THE McCLOY FAMILY and KATHY McCLOY PHOTOGRAPHY ARE RELOCATING!!!!!!!!!  After three years living in Iowa, we’re headed to another middle America “I” state with lots of corn fields… home to INDIANA!  There are not words to really describe how excited I am.  I am from Terre Haute, Indiana and my family (along with lots of wonderful friends) live there.  I am so so SOOOOO happy to be moving back to be close to the people I love.  We’ve already bought a house and hope to be moved by the first of the year.  Gigantic life changes, and along with that… gigantic business changes.  Don’t worry my loyal Missouri clients, nothing is going to change for you.  I will still make several trips a year to shoot in Missouri with no travel charges.  As for Indiana… I am super excited about starting fresh and growing my business in a new community.  Once we get moved (yikes… the thought of packing up my house makes me shake in my boots) I’ll be running all sorts of fun specials for Terre Haute and the surrounding area!

On a personal note…

1. I’d like to go ahead and apologize to the teachers of Dixie Bee.  Starting next fall you will be subjected to ten years straight of McCloy boys… for a few years, three at a time.

2. You will see me in Wal-Mart in sweatpants, no makeup, and bad hair.  Keep walking please… don’t make eye contact.

2. If you have a preschool suggestion (starting in January) let me know.

3. If you know of a daycare that takes drop ins (no set schedule just here and there as needed) let me know.

4. If you know of a very good, very proven, very dependable interior painter, let me know.

5. If you know of a very good, very proven, very dependable cleaning lady, let me know.

6. If you enjoy moving heavy furniture (for free) while being tripped by naughty children, let me know… have I got a job for you!

Otey’s Mom really wanted a picture of all four of her grandkids in the same shot.  I told her I would try as long as she had realistic expectations.  I mean we are talking three WILD little boys and one sweet one.  When I deliver baby version 3.0 in January, Otey’s parent’s will have five grandsons under four.  Can you imagine what holidays are going to be like at their house in a couple of years?  So anyway, this is about as good as it gets with a 3.5 yr old, 2.5 yr old, 1.5 yr old, and a (did I mention sweet?) almost 1 year old.

I think this was the second frame I shot and about 6 seconds later Grady was done.  Arched back, get your frickin’ paws off of me Cooper… done.   And sweet baby Jasper?  He would have been hitting the road with Grady if only he could walk.  Instead he was left to scream for help while Cooper and Cole stuck grass in each others ears.

Cole and Jasper belong to Otey’s little brother Ben and his wife Brandy.  I forced them into an unplanned family photo.  Ben with his deer hunting beard and Brandy… who am I kidding, she always looks photo ready.

The forty-three second shirtless photo shoot somehow led to a spontaneous bathtub party.  Cooper and Cole were WILD… a good Mom wouldn’t have let a kid Grady’s age in their with them.  There goes my Mom of the year award.

The plan for Sunday morning was to get all the kids dressed and ready and try again to get all four of them in some photos.  TRY is the key word here.  We missed the “happy kid” window.  Grady and Jasper were ready for morning naps, Cooper and Cole were once again (you’re never going to guess) WILD.  I did catch a few of them around the house before we headed out to the barn.

For my photog friends… no dodging no burning.  Do these boys have killer eyes or what?

Otey and Ben somehow got stuck in the middle of the photo shoot when they were really in the middle of working (notice their nice boots).

Let me commentate this one for you…

Otey just said “Why do I have to be in the picture?”

Cooper is shouting “I’m a lion!!! ROOAARRR!!!!”

Which of course leads to Cole on all fours shouting “ROOOAARRR!!!!!”

Grady is still trying to get it together from the breakdown he just had at the end of trying to shoot the four boys (that’s why he has his binky).

And Ben is smiling like that because he knows his sister-in-law with the camera is leaving town as soon as we get this photo over with.

Oh, and Jasper?  I’m sure he’s just seconding what his Dad is grinning about.

Moral of this story?  If you have four kids 3.5 and under that you would like a photo of?

Call me in three years.

