#fitzy’s grandma | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sean-chris-13 · 7 years ago

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Our Story

“It wasn’t love at first sight. In fact, I wasn’t even going to try….

"I was going to college at SUNY Fredonia living in an apartment with a couple of friends off campus when I first heard about Siobhan. It was early in the school year and Kevin (my former roommate) and his girlfriend (now wife) Rachel invited me over for dinner and to return some laundry that had somehow gotten mixed up from the last semester.

"It was nice just hanging out for a little, talking, and playing with their dog Manny. Rachel was texting with her cousin Cooey occasionally and said I should text her too. I said no. Eventually, it got to the point when I’m getting ready to go and Rachel tells me she gave this "Cooey” my number.

“‘Oh.’

"And I didn’t mean 'oh’ in a good way. I just didn’t see the point; this is a girl on the other side of the state. I didn’t know anything about her or even what she looked like. I didn’t know her real name! Actually, I think Rachel did say her name once, but she just kept calling her Cooey and I just called her 'Rachel’s cousin.’

"So I started walking back to my apartment and I get a text from 'Rachel’s cousin.’ Probably just 'hey.’ I don’t remember. It didn’t matter. I wait a few minutes and text her back; nothing too interesting. She’d text me every so often and I would text her back when I got the chance between video games or songs I was listening to. I wasn’t going to put any effort into it. I’d probably never meet her.

"But it turns out I was going to meet her. She was coming to Fredonia to celebrate her 21st birthday with Rachel in late October. She and Rachel asked if I would join them in celebrating and I didn’t really have a reason to deny. It’s not that I didn’t think Cooey was nice, I was just indifferent. Worse comes to worse, I gained a new friend.

"Before she showed up, friend or stranger or more, I figured I owe her the courtesy of at least learning her name. She added me on Facebook earlier and I saw her name was 'Siobhan’ and I said 'what is that supposed to be?’ I got the answer from a YouTube video. To be embarrassingly honest, it was the very first effort I gave her. It was pretty cool to me that we both had Irish names, but a little weird that she and my brother Jimmy have the same middle name.

"Her visit kept getting closer and I started to worry more. I was pretty sure she was interested in more than a friendship judging by how often she text me and how flirty the texts were. So did she want a relationship, a friend, or just a friend for the weekend she was visiting to keep her from being a third wheel? Would I ever hear from her afterword? And, if she does want a relationship, how? Up until her arrival I just ignored all the questions I had.

"Then she was here. Rachel pulled up to my apartment and there was 'Shavon’ in the front passenger seat. I said 'hi’ and we all went to Tops for ingredients to the Ziti she was making. I hadn’t really seen her well enough yet, but I remember thinking her voice was lower than I imagined. Eventually we made it to the store and when she got out of the car I realized she was taller than I previously thought. Of course, none of that mattered to me. I was making a conscious effort to not think of her in that way. She was still cute, though. For the first part of our shopping experience, the girls split up and so I followed Rachel. I knew Rachel and I didn’t expect anything to happen with Cooey and I. After a few minutes of trailing Rachel and adding commentary to her selections, I remember Cooey’s texts about being excited to meet me. I found her and tagged along for the remainder of the trip with minimal conversation. I had text with her some before, but it’s different in person. It was more awkward. Without a screen to hide behind or as much time as you want to respond, everything is different.

"After Tops, we went to Rachel and Kevin’s to let Siobhan make her ziti while we all hung out. We all talked about nothing in particular and just got over the meeting stages for Cooey and I. At the end of the night, I decided I had a good time but I wasn’t convinced it was going to last for anything but the weekend.

"Over the next couple days we got closer. We didn’t need Rachel to start our conversations anymore. In fact, there were some times when it was just us, and it was just fine. I showed her my freezing cold apartment, introduced her to my roommates and played her some guitar. It was a nice weekend.

"Then, at one point she said something about me being cute and kissed me. She’s always been a bit more impulsive than me, but I can’t deny I kissed her back. The next morning the four of us went to Bob Evans for a goodbye breakfast and we two held hands under the table.

"It was after she left that I realized I was in for it. She was still texting me, and what’s more, I was much more willing to text her back. Our conversations got more in-depth. We send each other pictures of our day. My pictures were mostly of my room and me lazing around while she sent pictures donning an orange apron at Gymboree. She wasn’t just Rachel’s cousin anymore. She was Siobhan. She was my friend. She was something just a bit more.

"We talked daily until she came to visit again in December. This time, however, she wasn’t visiting her cousin; she was visiting me. She was making an effort and I realized I owed it to her to either make my own effort or shut it down.

"The next time we saw each other was January and it was in my hometown of Wellsville. Her first night there she ended by insistently asking me to define our relationship. I was going to officially declare us dating at the end of the week if it went well, but she’s impatient; we officially started dating that night, January 13th 2014.

"She again visited me in Fredonia in February for our first Valentine’s day together. My roommates Meaghan, Katie, and I were considering getting a kitten, so on Siobhan’s way to see me she got a kitten. I told her I had to ask my landlord permission first and she just responded 'well ask now because he’s on his way.’ Enter Fitz. He’s the little black and white beast we call our first-born child and follows us wherever we end up.

