Marriage

We weren't moving.
At all. 

Red brake lights stretched out in front of us for as far as our eyes could see. 

We had been dating a few months when I had asked Dan to come up to my parents vacation home. 

It was a good four hour drive that I always dreaded. 

But this time especially since I ended up having to go to the bathroom 15 minutes into our trip.

Our relationship was new. We were still polite (you know the drill, lol) and so I tried not to make to much of a fuss when he said he wanted to try a 'new' route to get to the house. I had been making this trip for the past ten years. A new way would be nice if I didn't have to go to the bathroom so damn bad. 

Fearing we would get lost, or it would take forever, or worse yet - I wouldn't know a place with a clean bathroom, I finally decided to let him in on my dilemma.  

I thought he would certainly think my way would be better now, however, it made him more determined to try his new way. In a last ditch effort I told him it better be a short cut because I couldn't 'hold' it much longer. 

He swore up and down it was.

Moments, no seconds later we were stuck in traffic. 

Our little four hour trip turned into six. 

I close my eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm  my nerves when I felt the car pulling over. 

When I opened them I saw a gas station. With a bathroom. 

He thought I would be thrilled.
I totally was not.

It was a no-name, dingy gas station that I believe had one pump.
Yep. 

No waaay in this lifetime would I step foot in there. 

Now, I'm really not a prima-donna but public restrooms just aren't my thing.

Dan went in to check things out. As he came out he was shaking his head 'no'. 

'Yuck, yuck, yuck,' I thought and cursed his 'short-cut'.

I close my eyes again, way beyond frustrated at this point.

 5 minutes go by. 10. 25 freakin' minutes. 

WTH?

Fuming now, I jump out of the car and go inside the station. The attendant doesn't say a word but he shrugs his shoulders up (like he is even confused) and points towards the bathroom outside.
I go around back to the bathroom and I am hit with the overwhelming smell of bleach. As I turn the corner I'm greeted by Dan with rubber gloves on scrubbing the toilet and washing the floor of the restroom.


"What are you doing?" I all but scream.
"I knew you wouldn't go in here if it wasn't clean," he said.


There are very few moments in life when you can go from as pissed as hell, to, omg love him, in seconds.
This was one of those times.

At that very moment I knew I was going to marry him. 
 I wondered though if he thought the same thing.

That same weekend while we were taking a walk, we came upon a large tree that we thought of carving our initials in. Dan did his initals first (D.K.) and when he got to mine, he asked 'can I just put S.K instead of S.B. so we don't have to change it later'?


*pause*
Did it take you a second too?

*AHHHHHH...he wants to marry ME*

I insisted on having the 'S.B' - not letting on that my heart was about to pound out of my chest at that very moment.

I guess a man wouldn't do what he did (clean a public restroom) if he didn't think what he thought. : )

Less then a year later we were married. 

Eight years down the road and three kids later...here we are.

Happy anniversary, love.