I’m not exactly sure how I came up with the name Cooper.  I just liked it.  We had it narrowed down to three choices… Cooper, Carson, & Carter.  We had no middle name (Otey picked Dawson at the hospital while I was in labor).  I remember that we had just found out that we were having a boy and we went to Pottery Barn Kids in Kansas City so that I could buy the boy bedding I had circled in the catalog months before and as we were leaving with our bags full of loot Otey said “I think this stuff looks like a kid named Cooper would have it in his room.”  And that was that… his name was Cooper.

Grady… that was an entirely different ballgame.  I stressed and worried from the time I found out he was a boy until the day I went in to labor about Grady’s name.  I LOVED the name Cooper, and I wanted my 2nd born to have a name I LOVED too.  Problem was… there weren’t any.  My sweet husband on the other hand was not worried about it at all.  By the end he was so sick of hearing we stress about it that we hardly discussed it.  About a week before I had Grady, I sat up one night and read through the “Top 1000 baby boy names of 2007″.  That is where I located Grady… somewhere around 800-ish.  I couldn’t wait to tell Otey about it the next morning and his reaction was a little less than what I had hoped for.  I think it went something like “it’s okay”.  Every time I mentioned a new name there were two responses I came to expect during the nine months prior to Grady’s delivery… “It’s okay.” or “I hate it.”  So that day, I posted this blog post hoping that my loyal blog readers would help me out.  You all voiced your opinions… but it did me no good.  Poor baby vs. 2.0 still had no name.

Now… fast forward a week and I am in induced labor in Ottumwa Regional Hospital with a husband by my side that is EXTREMELY worried that I am about to have his child… his nameless child.  If he said it once he said it fifty times “What are we going to name this baby?”.  As you can probabley imagine, even with my epidural in full swing, after nine months of stressing about a name… at this point I could have cared less if we named him Donald Duck.

When Grady finally arrived it was late that evening.  Just Otey and I were there and we deicded to call my Mom at our house and tell her to just wait until morning to bring Cooper to meet him.  That night when we finally got settled in to our new room and I was ready to finally get some sleep, Otey said “Kathy… what are we going to name this baby?  He has to have a name.  Cooper can’t meet him until he has a name”.  I layed there still enjoying my drug induced comfort and got a tiny but of pleasure (sorry Otey) from the panic in his voice.  I wanted to name him too, but for the first time in nine months Otey was REALLY worried about it.  He mentioned Grady and Max again… and I brought up Nate, and than I drifted off to peaceful slumber with my little no-named baby in his rolling bed beside me.  That next morning I woke to Otey declaring that he wanted to name him Grady.  At this point I wasn’t near as comfortable as I was the night before and discussing baby names was not helping.  Cooper would be there soon… my poor husband was sure this baby would need counciling his enitre life from the 12 hours he had went without a name… so for the sake of everyone’s sanity… Grady it was.  And you know what?  I LOVED it.  I must admit I forgot it about eight times that day… but I LOVED it.

That brings us to baby vs 3.0.  We hope to have him named by Christmas so I have at least a month to remember the poor kids name.  Like I mentioned in the last post… I AM A PLANNER.  Things need monogrammed… I need to wrap my head around the new name so I don’t have to feel guilty for forgetting it eight times the first day of his life.  I just went through the top 1000 baby boys names of 2008 (you can find this info on the Social Security Webpage) and here is the list I narrowed it down to after applying all my naming rules.  They are listed alphabetically, and the number out to the left is their ranking from 1-1000 of all the baby boys born in the US last year.  So… the smaller the number, the more babies that have that name.  If there is a “X” beside the name, it didn’t make the top 1000.  When looking at that number overly obsessive planning mothers like myself have to take in to consideration names like Nate.  Nathan has been in the top 30 for the past eight years, so even though Nate didn’t make the top 1000…. there are a pot load of “call him Nate for short’s” out there.