"I moved back home to Wellsville for the summer with Fitzy. She continued to visit me monthly wherever I was, but if this was really going to progress we had to see each other more. Despite some significant apprehension, I agreed we would get an apartment in Fredonia for the next semester. We got Fitz’s younger sister Rhian in July and we moved in together in the middle of August.

"It worked as well as we wanted. I enjoyed it immensely and think she did too. We didn’t do much, just lived life together. She got a job for some money and to occupy her time. We went for walks around the SUNY campus and sat in Starbucks. My friends were her friends. We took naps and she cooked (I’m not much help in the kitchen). I’d go to class and then we’d take the bus to Walmart for supplies.

"Our time there went fast. For the next summer we wanted to stay together. I needed a job other than my summer position at Allegany Arc and we concluded that in all likelihood it would be easier to find a job in her home of Albany so that’s where we went. We loaded up the cats and set off 6 hours to her parents’ house in Albany.

"Albany was my adventure. She’d moved to Fredonia for me and now it was time to repay the favor. She showed me around where she grew up and points of interest around the area. I spent time getting to know her parents and looking for a job. I’d watch movies and listen to her dad Dan play guitar and have conversations with her mom Carrie about whatever was on her mind. Most every day, I’d take their dogs Scotty and Frankie for walks around the pond down the street. Eventually, Wal-Mart responded to my résumé and I started working there. After some time of saving money, we wanted to move back west.

"Siobhan got a job at GEICO near Buffalo and I was able to transfer to the Wal-Mart in Lockport where we were headed next. We found a small apartment on Craigslist, packed up a moving truck, and had immediate regrets. The power wasn’t on in our new apartment that only had one small window, a terrible smell of smoke, and a flea problem. We suffered there for as short a time as we possibly could while our neighbors tried to burn the place down and we looked for anywhere else to live. I walked back and forth to work while she borrowed her mother’s car to go get harassed on the phones at the little green lizard’s place.

"Two apartments later, a slightly used Jeep, more adventures around the state, and two promotions for me, we arrived to about right where we are now. We’re up to three cats with our newest addition of Stella, we’re still at GEICO and Wal-Mart, and still have the red Jeep (Carrie’s Honda is safely in Madeline’s care).

"My final anecdote leads me to the reason we’re asking people to join us in October. Now, our engagement didn’t go as I had planned. I didn’t plan anything too extravagant, but it was still able to become completely unraveled. At one point, I realized that I was going to marry her. We’d talked about it, and it was time for me to do something about it. Well, one day a couple weeks before Christmas she found a non-traditional ring she made clear that she wanted so the next day I took the Jeep back and bought it while she was at work. I showed my family the ring she had picked out and called her mom and dad to ask permission. Once I was given their blessing, I waited for a good time to do it.

"Well… I kinda forgot about something. There was another ring I was giving her for Christmas. My Great-Grandma Betty had helped me get a promise ring for Cooey at Christmas. It was kept at my Grandmother Dixon’s house and I was so ready to propose it just slipped my mind. So, we’re at Christmas with the Dixon side of my family in Belmont when the little box with the ring is placed in front of Cooey. I start to understand at that point there might be a slight dilemma. Siobhan gets her promise ring and loves it and wants to call her mother. The issue is, I did not tell her mother about the promise ring and the last thing I want is for the engagement to be ruined for her. I walk with Cooey and try to text her mother, but I’m not getting any response. The poor woman is confused and concerned that I’m keeping this from her mother and that I’m being so secretive. At one point she thinks I’m either breaking up with her or dying or something else terrible. She’s sobbing on a bench with me in a small park in the middle of Belmont, New York and I know if anyone has to let her know about my plans, it has to be me.

”'Listen…. This isn’t the only ring I bought you.’

“So the truth comes out. I tell her about the engagement ring I left in my bag at the church and this entire story I’m writing now. I’m pretty sure she hit me. I didn’t have the ring, but I got down on one knee and asked the question. She said 'yes,’ as you might expect since this is a wedding website you’re on.

"But this wasn’t quite our engagement. I still had the ring of course. She just knew it was coming, but I still had to at least try to surprise her. So one day I did nothing. I was supposed to do dishes and laundry, but instead I went down and, unbeknownst to her, picked up her engagement ring from being sized and waited the rest of the day in bed. She was not happy when she made it home. We had to go out to eat since I didn’t do any dishes but that was part of the plan. The meal we had wasn’t great and the restaurant wasn’t special to us. We actually haven’t been back since we got engaged in the parking lot. We finished our meal and on our way to the car I lagged behind her and pulled out the ring.

"The only time I figured I could surprise her was with the most innocuous day and that’s what I tried to do.

"Besides, it’s not about where; it’s about us. She and I. Wherever we are is special to us, as cheesy as it is. I want to spend all my life with her, not just the special and fun parts. The days where we don’t do anything are just as important to me as the days we do a once in a lifetime activity. I truly love her and hope you can be with us on October, 13th 2017 to share that with us.”

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