Our Story - Part III: Fate Brought Us Together Again

We were together again. I remember that BART ride home like it was yesterday, having him by my side, holding my hand and being ecstatic about our future together. Kylia had stayed the night with my parents so we could travel and have time to get settled, so I remember walking into my duplex I was renting at the time with him, nervous about how he would feel about the way I kept a home, letting him check it out. I remember our first night together.

The next morning, we headed to my parent's house around the corner. I remember seeing BJ and Kylia embrace for the first time. Kylia was so excited to "meet" her daddy and BJ's face looked like he was holding an angel and never wanted to let go. It is an image that will forever be burned into my memory, seeing them together like that after so many years.

We spent the next couple months getting him settled in California again. At first, he got a temporary job at a local factory just to get him working. Within a month and a half, however, he landed an awesome job with a grocery distribution warehouse that he would go on to spend 17 years with. We were enjoying life together as a little family, making plans for the future, and just happy.

Then, one day, I realized that something was missing. My period. Again. This could not be happening. I was on the pill and he'd only been back 4 months! I waited a week, and when nothing came, I went to the store and bought a pregnancy test. Sure as shit, it was positive. HOW???

The next few weeks were a blur. We went to my OB/GYN with a new insurance that I had and confirmed I was in fact a few weeks pregnant. We began the journey again together, excited this time once it sunk in, that we would be bringing another life into this world. It may not have been what we'd planned, but this time we were adults and we knew we had a future together. Our duplex was a little two bedroom place, so we started searching for a three bedroom to accommodate a nursery, and found ourselves an adorable house to rent in one of the best areas of town. Our family was growing, we were getting more established, and things were looking like life was on our side.

Then we went in for our ultrasound to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. We were so excited to see our new little pilaf and hear that whoosh, whoosh of the heart! But when she placed the wand and moved it around, nothing came. She kept searching and poking, but nothing. She couldn't even see the baby. She stepped out of the room for a moment leaving us perplexed and scared. A few moments later, the tech came back into the room and asked us to step into a room to speak with the doctor. What came next shocked us. She told us that we were, in fact, dealing with what was called a molar pregnancy. Essentially, my body was producing hormones as if I was pregnant. I felt pregnant, and my placenta was growing as if I was pregnant, and would continue to do so for a full term pregnancy. There was no fetus, however. My body thought there was a fetus, but there wasn't. We were saddened that our little family would not be growing after all, but knew that it just meant it wasn't our time and felt blessed that at least we did not have to feel the devastation of a miscarriage.

Healing and moving on...

After we healed from the loss of the idea of another baby, we focused on the future again. We continued to pursue career advancements and talked about getting married in the future. One day, while we were at the mall, I was "window shopping" at a jewelry store giving BJ ideas as to what style I might like for my future band, and he was doing the same. I stumbled across the most beautiful, simple engagement ring and wedding band set and told him, "That's it, that's the one." He bought it on the spot, right in front of me. He then proceeded to torture me for the next few months, with that little bag and that smaller box inside it up high in his closet, just sitting there.

Then, one summer day, I came home and he told me to get dressed for date night. I got dolled up and we walked out to the car. He opened my door and when I got in, he pulled out a blindfold. I knew our hometown like the back of my hand, so he knew he couldn't take any chances. The blindfold was on and we were driving through the town, left then right, then left, then right, him trying to get me lost even though I couldn't see.

It took a while actually, but finally I wasn't quite sure where we were anymore and he was able to make his way to our destination. He led me out of the car and into a building. The moment we entered, I started guessing where we were again based on smells. The church? The library? Where were we?

He sat me down in a hard seat and I reiterated that I thought we were at the church based off the hard seat, the draftiness and the old smell of the building. He chuckled and said I was wrong, then removed the blindfold.

When I opened my eyes, he was down on one knee in front of me, with that little box held open and my ring inside. I blinked and looked around for a moment to see where we were and that's when it hit me - we were in our first period classroom, set up exactly the same way and me sitting in my exact seat from all those years ago. He had remembered, too! He told me that he'd known from the moment I walked into that classroom that I was his, and asked if I would do him the honor of being his wife. Of course I said yes!!

Once we embraced and kissed long and lovingly, he led me back to the car, passing a janitor on the way out. He waved to him and thanked him, exclaiming, "She said 'yes'!" He drove me to a restaurant in town, reminding me as we got out of the car that this was the first restaurant we'd gone to when we first started dating as teens. As we sat over our delicious meal, he explained to me how he had worked with the district office and the summer janitors to open up the school especially for us today and help get the classroom set up. He said everyone at the office thought it was the absolute sweetest story they'd heard - which, of course, it was - and were more than happy to help make it happen.

First comes love, then comes...wait, that's not how you're supposed to do it!

Never ones to follow the typical "order" of things, our next big adventure was the process of purchasing our first home. We knew we wanted to wait to marry because it just so happened that in 2009, August 22nd, the day he came back home, was on a Saturday, a perfect day to get married. We also knew we didn't want to wait to purchase a home, because we agreed we wanted to give Kylia something more permanent before she got much older.

We looked for months at house after house. We put in an offer on at least four different houses, but it was such a competitive market during that time, that we kept getting out bid. Then, finally, in October of 2008, we found the perfect house and everything fell into place. By November, we were taking ownership of our new home. The day we got the keys, we were all so excited, the three of us camped out with blankets and pillows in the living room, not caring that we didn't have a bed to sleep on yet. We painted the entire house, letting Kylia pick her colors and theme unlike anything I'd been able to provide in the past, then started to move in. We were proud of ourselves and happy to begin this next chapter of our lives as homeowners.

Our first home together

Our little family :)

After we moved into our house and got settled, we really cracked down on the wedding planning. We had less than a year to finish planning, after all. We wanted a simple, small wedding at my home parish. My grandfather, the deacon at our church, would be our officiant. My sister, Christian, would be doing the cantering with her angelic voice. BJ asked his close friend, Charles, to be his best man, and my mom, who is my best friend, would be my maid of honor. We would have less than 150 guests. Small, simple and intimate. And that's what it was - it was perfect.

We left for our honeymoon the day after the wedding. We were blessed to spend an entire week at an adult only all-inclusive resort in Cozumel, Mexico. We ate like crazy, I drank (BJ does not drink at all), rode jet skis, lounged on the beach next to the crystal clear waters, and floated along in the pool that wound its way through the hotel. We spent the week in each other's arms constantly, had couples massages, and ate some more. I swear BJ tried everything that resort had to offer on the menu - LOL. It was an incredible week that neither one of us has ever forgotten and both desperately want to return to again someday.

We returned home and quickly got back into our routine, but as a married couple now. It was an amazing feeling to finally sign my name Thompson after all these years. I was his and he was mine. We talked about the future regularly and enjoyed our time together and with Kylia. We were married for one and and half months when it happened again. Where was my period??

Yep, we were that fertile. I was on the pill still, was religious about taking it, and we still ended up pregnant again, but this time there was a baby....

Read Part IV here...