714    Ace
90      Blake
840   Bo
X        Brant
202   Braxton
277   Brock
833   Brogan
601   Brooks
116    Bryce
839   Dale
350   Dane
594   Davin
766   Dax
244   Drew
31      Dylan
76     Hayden
358   Holden
880   Houston
37     Isaac
692   Jax
X        Knox
319   Lane
212   Lincoln
19      Logan
208   Maddox
35      Mason
126    Max
688    Memphis
681    Nash
X         Nate

X        Pace
422    Paxton
415    Reece
799    Rex
678    Rhett
928    Slade
872    Sterling
433    Tate
508    Trace
312    Trent
316    Trey
247    Ty
816    Van
765    Vance
846    Vaughn
884    Zack

Didn’t the stork used to bring the baby with his name already written neatly on the little tag?  Why can’t it be that simple?

Sidenote… for all you long time blog readers out there… there will be photo posts coming soon!  Now hurry up and name this baby so we can return to our regular programming!

OM+KC part 2

OM+KC part 3

OM+KC part 4

OM+KC part 5

OM+KC part 6

OM+KC part 7

OM+KC part 8

OM+KC part 9

Thursday morning was different. It was official.

We loved each other.
We both knew it.
We both said it.

We went out for breakfast after Otey got back from doing chores at the barn, and then right after lunch we headed to the college rodeo. I was staying that weekend at the Sankey’s house in Branson (30 minutes south of Nixa) mainly because I was too tight to buy a motel room if I could get out of it and secondly their house was home away from home for me. They were out of town for the weekend, so I pretty much just slept there and spent the days in Nixa with Otey.

The college rodeo at Nixa was pretty uneventful.  Otey’s parents came again to watch Ben but since I was driving back and forth to Branson all weekend, I didn’t really visit with them much.  Saturday night after the rodeo Otey and I headed back to Marshall.  The thought of me going home to Indiana seemed absurd to both of us.  My place was with Otey.  I wanted to be with him 24/7.  We got back to his house really late that night… actually really early on Sunday morning.  I slept in Sunday while he went to the barn to take care of all the team’s practice stock and check on things after the weekend being gone.  When he returned home it was nearly lunch time and I of course was still in bed.  He came in and woke me up.  We laid there in bed talking about how easy everything was.  How we were both sure that this is how love was supposed to be.  We had now been together a little less than a month and it felt like we had known each other for ten years.  It was so easy.  There were no complications, no stress… no worries.  As gag-me-with-a-spoon as it sounds…   it was simply…..   in one word…

PERFECT.

That morning (noon) laying in bed.  Me still with morning breath, him fresh from the barn… we decided we wanted to get married.

Yes.

You read that right.  A few days shy of one month together… we decided we were ready to make it official…

FOREVER.

We laughed about what people would think.  My parents had met him once, and I had met his parents twice.  My VERY best friend in the whole world… Julie?  She didn’t even know I had a boyfriend.  We were just consumed with each other and all that stuff didn’t matter.  We were both positive.  Positive that being together was right.

Otey: “How long do you think we have to wait to get married so people don’t think we’ve gone crazy?”

Me:  “I don’t know…..   six months?”

Otey:  “Sounds good.  Let’s pick a date.”

Me:  “How long do we wait until we get engaged?  We have to have time to plan the wedding.”

Otey:  “I don’t know.  I guess that means we have to buy a ring, huh?”

Me:  “I say a few more weeks and we’ll start shopping.”

Doesn’t that sound crazy?  That is exactly how it went.  And there were ABSOLUTELY no reservations  for either of us.  We were sure we wanted to be together forever and the rest?  It was just silly details.

We had one more college rodeo that spring.  UT-Martin.  My alma mater.  We spent the next week like the weeks prior.  I took entries on Monday, trades on Tuesday, and we left for the rodeo first thing on Thursday morning.  I always love the Martin rodeo.  It’s like going home.  I spent four and a half years of my life there and it’s just familiar.  In college I lived behind James and Barbara Davis and after I graduated and became the Regional Secretary, I continued to stay at their house when I would come in town for the rodeo every year. This year was no different.  I stayed at their house while Otey drove back and forth to a neighboring town where is entire rodeo team was staying.  When I say ENTIRE rodeo team what I mean is about 50 eighteen to twenty-three-year-olds that he was solely responsible for.  Do you know what keeping 50 eighteen to twenty-three-year-olds in line is like?  It’s just a touch harder than herding cats on horse back.  Being responsible for (and surrounded by) that many kids also makes it difficult to date.  I remember driving Otey back to his hotel on Friday night after the rodeo.  We sat out in the parking lot and talked for a few minutes while fifteen kids on the balcony giggled and tried to act like they weren’t paying any attention to us.  There might as well have been a flashing strobe light on the hood of my car.  Imagine kissing goodnight in front of your Grandpa and Preacher.  That’s about how awkward those first few months of public dating was.  It was so odd, because everyone looked at us as a new relationship… just dating for a few weeks… they had no idea that we were really just months away from getting married.

