The First Meeting....

I flew to England on June 22, 2004. The whole flight I was a nervous wreck. I always take overnight flights there so I had a lot of time to think while I should've been doing a lot of sleeping. I listened to a lot of CD's and wrote a lot and finally they were turning the cabin lights back on and serving us 'breakfast'. I was too nervous to eat so I asked for another pop to keep me awake. The stewardess was kind, I kept looking at pictures of Neil and she asked to see it and so I showed it to her and she said 'Gorgeous bloke' my heart just fluttered all the more to know that soon that 'bloke' was going to be my husband!

The plane landed and we all started shifting to get our things organized to get off the plane. I love the rush of emotions in the cabin when you're about to disembark. Some people coming home, some people on vacation, some there for business and a few, like me, meeting someone from the internet for the first time. I took, what I always consider, the walk of shame to customs. This is where you have to try and not look guilty. I answered all of there questions, showed them my return trip itinerary and just as I was about to be handed my passport the dreaded question came 'Oh, you're not planning to get married in England on this trip are you?'. Without even missing a beat I replied with a smile 'Nope!' and off I went, cleared passport in hand! Worry not though, I didn't lie to the customs agent. They need to phrase their questions better. It should've been said 'Oh, you're not planning to get married in the UK on this trip are you?' because TECHNICALLY I was married in Scotland, not England!

I went to get a cart to put my luggage on. This was the part I hated the most. As many times as I have flown into Gatwick I hate getting those carts and putting ALL my luggage on there myself and then trying to find a way to maneuver it through the crowds when the wheels ALWAYS seem to have a mind of their own. But I got it and kept my eye on the door that everyone was headed through. Slowly my luggage started to come until I had all the pieces. I made my way to the door and it opened. The long white corridor seemed to stretch on forever and between the people I could see the crowd gathered waiting to greet their loved ones. My eyes dart around but I see dozens of faces. I break through the corridor and I hear him 'Missy!' my heart hit the floor, I was finally going to see him without the aid of the PC. I turned around and he was hoping over the barrier and running towards me, I froze...a huge smile on my face. He grabbed me up in his arms and said 'It's SO good to see you' I said 'You too' he smiled back down at me and then we kissed. It felt like an eternity and yet I felt like I was going to melt into a pool of Missy on the floor. He pulled away and looked in my eyes again and said 'I can't believe you're here, I love you!' my heart skipped beats, probably because I wasn't breathing I said to him 'I love you too!'.

We finally stopped starring at each other long enough to start walking to the car. We got through all of the usual questions 'How was the flight?' 'How was your drive?' 'Crappy weather'. All the usual. We started to drive back to Bristol, where he lived. I loved the drive through London and the rolling country side as we got further from the city. Finally, we started to get to areas I recognized. Places from our many conversations that rang bells. We pulled in to Yate, the town he lived in, and it all seemed so familiar. Like we had driven these ways before. I had seen the road outside of his house SO many times. He would show me through the web cam the pouring down the rain, the falling snow and just a beautiful English summers day.

We pulled into the driveway of his house and we were the only ones there. After a long flight for me and a night of anticipation for both of us we decided to take a nap and wait for everyone else to get there. We closed our eyes and fell asleep in each others arms, for the very first time!

The beginning....

There are very few moments that stick out in my mind but the day I met my future husband is a day I will never forget. 

We met on the internet, as most people know, the story behind 'how' might be something not all know the intimate details of. 

Neil had recently moved back to his parents house after a very nasty break up that had left him pretty much stranded in the middle of nowhere with no one who cared about him. I had just broke up with someone that I was engaged to but realized I couldn't see more from our future then a few months at a time but never years. I had a nagging ex-boyfriend in the background who would constantly vie for my attention but ultimately I wasn't even the person that he wanted to be with. 

We were both at a crossroads in our lives and we found one another in a chat room where we realized we were both pretty down. We took the conversation over to MSN and we started to comfort each other. He became someone I would rely on and look for to tell my day to or to rant about the latest goings on. He was amazing and would listen intently and offer his advice. 

He wanted to see me as something more, something permanent. I couldn't even fathom being in a relationship right then let alone a long distance relationship. We would chat every day...on the phone, on the internet, via webcam. Whatever means we could communicate, we would do it. Not a day would go by though where he wouldn't ask me if I would be his girlfriend. My heart ached to say yes but my brain told me to say no. 

Years had gone by before I knew it and he was preparing to be the best man at his brother's wedding. He reflected on his feelings for me a lot in the lead up to it and I couldn't help but feel the urge to want to be at his side. Not only in this time that was making him nervous but as his wife for a life time. I finally agreed to be his girlfriend and we started the plans to meet up in person finally. 

Neil was a very dedicated soldier and was in training to become a para-trooper for the Territorial Army. He had to go for a guns course that took him away from home and away from the PC. It was the hardest time for us. He would call me crying that he missed me and he told me over the phone that he needed me to be his wife, forever. He wanted to be with me forever. He was choosing me. Someone actually wanted me above everyone else. 

Our plans quickly turned from me taking a trip up there to meet him for the first time to me meeting him for the first time and becoming Mrs Neil Humphreys all in one trip. 

We had spent so many years being everything to each other already and it felt like the right time to commit our lives to each other permanently. 

Everyone thinks of our courtship as a 'whirlwind romance' but it's quite the opposite. Sure we spent only six months engaged to each other and we had not met face to face. But I knew him and he knew me better than some people I know who have been married for 20+yrs. When all you have are your words to express and each moment of your day is spent, not in silence, but in conveying in words your every feeling you begin to learn the inner workings of each other. And we were doing that for over two years before we married!

I was eagerly awaiting June, how cliche to be a June bride but it wasn't so much the month that mattered as WHO I was marrying that mattered. It could have been the middle of December in a frozen tundra and I would've been there in a sun dress if that was all I had. Nothing was going to stop me from spending my life with the man who was making my life worth living!