ALY ALLEN | THE BLOG

if you're new to this series, start here:  part 1   |   part 2   |   part 3   |   part 4  |   part 5 so, by now you know that he told me he loved me twice within a few months' span and i didn't say it back either time. well, a few weeks after the "second time" occurred, we were sitting in my room and he was making me laugh as always. [remember, he was funny?] in the midst of laughter, i just blurted it out: haahaha,  i love you , haha... wait. and we both paused. and panicked. i didn't even intend to say it, it just came out of my mouth and now i can't take it back!?! and i'll never forget the look of disbelief, coupled with relief, in his eyes. i can see it right now in my mind and it still makes me melt. like i had just made his entire year. his entire life. by loving him back. i'm pretty sure it was very quickly after that i knew i was going to marry him. crazy, right? fifteen years ...

if you're new to this series, start here:  part 1   |   part 2   |   part 3   |   part 4 so i don't know about your high school, but we went to a small christian school that's affiliated with a baptist church.  which meant no dancing [secretly a relief for me, right? because if you've been reading, you know i dislike dancing because i'm terrible at it.] you could dance, but the school could not sponsor or put on an event that included dancing. so that meant there was no prom or homecoming dance or sweethearts . so what do the baptist high school students do? we have "banquets". we dress up pretty and take pictures and ride in limos and go eat. for real. that's it. all of you who went to CHS is nodding your heads and giggling a little. luckily [for everyone else who enjoyed it] someone always had an after party  where the dancing happened. but needless-to-say, for girls who didn't have prom,...

if you're new to this series, start with:  [part 1]   and   [ part 2 ]   and   [ part 3 ] his birthday was october 29, not too long after we became "official". another chance to see the whole family. but it was getting easier each time, and besides,  they were some of the nicest people you could ever meet and none of them were shy. i got him a quicksilver t-shirt for his gift. lame. that was the hardest part about it. what do you get someone you've only known for 2 months but he's your boyfriend and you should be able to think of a really awesome gift? that same weekend there was a halloween party. yeah, remember how i said i was socially awkward and hated parties? especially dance parties? it was a dance party. my saving grace? he had broken his shoulder a few weeks earlier and had three pins sticking out and couldn't do much. we went to the party but we didn't have to dance. yay! however. i had no ide...

if you're new to this series, start with:  [part 1]   and    [part 2] i was the kind of girl who had to seem independently happy and confident and completely self-sufficient. but i wasn't really any of those things.  i really needed others' approval, mostly of the male variety. now, don't misunderstand. i wasn't promiscuous, but i just craved  attention from the opposite sex. even if it was just an acknowledgment with a "hi" or a wave or harmless flirtation. that was enough for me. that would keep me happy for days. but i played it cool, and i think that coolness mixed with shyness led people to believe i was strong and confident and unemotional and not very needy. totally untrue. so this intentional pursuit by this really cute boy did a number on me. i allowed myself and my ego to be filled and fed by this boy. i began to create my identity around him, gain my worth from his love and affection,  base my valu...

if you haven't read the first installment, go here... school started in September.  and the very first day of school, i met him. oh great.  now what about my no-dating-this-year-because-boys-are-useless-and-terrible pledge? yeah, that went out the window at first glance & heart flutter. this boy.  this boy was different.  i mean, he lit up every room and every conversation that he walked into.  he was fearless and funny and ridiculously good looking. all 27 pimples and nose-too-big-for-his-face and 140 pounds and 6 feet of him. skinny, pimply... and so captivating [he still is] see what i mean? :) so the no dating resolution went out the window. and we started to talk a lot, and we started to feel those butterflies.  you know the ones. he invited himself to sit with my friends at lunch now that i think about it, we were the popular sophomore girls.  my friends wer...

okay, i know. this would've been a great series for valentine's day, or at least february , right?  well, i was having a baby. and also i didn't have the idea back then, i had it now. i thought it'd be fun to take a little walk down memory lane and write out our "love story", all the way from the very beginning! i will be leaving some parts out, much to the disappointment of my readers who will probably be hoping for every juicy detail and complete transparency. but since my entire family and my husband's entire family reads this blog [and plenty of other people i probably don't even know about] i want to be sensitive and respectful and wise about what i write here. since it's my space, i get to do that. i just want it to be a fun little series of stories. i say all of that above, to remind you that no story is perfect, no relationship is a fairy tale,  and no marriage is a walk in the park. mine certainly has not been. and that...

i totally forgot to post about this earlier today... october 10, 1999 my husband and i "officially" became boyfriend/girlfriend, much to the dismay of the many other freshman & sophomore girls who were hoping to catch his eye [it was a month into the school year, he was new at school, everyone liked him, but he liked me] . i remember that sunday night like it was yesterday. we were on the phone, as usual, and i was laying on my stomach on the bed, facing the closet... just enamored with the conversation, i'm sure. i love having conversations with him still. and he said the dreaded: "so, what are we?"... i said i didn't know, that i would let him decide, and he said "well, i guess we're official". the next day we put signs on our lockers that said "official", just in case anyone was wondering. so it's been 12 years. and i'm only 27 [he's still 26 for another few weeks!] i know we're not the only ones who met so...

i really need to sit down and write about blog sugar but i think i need a few more days to process everything, maybe? surreal, odd, amazing, wonderful... all in 7 short hours. it was all of those and more. but before i give you all the mushy fun stuff, there's something more pressing that i didn't want to wait any longer to tell you about: at one point in the evening,  Danielle shared with us about love146  and it floored me. i guess i have that empathy gene, inherited from my dad, that i instantly put myself in someone's place and feel their pain and fear and everything else. and i also have those overactive tear ducts from my mom. crying is a normal and instant response for anything and everything that moves me. love146 is an organization dedicated to preventing child sex trafficking around the world. they're also passionate about aftercare: after these children have been rescued, restoring them to a normal life and bringing them hope, and reminding the...