On Saturday we had all day to kill before the evening performance so we drove to the closest big town (Paducah, Kentucky) to have a nice lunch and goof around for the day.  You’ll never guess where we ended up?

Okay, you probably can guess where we ended up….

Jewelry stores… shopping for engagement rings.

WHAT?  Is that not crazy?  I was not THAT girl.  I wasn’t the little girl who dreamed of a puffy white dress or babies or picked fences.  I had never been engaged.  I had never looked at engagement rings.  Heck… I had never even THOUGHT about engagement rings and here I was… a month deep in love with Otey McCloy, looking for that “rock” that would make it official.  And I did learn a very important thing about myself that day… I did want a ROCK.  I would like to think I would have been one of those girls that said “a 25 cent bubble gum machine ring would be enough” but that day… that day I learned I wasn’t that girl.  I was the superficial girl who wanted a big ol’ everybody look at my left hand rock.

We didn’t get a ring that day.  But we did get quite the diamond education.  Cut, Color, Clarity, Carat.

The 4 “C”s.

We were now experts.  Confused, poor experts… but experts none the less.

Saturday night after the rodeo Otey headed to Missouri, and I sadly headed to Indiana.  We decided that we weren’t going to tell anyone until we got a ring.  All of this seems crazy as I type it, but it really just seemed logical and completely normal as I lived it.  I had NO doubts.  Looking back now, the only thing I would change is thinking we had to wait to get married because of what other people would think.  We should have just done it.  Just done it that very next weekend and started our lives together the second we knew it was right.

I spent the next week in Indiana.  My days filled with work and working out, my evenings filled with talking to Otey on the phone.  Everyday just confirmed what I already knew.

I COULD NOT WAIT TO BE HIS WIFE.

I loved that we had our own little secret.  We were going to get married.

HOLY CRAP.

We were going to get married.

to be continued…

OM+KC part 2

OM+KC part 3

OM+KC part 4

OM+KC part 5

OM+KC part 6

OM+KC part 7

OM+KC part 8

We drove the six hours back to Missouri after spending all day Easter Sunday with my big extended family.  We held hands in the car and laughed… A LOT.  To this day that is one of my favorite things about Otey.  He makes me laugh and more importantly…  he laughs at me.  That’s a wonderful trait in a partner.

Monday Otey was off to work like normal.  I spent the day at his house preparing to take entries for that weeks college rodeo.  We would make the short three hour drive down to Nixa, Missouri on Thursday.  Monday evening I took entries for the rodeo, Tuesday evening  took the trades, and that left me with a free day on Wednesday.  Brandy (Ben’s now wife… girlfriend then) was going to school an hour away in Columbia, Missouri.  Ben just so happened to be over there visiting Brandy on Wednesday evening, so Otey and I decided to go and have dinner with them.  We also need to pick something up at Circuit City.  That was the real reason for the hour drive but we figured we’d use that as an excuse to eat somewhere that didn’t have a drive through window.  Little did we know how eventful the evening would turn out.

As soon as we arrived to town we headed to Circuit City.  I don’t remember what we were there for… but I do remember maybe the most ANNOYING sales person on the planet trying to “help” us.  I’m talking annoying… know-it-all but really knows nothing kind of sales person.  Otey had finally had enough after ten minutes of receiving “help” and told the salesperson in a pretty straight up kind of way that we didn’t need his “help” anymore.  We immediately headed out the door to my car.  This is where I screwed up.  This is where Otey and I had our very first disagreement.

Kathy:  “Don’t you think you were kind of hard on that guy?  You weren’t very nice.”

