A Continuation of Milestone Moment: The Secret to Preserving Memories (How I Met My Wife). Read the previous blogs in the category called: Meeting the Love of your Life.

My time with my nieces is precious!  I never seem to have enough.  When I am with them, the time flies by and it is over too soon.  This time was a little different though.  I was actually spending 9 days with them, so it seemed like it went slower.  On Sunday morning, they were all getting ready for church, and I decided to check my email.  It had been several days and I really wanted to know if FaithfulGodChaser had sent me an email.  To be honest, I really didn’t expect it.  In my mind, I was thinking about all the reasons that I had given her not to email me.  You see, I had told the truth about my life. . . I told her about being divorced and expected that a “good girl” like her would not be interested in even a friendship with someone like me.  I was shocked when I opened my email . . . There it was.

I had butterflies in my stomach as I opened it up.  What would it say?  Would she be kind?  Would she tell me to go away?  I began to read her email.  I didn’t even realize until later that I was biting my bottom lip with anticipation.  After reading a paragraph, I looked to see if this was a short or a long email . . . To my pleasant surprise, it was huge!  It took me about 30 minutes to finish reading the email.  As I was closing it down, my youngest niece, Sydni, (Spelled, S-Y-D-N-I-With a dot!  You do not forget her dot, or she will not be happy with you!) asked me what I was doing.  I told her that I was reading an email from a girl I just met online.  Even at the age of 4, she understood what this meant and she made sure the whole house knew!  Uncle Mark has a girlfriend! Uncle Mark has a girlfriend!

While my relationship with the girl I now knew as Marcie was far from being a “real relationship” the taunts from the children in the house went on all day.  “Mark and Marcie, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”  We all know the song.  We have all sung it at one point in our lives.  I must admit, it is a little different when you are a grown man, hearing these childhood taunts.  It had been 6 or 7 years since I had been in any kind of relationship, and it felt good to know that this was even a possibility.

It took me a couple of days to find the time to email her back.  I stayed up late on the last night that I was there in order to send a response.  I needed to think without all the tormenting from my favorite girls in the world.  I carefully answered her questions and posed a few of my own.  This girl seemed to have a lot of things in common with me.  She was not interested in a romantic relationship, and frankly, neither was I.  This was my first attempt after being divorced.  There was still a lot of hurt there.  While emailing with her was fun, it also brought up a lot of hurt and pain.

I drove home in quiet reflection of the email I had received while there.  I thought about who this person is and what she had said.  I knew in my heart that we would be good friends.  I knew that God had brought her into my life for a reason.  I knew that my life would never be the same just because we had talked.  But I didn’t know how true those thoughts really were . . .

It would be interesting to journal about my anxiety levels (as they were very high at this point in our relationship), and watch them fall as I got to know my future wife better. Now that is a journal that would be helpful to read to my future child, to explain what it is like meeting “the one” you will marry eventually. What a fun journal to save in a time capsule. Let’s face it, it can be scary meeting someone we do not know, let alone someone online. Here is a helpful website to help you write your first (milestone moment) email back to that special someone, like I did. Check out these tips at http://www.match.com/magazine/article/8753/Send-A-Standout-Email/.

Have fun getting to know each other. Remember it is important to be friends first. Start your life story of how you met with a journal like this at https://www.etsy.com/listing/130915450/memories-from-the-day-we-met-5-x-7?ref=market. Save this journal in your Wedding Time Capsule, to open up years later (like at your 25th Anniversary) to read again, and cry or laugh together as you reminisce. Save your emails you write back and forth together, as you get to know each other, then read them years later after you get married. What a milestone moment that day will be for you both, as you reminisce and reflect on what life was like the year you first met or emailed each other.

Where did you first meet your spouse? Comment below. We love to hear your stories too.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

www.timecapsule.com

The post Keep your Personal Journals & Save your Emails – Priceless Moments appeared first on Time Capsule | Personalized Gifts.

As a continuation from my last blog about meeting my wife, I let you in on a little secret while I waited for her to email me back.

I drove to be with my family with a smile on my face.  You see, I was carrying a secret.  I was living in Indiana.  The place where I was heading was in North Carolina.  The day before I left for my vacation, we received a little over 10 inches of snow and the temperature was a very cold 7 degrees as I loaded my minivan.  This really didn’t bother me though.  The day before I had gotten an idea that was sure to make me the hero of my wonderful nieces.  I checked the online weather map and the temperature where I was going would be in the upper 60’s all week.  So, I dug out my cooler from the camping gear in my shed, opened the lid and left it outside to get really cold.  The morning that I left, I filled that cooler with the fresh snow, closed the lid, wrapped it in a blanket and loaded it in the back of my van.  I drove all day wondering if I would receive my email before the snow melted in the cooler.

I Had A Plan

I drove for 11 hours that day and arrived in the evening at my sisters house.  I hadn’t seen them in over a year, so we exchanged the usual hugs and kisses.  We talked for a few minutes, then came the time for my big secret.  I gathered my sister, her husband, and my 4 nieces in their side yard and opened the back of the van.  They were a little disappointed when I didn’t pull out a big box of Christmas gifts and wrapped presents.  They were even a little confused when I removed the blanket from the cooler.  Finally I lifted the lid and they suddenly realized that we were about to have a snowball fight!  With a temperature of 66, we began to grab handfuls of this frozen delight and throw it at each other.  My youngest niece, who was 4 at the time, had never seen snow.

The Neighborhood Comes To Play

As we ran around in the side yard throwing our snow at each other, the neighbors began to wonder what all the screams and squeals of joy and laughter were all about.  They looked out their windows and kids from all around the neighborhood began to come out and join our little snowball fight.  This became an epic battle for survival.  It ended up being my sister, my 4 nieces and myself against the 7 of the neighborhood kids.  No snow was left unused.  We were hiding behind the lawn furniture.  I was using a metal trash can lid as a shield.  We were running around and hiding behind the cars.  Even after a snowball was thrown, it was not out of play.  It was picked up and thrown again.  We wasted nothing.  It didn’t matter that there were pine needles and dirt in the snow.  It took over an hour for the snow to completely melt.

Preserving Memories

When it was over, we were all sweaty, had pine needles in our hair, and mud on our skin and clothes.  The yard was muddy and torn up.  Every piece of clothing we were wearing needed to be washed.  But, it was worth it.  You see, I don’t get to see my family as often as I want.  When we get together, I want our time to be special.  The cleanup was a lot of work, and the time spent having the snowball fight was too short, but, the memories will last a lifetime.  It has been over 10 years since we had our 66 degree snowball fight and we still talk about it. For tips on how you too, can preserve these kinds of lasting memories in 3 easy steps, check out http://familyshare.com/preserving-family-memories-in-3-easy-steps.

Precious memories like this will last a lifetime.  Yet, in the back of my mind I wondered. . . Had she (my future wife) emailed me? Stay tuned for the next coming weeks on our website to find out what happens when I meet my wife.

What is your favorite memory as a child? Comment below.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

www.timecapsule.com

The post Milestone Moment: The Secret to Preserving Memories appeared first on Time Capsule | Personalized Gifts.