How I Met My Husband(Jennifer L. Lamb) It was Dec. 1997, when I met my future husband. I was in downtown Sarasota, Florida on a date with a co-worker, after our company Christmas party. I was working for Hell, aka Walmart, at the time. This is when the company would spurge on out of store Christmas parties. Some would say they even still cared about their associates... but I digress.
It was after the Christmas party and I was feeling nostalgic. (I had just moved back to Sarasota from NJ after leaving a druggie/abusive fiancee and father of my child.) I asked my date, Jason, if we could go for a walk downtown.

I used to frequent downtown on Friday nights, as a teen. It was still a few years before they started all the construction and made downtown what it is today... 5 points and the Brickyard were the places to be, underage drinking, good bands and the cops had a sense of humor...
We were walking around and I saw an old friend of mine, Jarico. Tall, some-what skinny, Woodstock wanna-be throwback that smoked weed with his Dad... He was cool! Hugs and introductions all around. Jarico's friend was introduced.

Brian was his name and we met that night, in front of (what use to be) The Blue Parrot. I didn't even know that place existed until that night. I still wouldn't learn the name until years later, but that's where we started.

I was 18, fresh out of a bad relationship and "learning to live again"... Brian was hot! Dreamy even! The epitome of sexy, confidient and cool!... I didn't stand a chance, or so I thought. I soon made a new friend and he liked the small braids I had put in my hair. His hair was braidably long. So, there we sat for hours, Brian and I, in front of this club just talking as I braided his hair.

Oh, sh#t! Where's that other guy? The guy who gave me a ride? No, hes just a friend... and he was.

We soon learned that Brian only lived a few roads over from where I was staying with my parents. Who would've thought!? Needless to say, Brian and I had some good, drug-fueled times! Amazing talks as we hung out with the
neighborhood kids. Friends of my younger sister, Michelle, who kind of "inherited" me when I moved back home. I'll never forget those friends and I'm still friends with them today!

But those talks were the most amazing when we were alone, walking through the neighborhood, "tripping balls" and watching the world pass us by. The clouds inspired so many lost conversations, but I remember highlights.
The best parts you never forget. We shared our fears and our stories. We shared the drugs and we shared a bed... and a bathroom. We broke my bed and we got caught on the couch by my father... Sorry, I digress again.
That happens so often!

We were as close as two "fu@k buddies" can be.
(Sorry, Bubby. I know you hate that word)

There was this one night... Brian took me on my first motorcycle ride. Oh yeah! He rode! It was beyond amazing! Not only because the feeling on the back of a bike is indescribable! Its the only word that comes close to describing it! Makes sense, right? But it wasn't just that. It was the company. He took me to a pier, under the stars. We talked, made out... It was perfect! ... and in my head I wondered how many girls he had brought here before. I think I even asked him. Lets just say, Brian liked to "live" too! We were very much alike! Probably why we got along so well.
We didn't want attachments. We were "fu@k buddies" and nothing more. "Friends with benefits" and that was a good thing. But I think I loved him. Damn you, emotions!!! Damn you, girly feelings of love and "happily ever after"! There's no such thing! I had a daughter to worry about! I needed a good man who I could trust. At this point, I couldn't even trust myself! But why did it feel so right when we were together?
Brian eventually left on a cross-county hitchhiking trip for awhile. I was still trying to regain who I had once been. I was trying to find my happiness and I was partying too much... but I was still working. In Hell, (aka Walmart) no less.

Funny thing is, I don't remember this time very much. I was still living with my parents, before they had divorced. Three sisters back together again... one happy family... Dark times... Ha!

Just as soon as he had left, Brian was back. He even brought a friend with him. Mike was his name. Kinda pudgy, longish dark greasy hair. So, one night, we got busted at an elementary school for smoking weed on the premise. It was after hours! We lost a stash, a bowl... in the bushes! Gone! Got interrogated while high as fu@k by a cop and a "rent-a-cop"...
Brian, me, the neighborhood kids, Mike. I think my sister Michelle might have been there too... then again, maybe not! I don't remember much of what was said, especially what I said. I can picture the whole thing, its just the words are totally mumbled!