Otey:  “What?  I wasn’t rude at all.  I just didn’t need his help anymore.”

As you can imagine… the discussion continued on as we climbed in the car and sat there waiting for the scheduled time to meet Ben and Brandy.  I learned something that night.  I learned that my husband will do anything possible to avoid conflict with a person that he loves.  I learned that the thought of disappointing someone he loves scares him to death.  I don’t remember exactly how the disagreement ended, but I do remember the most important thing that came out of it…

Otey told me that he loved me.

Less than three weeks in to our relationship, Otey told me that he loved me.

I loved him too…. but I didn’t say it.

Why?

I don’t know… I didn’t want him to think I said it just because he said it.  I didn’t want to waste saying those words to him for the very first time.  I already knew I would be with him forever… I just couldn’t bring myself to verbalize it in the parking lot of Circuit City after our very first disagreement.

But Oh Lord was I at peace.  Funny how an argument can lead to the most peaceful feeling any person has ever experienced.  I already knew in my heart that he loved me.  He showed me daily in actions… but now he had said it.

HE LOVED ME.

We drove over to the restaurant and walked hand in hand to the door.  I was wearing my very favorite Lucky jeans (which I still own… the waist wouldn’t fasten around one of my calves now) and a white ribbed boat neck sweater.  I remember feeling pretty that night.  Like most women, that was a rare thing for me.  Otey made me feel that way.  He opened doors for me… he held my hand… he looked me straight in the eye when I talked… he valued what I had to say… he loved me deeply and he showed it.  That’s what made me feel pretty.

We sat through dinner and visited with Ben and Brandy.  Otey rubbed my leg under the table and all I could think about was those three words…

I love you.

I wanted him to know I loved him too.  I know he knew… but I wanted to say it to him.  I wanted to be done eating and have Otey all to myself again.  I wanted to tell him I loved him too.

We drove the hour back to Marshall after dinner and I remember the drive being quiet.  We listened to the radio and just enjoyed being together.  Content.  That is the only word that truly described the atmosphere.  Just content.

Before bed that night Otey came in his room to tell me goodnight (poor guy was doomed to the living room futon) and I was overwhelmed with emotion.  I hugged him and told him that I loved him.  I told him that I had never felt this way about anyone and that I was completely head over heels in love with him.  I told him I knew I loved him that very first night sitting at his kitchen table.  It was like pure joy, excitement, contentment, relief, panic, and raw emotion all zipped up in one perfect little package.  This day was it.

This was the start of our forever.

To be continued…

I have simply toyed with twitter until very recently when I committed to get on it.  To be Twitterific… Twittertastic… Twittertacular… that is my goal.

My good friend The Holly Lane has got this twitter thing down to an art.   Recently she blogged about one of her twitter habbits that I am now going to take part in myself.

#gratitude

I have soooo much in my life to be grateful for.  I said once that I was going to end every blog post with something I was thankful for.  That lasted for about… three days.  Now thanks to Holly, I have a simple and super duper fast way to spread some joy and remind people that we should be grateful for what God has given us.

Enter… Twitter.

Every Night I am going to post three things that I am grateful for that day.  It will take me about a minute and a half a night and I know it will be a huge blessing to me, and hopefully others.  To start it off with the obvious.  Here’s my always everyday yesterday today and tomorrow list… (the # symbol is a Twitter thing)

#gratitude  1) God  2)Otey  3)My boys

In that order today.

In that order everyday.

What are you grateful for?

OM+KC (part 2)

OM+KC (part 3)

OM+KC (part 4)

OM+KC (part 5)

OM+KC (part 6)

OM+KC (part 7)

It was now Sunday afternoon and I was back in Terre Haute for a few days, and Otey was in Missouri.   That long drive from Tifton to Nashville had just added another layer to my feelings for Otey.  I was crazy about him and the thought of being apart was almost unbearable.  We would see each other again in four days. In four days we had another college rodeo. This time the rodeo was in Jonesboro, Arkansas and just so happened that it fell on Easter weekend.  During those four days apart, Otey and I talked a ton. Every night I laid in bed and talked to him for hours. I was like a stupid 16 year old who walks around punch drunk on new love. You know the kind? The girl who applies every song she hears on the radio to her own life? That was me. Once again I am painting a vivid picture of what my love for Otey McCloy turned me in to…

a dork.

a warm and fuzzy dork.

