Always try!!

But this time, I didn't get rejected, in fact it was the total opposite! I got his cell phone number from his work and left him a voicemail. He called me back pretty quickly and I stumbled through asking HIM on a date!!

He was really excited and asked if we could meet for coffee before we went to the game.

We did and had a great conversation. Then a few days later he came by my apartment in his blue Hyundai and we drove down to the Marta station. Then we took the train down to the GA Dome and meet up with my friends. Our seats were pretty high but we sat with G and our friend Ricky. We of course had some Chick fil a sandwiches, I think G scarfed down 2!!

It was a great first date, I remember that night when he walked me back to my front door he asked if he could come inside to "wash his hands".

I honestly had not idea he was wanting to give me a kiss...but he was too shy XOXO

So he washed his hands and gave me a good bye hug.

The next night was New Years Eve, I remember us texting each other a lot and I knew I was smitten. That was back when we both had flip phones :-)

Our next date we went out to eat at a local Alpharetta restaurant, when we got back in his car after dinner, he gave me a kiss. It was magical and I still have that same shirt I was wearing 14 years ago...although it fits a little different now!! 2 kids will do that :-)

We became girlfriend and boyfriend pretty soon after that and eventfully got married as ya'll know.

I hope by sharing this it gives YOU the confidence to try new things, go after what you want.

You may fail, you may get a no, you may feel embarrassed but always, always try!!

Believe in yourself and how great you are!!

You never know what may happen.

Also on the flip side, give people a chance, you may find something you never expected.

Just because of a little bit of courage, I got to experience a love that has forever changed my life. And I also got 2 of the biggest blessings of my life.

Love,

Lindsey