The Saga Continues...

Alright, let's see where I left off. (FYI: I'm posting this while competing on Operation Stand By Me for freebie prizes, so I imagine this post will take me a minimum of an hour to actually get published. Ha! Multitasking is fun.)
After the 18 hours of chatting, Erik and I decided we probably ought to sleep and, since we didn't want to seem to anxious to talk again, we casually mentioned that maybe we'd be on again in a few hours and perhaps we'd message one another.
After an hour of thinking about him, I forced myself to sleep for a couple of hours then woke up and debated for another whether or not to log on and see if he might be online again. I decided to go ahead and log in and within about 5 seconds of being logged in, my game announced that Erik had signed on. I felt my heart skip a beat and I decided not to mention him. Why message him and risk looking like a nut who was waiting for him to sign on? Besides, what if last night had just been a one-time thing? The pink text popped up at the bottom of my screen to show he had messaged me and I let out a sigh of relief and felt myself blushing. Immediately we dove into another all-night conversation. I wish I could tell you everything we talked about, but one thing I always remember clearly is that around midnight that second night Erik asked me what my real name was because he knew it wasn't Fae. We were voice chatting as well as text chatting by this point so I told him I'd type it and he could guess how to say it. My name is Lethia, so it isn't often people pronounce it correctly. He looked at it and I heard silence in the headphones for a second then he started guessing how to say it. It was adorable and he was trying, but it was wrong, wrong and wrong again. As I sat smiling and listened to his laughs as he tried, I typed it as it sounds for him in chat: Lee-thuh. A short silence in my headphones followed, and then I heard him say my name for the first time. It was the strangest feeling I had ever felt. I felt flutters and a wave of heat from head to toe and I had this thought hit me that if he were the only person to ever say my name again I'd be completely satisfied. He said it again. And again. He kept saying it over and over and this dreamy tone hit his voice. I think we both melted into our headphones for the rest of the night and the early morning.
These talks continued for about two weeks and it sort of hit us one night that we were developing serious feelings for each other and seriously fast. We finally laid everything out in the open about what we were feeling and it was decided we had to meet and see if it was all the same in person. (We both knew it would be, but we met online so you never know what will happen and besides your family always looks at you like you've gone batty when you mention an online relationship.) Regardless, skipping ahead to spare any readers a headache of continuing to delve into great detail you all may not want to hear about, Erik flew from California to Tennessee to meet myself and my family for the holidays. He spent a little over 2 weeks with us and, as unbelievable as it may sound, we immediately clicked in person. It felt as if we'd known each other forever, always been friends and naturally began dating. He met my family and fit in like he'd always been around us. When he proposed to me after only spending 5 days together, it didn't feel like it had only been 5 days and my answer was an immediate and resounding "Yes!"  He went to my cousin's wedding with me, spent Christmas and New Year's with me, and then we realized it was time for him to leave. Taking Erik to the airport, watching him walk past security and then seeing him fade into the mob of the security line was the first time I realized how much it would hurt to never see him again. It felt like someone was taking my heart and putting it on a plane and leaving me to die in front of the baggage check.
I cried all the way home. My best friend, Heather, had driven because she had known it would be hard for me and she took me for a greasy disgusting cheeseburger and fries. (Which I ate until I threw up then laid in my bed and bawled like a baby. It was pretty cheesy-teen-romance-movie-esque of me, but it was truly how horrible I felt.) When he called to let me know he landed, I heard the choked up voice on the other end of the phone and lost it. I didn't make it more than a few weeks before I felt lifeless and empty. We were so unsure when we'd be able to afford to see each other again. I had the money but we knew we should save for being together and getting married, but logic seemed so unnecessary and just being together made more sense. Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer. I bought a ticket and left the next day. I spent a week with Erik and it seemed like it all blew by in a moment. When Thursday morning came, I woke up with his arms hugged around me and tears in his eyes.
"I can't do it. I can not make the same mistake twice and let us be separated again. I'm not taking you to the airport."
I cried. (You'll figure out if you actually keep reading this that past the sarcastic bitch facade, I am actually a very emotional person.) I hugged him tight. We didn't know what we were going to do, but we knew we weren't going to be separated again. Period.
After a lot of calls to our parents, to our friends, to my sister, we worked out a plan to get in Erik's car and make the cross country drive from California to Tennessee, stopping off in Kansas for a day or two to rest and visit with my biological mother, step-father & little sister.
We took his car to the shop to get a safety inspection, had them check it from headlight to tail light, oil change and tune up. We loaded the car with drinks, luggage, a few groceries and blankets then set out Friday morning.
We made it exactly 99 miles from Erik's dad's apartment when suddenly the car went out of control and nearly flipped as it rode up the embankment on the side of the road. I had just nodded off when I felt Erik's arm across my chest holding me back from the dashboard and saw the car flying up the embankment. When it finally stopped, Erik jumped out and ran to get me out of the car. I was shaking and in a state of shock trying to figure out what had happened. Erik held me until I composed myself then we went to examine the car. It turns out that the tie-rod end on the driver's side front had snapped. The tire was almost completely off and the metal was twisted under the car that was almost on its side.
Erik reached back into the car for my purse, our phones and began calling his dad and AAA while I spoke with the woman who was kind enough to let us sit in her van while we waited. (It was still very early and cold in the desert.) When the tow-truck arrived we thanked her and as we road back to his dad's apartment we brainstormed. What were we going to do now?
Thank God for family. A pooling of cash from my family and what Erik and I already had got us enough to get from California to Tennessee on a plane. We left the next morning early. When we got to Tennessee and my mom and dad were there to get us, it was like all the pieces had fallen into place for us. A little struggle had led to a greater reward. We were together and happy.
April 11, 2009 I became Mrs. Erik Bessey. Truly the best day of my life. I married my best friend in a small ceremony in my sister's backyard in her garden under her gazebo. We ate hamburgers and hot dogs with our sparkling wine and wedding cake, then we met my biological mom, Sam, and my little sister, Amanda, for dinner because I hadn't seen them in years and wanted Erik to meet them. We had a nice dinner and then headed to our hotel and spent 2 nights there. It was unbelievable to me the difference that comes with making love as a married woman. Maybe its the security and comfort of knowing "this is my forever man" or maybe it makes you feel free to experiment and be more open, but we both acknowledged the difference. (And still do, might I add for all you people saying that it will end in a year.)
Now that is how I came to be the wife, perhaps tomorrow I can delve into how I became the army wife and finally housewife. :)
Goodnight and <3s.

Fae