Then afterwards... that's a threesome no one wants to talk about! Oops! TMI?! But this IS the Story of Us! Mike was a good guy, but just as delusional as I was about love.

One of the last nights I remember being together, Brian and I, walked to the stores on the other side of the neighborhood and across a busy road. I don't remember the walk. I think it was around twilight. I remember crossing a road and walking up a grassy slope... He offered me his hand for the first and only time...or maybe the first and only time it ever truly meant something. The feeling I got when I took his hand... That surge of emotions!

That spark! It was magical! I really was in love with him. I was in love with my "fu@k buddy". You're NOT supposed to do that!!! But I couldn't fight my true feelings anymore.

I cant remember if I had made my thoughts known, but I think Brian knew. Somehow he just knew and maybe, he even felt it too.

The last time we were "together", it was in my parent's house. The bathroom between mine and my very younger sister Sarah's room. I was going out on a date and it wasn't with Brian. But that didn't mean we couldn't get a "bang" in before my date arrived!

Only later, after my date Albert and I were together for a few months, did I find out that he had called that night. My Dad answered the phone and told him I was in the bathroom with someone... maybe he even used Brian's name.

I don't know. By then I was in too deep. I had let my feelings grow for Albert, and Brian had kind of just vanished. Albert always used that fact of the bathroom over my head. Arguments always came back to that. He was a
good man (R.I.P.) but he was mentally abusive.

You have to remember, this is just my side of the story. Albert could argue that last fact. Brian has a much better memory then I do. Maybe one day I'll get his side of the story. I don't know what Brian was feeling towards me.

I needed stability and someone who was going to be there for my daughter and I... we were a packaged deal! I didn't know what kind of father Brain would be. Out of all our conversations, I don't think our future together
ever came up. I mean, why would it!? We were just "fu@k buddies", as Ive stated before. (Sorry, Bubby)

So, I fell for another man and Brian went on to live his life.
He fell in love with another woman. They even had a daughter together... Sebain. She has her mothers last name. That was the deal. If it was a girl, she would take her mother's name. But "Sebain"... that name came to Brian in a dream which turned into a reality. Sebain was born to a man who never really liked kids. Luckily, he loved his daughter! He had to have! How many men out there do you know of that would step-up to raise a daughter without their mother? The mere thought of that could bring some men to their knees! But Brian did just that, with the help of his amazing family!

Sebain's mother left them both. Sebain was very young. I don't even think she was 2 yet.
Meanwhile, I had married Albert in a Vegas wedding. We'd eventually buy a house in Northport... Blah, blah, blah... I left him and moved back in with my mother. I don't think my parents were together anymore. I was
with another man, at this point, and started playing house once again when we moved into our own place. We were back in Sarasota, by the way.

In 2004, I would get pregnant with my son. A happy accident! I think that was the first time I ran into Brian after all those years! In Walmart, of all places. I was pregnant, he was still with his baby mama. We probably
ran into each other a couple of more times throughout the next year. I realized who it was the second time I saw him. I can't forget his eyes. No matter how hard I might have tried, there was always something about
Brian's eyes. The color, the depth... There's a comedian who reminds me of Brain. Chris Wylde. Look him up sometime. I cant be the only one who sees it! (At least if you personally know what my husband looks like) That comedian reminded me of Brian when I saw him on TV, shortly before...
Well, you'll see.

I was moved back to the claims department at Walmart. The less interaction with the customers, the better! Unbeknownst to me, these were missed opportunities. Someone was looking for me... eventually.

I want to say it was late 2005... I'm horrible with dates... and names! I had my son and had since split with his father. I think that's the year my daughter and I both broke our wrists. Just a week apart! Unfortunately, mine didn't happen at work. They saw it was broken before I even knew it was! The hassle was getting to a Doctor and getting a cast on it, then permission to come back to work. I did more work with one hand then my fellow associates did with two!

Anyways, it was a HUGE hassle! But in one of my rushes through the store to hand in more paperwork, I ran into a familiar face... who also happened to be in a cast. What were the chances!?

