When I make posts such as this one I've just got to ramble for a bit. It's therapeutic and for whatever reason writing truly helps me process...
Back in 2002, I sat in my future husband's family kitchen surrounded by his parents and four younger brothers. We were eating soup and it was the slightest bit awkwardly quiet. It was the first time I had been over to their house as the new girlfriend. Finally, my future father-in-law looked up from his soup and said, "Look boys! It's a girl!" And, so the awkwardness of it all was slightly relieved. Outside of that funny moment the other thing that sticks out at me about that time is that I remember distinctly looking around at a table of four younger brothers that all in some way or another reminded me of the man I had fallen in love with. And, so with them I fell in love, too.
This past spring the next one down, Zach, got engaged and married the kind of girl that you fall in love with upon meeting. I stood at their rehearsal dinner and tried my hardest to say how much I loved Corey's oldest, youngest brother and how happy I was that he was marrying such a rockstar...all without crying. Of course, I did what happens to all of us when we fight tears. I did the ugly cry.
I'm not even looking forward to doing the same thing this spring. Next May, Corey's next brother, Ben, is getting married. Ben, to me, reminds me the most of Corey. That's probably why we argue like we do. ;) But, also we laugh alot. We enjoy having deep, rich, drawn out conversations...all over text messages. Just tonight I explained to him that I should probably not text anymore since I was on the interstate driving and driving+texting=stupid. I finished the text with TTFN. He quickly texted back TTYN. For any of you other losers (I am NOT one of them...I just happen to know everything) that is what Paris says to the people after she dismisses them from her BFF show. TTYN=talk to you never which=funny.
So, Ben... he's all mush-ily in love. I was a bit hesitant to jump on board with it all, but I have now fully surrendered to the fact that she is a wonderful fit. It just took me getting over my unasked-for-protectiveness-of-my-little-bro-in-law, Benny. You'll understand, I hope...it just took me by surprise.
I was piled in the car with all four of my brother-in-laws heading to meet Corey for lunch in between his two medical school graduations. Both mine and Corey's parents were in a car tagging along behind us. Ben got a call and I knew from his first few words that he must be talking to that new girl he just started dating. I was already a bit surprised by that since I was always wanting Ben to date any girl-friend he had that I thought was cute. He had stated numerous times that he was not in any mood to have a girlfriend and was frankly quite happy being single. So, when Brittany came around I was surprised by his sudden change of emotions. As he got ready to get off the phone he said three words that literally made me gasp for air, look around at the other bros to confirm they had the same reaction I was having (which they were not!) and then finally catch my breath before asking very matter of factly, "What? You love what?" Ben was quick to remind me that Corey and I dated only two weeks before getting engaged. "Whatever. That was completely different." As best friends attached at the hip, we had practically been dating for five years. The only thing missing was us deciding to quit denying it. This girl. She was all brand new and stuff. This was totally different.
I went on a rant asking him a million questions - How do you know you love her?, do you tell every girl you date you love her?, if you've only been dating for like two days just how long did you wait until you said 'i love you'?, do you know just how big those three words are?, those words are not to just be told to anyone!, and are you even old enough to say 'i love you'!?!?!?!?!?
And, so here we are. Sure enough this girl he had met made him feel different then he had ever felt before. And, so he knew. He loved her and it was going to take a lot more than a freakish, ranting sister-in-law to change that. It was if they were two souls who have been waiting their entire lives to meet each other. And, so when they did...they knew. There's just some things you can't deny.
You know those cheesy, wonderful, romance movies that you love, but make you want to scream to all the single girls that that's not really how love works? Well, for Ben and Brittany (who we endearingly refer to as Baber) it is. They met. They kissed. They're getting married.
Lucky for me I was the one who got to venture out and spend a few hours laughing hysterically and documenting their you-guys-are-so-cute-it's-disgusting engagement session.
Oh, and dang. Their engagement is an entire hilarious blog post in itself. I'll save that for a rainy day.
love this picture b/c that is the exact face Corey makes. 
Love this series...
Congratulations, MindFreak/Miley/Luda/Ben&Baber. I love you both very much. I look forward to the life we're going spend together growing old. I just hope if you ever babysit any of our kids, Ben, you don't expect us to pay you.
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