"The Details"

Ok ... I guess it's about time that I give all the details about Luis. He's 33, originally from Venezula but living in the states for 10 years, has 2 kids (Hannah-6 and Micah-5), and is just the best thing since sliced bread!! Luis and I met through match.com and have been together for 6 months now. We communicated through phone calls, e-mails, and IM for about 4 months before we actually made it around to meeting each other face to face. Our first date happened only 6 weeks before my surgery. I told him that night what was going to be happening and that I wasn't really looking for anything serious but by the end of the night, I was hooked. Before we knew it, the place was closed down and all the chairs were up on the tables. It was so funny! Neither one of us knew what was going on around us until our waiter came and was sweeping under our table. Luis knew the restaurant manager so I guess he was just going to let us stay there as long as we wanted.

Anyway, the closer it got to my surgery, the more I began to question Luis about whether or not he was going to "date other people" or if he "just wanted to be friends". I was really nervous that he was going to run away when things got tough and I didn't want to have to handle that on top of trying to recover from major surgery. He told me he was in it with me and didn't want out. So then I have surgery, and of course, all the unimaginable happens ... 8 days in ICU on a vent, staph infection, double pnuemonia, they call in my family because they don't think I'm going to make it and then I finally wake up with a trach. Luis didn't leave through all that and has been by my side ever since. He never told me "you'll be okay" or "you'll make it through this" but rather it was always "we're going to make it" and "we'll be okay". He both agree that in our 6 months together, we've been through a lot more than most married couples.

We've both been very careful to stop and evaluate our relationship several different times. With Hannah and Micah in the picture, I had to evaluate early on to make sure Luis was someone that I wanted to be with. Otherwise, I needed to not just stay around to have someone to date. It was either I saw us together long term or I didn't. There's also quite a bit of "mama drama" baggage because the kids have 2 different moms. Micah and his mom live with Luis and Hannah and so I've had to stop on several occasions and think, can I put up with Marci for the rest of my life??!! They've only been there for a few months and are moving out in a few weeks. I think Luis is worth it though. Hannah's mama drama is something completely different. Hannah isn't Luis' child but he has adopted her and has full custody. Hannah's mom kind of comes and goes. I don't think that we've heard from her since around October, which was Hannah's 6th birthday.

So, here lately, we've been talking about getting married and I really have a feeling that he's going to propose sometime soon. Everyone thinks that it's going to happen on Valentine's but I don't know. We're always talking about our wedding and have decided on several things already. I'm just waiting for the ring!!!