Brian had hurt his ankle pretty badly in a motorcycle accident. I wish my break was that exciting! I just fell wrong in a Tae-Kwon-do class!
We talked, but I was in a rush. I got his phone number. Did I mention I was with someone, kind of. It was another case of mixed up, girly, happily ever after delusions... I always wanted more then they were willing
to give! I couldn't help it. I was a mother, not a kid. I wanted a relationship. I wanted a happy family. I thought I was going in the right direction, that I could change him.
You will never change him! You can't change someone unless they want to change for themselves.

So, a week after Brian had (nearly) run in to me and given me his number, I called him. I wound up at his house and it was just like old times! Only, this time we didn't break the bed.

I don't know why I stayed with the other guy. I guess I was waiting for him to leave and I didn't want anyone to get hurt, plus he was helping my kids and I financially. But he was going to Europe with his brother soon. He always said "Blood was thicker then water." Meaning I'm the water. They had this plan long before me, and nothing was going to change that.
So, I let Brian in. We got closer when I wasn't with my boyfriend. Brian even hung out with us Sunday nights at the Cheetah Club, a local strip joint. My boyfriend and him were friends. My BF even bought him a lap dance from one of the girls the first time he came to the strip club with us.

That was an absolute thrill to watch, although honestly, I wasn't watching. I was in my "happy place" at the bar, trying my damndest to not see it out of the corner of my eye. I think Brian said she reminded him of a small Anna Nicole. I always liked Anna Nicole... or maybe was it Pamela Anderson? I didn't care.

The boyfriend and I faded out. I told him it was over during his going away party. He made it clear he wasn't going to be faithful while he was traveling. They were going to be gone for 3 months! By then, I already knew

I was in love with Brian. I always was. I was looking for any excuse to break it off so Brian and I could be together without sneaking around. I found out later that my boyfriend had "given permission" to Brian to be with me while he was away. Wasn't that sweet of him.

The night I broke up with the boyfriend, I came home to Brian. I had my own place then. I had Brian, and he didn't make it easy! He had been hurt. I understood that. I was patient and I didn't push for anything. Sure, we had been sleeping together again since the first time I went back to his house, both in casts. But there was more there this time. More then just our past "fu@k buddy" status. We were finally going to see how things went as boyfriend and girlfriend... a real relationship. Taking it slowly, of course. We were going to the next step. He gave me a ring that night. I thought it was his ring. It was, in a sense. But to me, that night, it was a promise. He was going to love me like he always did. Yes, later I did find out that he had felt the same way about me that I did about him. He even came looking for me, once, but Michelle had told him to "Fu@k off! Shes with someone now!"

Missed opportunities until the timing was finally right. Fate, destiny, soul mates... true love.
That is how I met my husband. He proposed to me on Valentines Day/night in a strip club called The Scoreboard. November 1st we celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary. Things haven't always been perfect. I have issues.
We're financially struggling half the time. But no good relationship doesn't face a few bumps in the road. The ones that are meant to be will last. I think I read that somewhere.
My husband and I are happy. We get through good and bad times together. I'm happy, and Id like to think Brian is. One sided story and all... but I believe he is every time he tells me he loves me.
What I do know for a fact is my husband is the most amazing man I've ever had the privilege of knowing! Loving, romantic, sexy, caring, and an amazing father, husband and provider.
We're not rich but we're happy. Money helps, don't get me wrong. But I've found my happy family. I found my "happily ever after." Through all the lessons my life has/had taught me, I finally wound up with an amazing outcome.
For me, my daughter and my son... and for his daughter. I've been with Sebain for more years then her own mother. Although my son's father is still around, Brain has been there for Jareth (my son) since he was a baby.
Issues with my oldest daughter, Chasity, were eventually resolved and Brian IS her father!

We are together for the long run because I love my family and I love my husband. Once my never, now hes forever... I've always said that about us. Now, maybe people who read this will understand why.

I'm writing this to express my true love for my husband of, almost, 7 years. Hes my everything. Him and our children. I could never truly express how much I truly love Brian. Always have, always will.
This is our love story, or at least the beginning because its still going on and going strong. Of all the love stories, ours is my favorite!
Brian is my "happily ever after" and I have no regrets about how we met. I'm just thankful we did. No regrets about my past. It was all leading up to us.

This is the story of how I met my husband, my true love, my forever.
I love that man!

---