The Fabulous Running Mommy: My Love...

Last night Paul and I went and saw a muay thai kickboxing event at San Manuel Casino! It was really raw! There was one female fight and it was insane. I have never seen someone get punched straight in the face so hard in person before. I kept cringing and squeezing my eyes shut! Paul kept his strong arm wrapped around me the entire night, and later as I drifted off to sleep with our feet lightly touching I looked back on how we met...

I have actually known my husband Paul since I was 15 years old and a new student at Valley View High School in Ontario. I was a junior and he was a senior, we immediately hit it off and became the best of friends.

1998

Valley View

When Paul graduated I was there for every moment of it, in fact when he "rang the bell" to symbolize finishing the last of his work he kept the whole school waiting while someone found me!

1999

Paul's Graduation

My senior year was horrible! Paul had graduated and I had no one to hang out with anymore. I had my first brain surgery to remove a vestibular schwannoma on the left side, after 3 months of painful recuperation I returned to high school half deaf. The ringing in my head was so loud for the first 6 months that I could not use the phone or understand most speech. Paul stayed by my side through it all and would even sit on the relay phone with me as if nothing was out of the ordinary. It was such a lonely and painful time for me, and Paul was the best friend a girl could have. Even now I have the journals saved where I would doodle his name all over the edges! Whenever I was upset, I could drive to Paul's Nina's where he lived in the converted garage. Around the time I graduated and finally became single, I found out a girlfriend of mine who knew full well I liked Paul purposefully set her sights on him! He kissed her, and naively told me about it! He seriously couldn't grasp why I was upset, I swear men can be so incredibly oblivious! After 3 years of friendship I finally yelled, "I'm mad because I like you stupid!" and slammed down the phone!!! He called back and said well of course he liked me too! Our first date we went and saw the Blair Witch Project, he kissed me and the world swooned, or maybe that was from the camera shaking on the movie, either way I got sick as we left! For a couple of years Paul and I dated on and off, we never went steady, we were young and just having fun. Everytime something serious would happen, if I was hurt or scared, I could run to Paul. Eventually we lost touch for about a year, and when we finally saw each other again it was as though we knew it was fate. We had both been through unspeakable drama since we had been apart and had lost our innocence. In Paul I found a bit of who I had been before the pain, in him I found someone who loved me for who I had been and who I was now. 4 years ago this month Paul took me to the LA County fair, and as we stumbled off a ride and watched the fireworks overhead we embraced the love that had slowly grown over the years.