This thing is happening. Ready or not, parenthood here we come. Let’s see, how do I best express the emotions I’m experiencing right now? Which phrase will sum up the combination of hormones, fear, joy, sadness and anticipation that is coursing through my being? There are a myriad of options, and not all of them are G-rated, so I’ll leave them to your imagination. The point is, this thing is happening, and before I get all wrapped up in another love of my life, I feel compelled to give a shout-out to the original love of my life. Warning: it’s a little sappy. What do you expect from a 39-week pregnant lady?

Corbet and I met in Santiago, Chile, at the restaurant where he was working as a sushi chef. He was disgruntled, in the midst of ending a long-term relationship, I was disinterested, having just accepted a job in Tunisia a week before, but somehow we managed to at least exchange email addresses (I asked for his phone number but he rejected that request, offering his email address instead…it turns out he didn’t have his phone number memorized). The common thread was music. I learned he was a musician, and invited him to Nido’s One Mic Stand (an open mic benefit concert that used to be a tradition at my old school). Over the next few days, we exchanged a few emails and I began to get acquainted with Corbet’s quirky sense of humor. He decided to join me at the open mic night, but other than the ride to and from the event, I didn’t really spend much time with him (he was suffering from a gastrointestinal malady). The next day, my future husband called me and asked me if I’d like to play music with him. That was the beginning of our love story. He came over, and after we spent the afternoon singing and playing and talking, we both left knowing that our lives had just changed. The next few weeks were spent making more music, talking, and, eventually, once he recovered from his illness, eating (surprise surprise). I looked forward to every minute I was able to spend in his company. This man was kind, respectful, silly, sweet, and felt like home to me. As wonderful as it all sounds, it wasn’t easy for me to completely let him into my life. Through all of my dating experiences, I had developed some habits that made it difficult for me to fully trust a man or my feelings about a man. Corbet bravely suffered through the process of breaking these habits. I’ve asked him why he stayed by my side through those difficult moments, and he says that he knew that there was a different me behind all of those defenses, and that he knew it would be worth it in the end. Thank goodness he was right. So now here’s a man who’s not only kind, respectful, silly and sweet, but who could also see the beauty of my spirit through all of the years of scar tissue. Needless to say, it wasn’t hard to say yes when he proposed to me 4 months after we met. I’m sure people thought we were crazy, and looking back on it, we would agree! Crazy or not, we got married 7 months after our first meeting in Hawaii in front of our closest friends and family. A few weeks later, we got married again in Billings, Montana, with more friends and family present. A number of days later, we were on our way to Tunisia, our first home together as a married couple.

As our son goes through the preliminary motions of joining our crazy little clan, I feel my heart growing. It’s growing to include a new person into our family, but it’s also growing to accommodate a bigger love for the buddy by my side. When we move on to our next home in Bangkok, Corbet will be taking on a new role as primary caregiver to our baby boy. Through all of the doubts and anxiety about a new baby, school, culture, and climate (sweet lord, the humidity), I feel comforted knowing that our son will be in the care of an incredible person who will love him the same way he loves me: with all of his heart, and then some.

The early days…

handsome devil

At a Giants game during our honeymoon in San Francisco

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