Thursday finally arrived and I found myself in Jonesboro hours before Otey arrived. I could not wait to see him. To hug him. To bask in his perfectness. I was in the announcer stand working when I saw the rig he was coming in pull up in the parking lot.

Butterflies.

Butterflies filled my tummy and my head began to race… ***Does my hair look okay? Does my breath stink? Do I look happy to see him but not TOO happy to see him? Do I look like I’m working hard? Should I run out and hug him? Word is starting to get out that we are TOGETHER… does that mean I can act like I like him in front of the students in the region? Will he hurry up here to see me? Should I go down and meet him in the parking lot? Why does he always make me talk to myself?***

I decided to play it cool.  I waited for him to make his way up to the announcer stand.  Since we had some what came out of the closet the weekend prior, it was a little more comfortable of a work environment.  Don’t get me wrong, we didn’t make out on my desk or anything (not that I wouldn’t have if he’d asked) but we were able to at least be around each other without feeling like we had to hide the fact that we were more than just friends.

I specifically remember when he came up the stairs to the announcer stand that Thursday afternoon.  My desk was facing a wall just inside the door so when you came up the stairs, I was sitting on your immediate right… I mean IMMEDIATE… like two foot inside the door.  As he came in the door I remember my heart seriously skipping a beat and he put his hand on my shoulder as he squeezed in the door.  He smiled his big smile.  The one that makes the deep lines around his eyes appear.  The same smile that made (and still makes) me die every time.  I wish I could remember exactly what he said, but I was too busy dieing.  There were other people in the announcer stand with us so I’m sure it wasn’t anything profound.  I was so happy to see him, to feel his hand on my shoulder that I didn’t care if he stood there and said the Pledge of Allegiance.  I just wanted to look at those deep lines around his eyes and die three more times.

We made it through the performance and the slack that night. Thursday night is always very late, so we ran through a drive through after the slack and sat in the parking lot of his hotel and talked for awhile.  I drove back to my own hotel that night so happy and content, and yet so nervous thinking about the next day.  The next day…. I was going to meet Otey’s parents.

Friday morning I again beat Otey out to the rodeo (rodeo secretaries are always the first to arrive at the rodeo arena, and usually the last to leave).  He got there about an hour after me carrying his coffee and looking as handsome as ever.  He told me that his parents were on their way, and that his Mom told him she had an “Easter surprise” for him and his little brother Ben.  A little later he came back with an update on the “Easter surprise”.

Otey’s Mom called and said she was bringing her two grown sons an Easter gift.   Each of their Easter gifts came in their very own Easter kennel.  She said she was bringing them bunnies.  Otey thought she was joking, but then Otey’s parent’s arrived, bearing gifts…

Yes my friends, Otey’s Mom brought her two grown sons GIANT BUNNIES for Easter!  How flippin’ funny is that?

I was still finishing up my work after the slack when Festus and Rastus (that’s what Otey & Ben named them) arrived, but the buzz made it to the announcer stand.  I called Otey’s cell phone to see if it was true and he confirmed.  He was standing in the parking lot looking little Festus right in the eyes.  He wasn’t holding little Festus because little Festus… he didn’t like to be held.  Little Festus was a little grumpy and had a tendency to scratch anyone who wanted to do more that stare at him through the wire door on the kennel.  Oh my gosh I still am cracking up even seven years later typing this.  Is that not the funniest thing you have ever heard?  I wish I had a photo of those two bunnies to post here.  They were HUGE.

After Georgia (Otey’s Mom) had time to enjoy her handy work everyone except for Otey and I headed off to the restaurant to eat.  There were a whole bunch of people that went.  There were a couple other sets of parents that had drove down from Missouri to watch their sons compete.  So, Ben, Georgia & Bill (Otey’s parents), and about 12 more people went ahead of us and were saving two seats with our name on them.

Yikes.

I was about to meet Otey’s parents. Not only was I about to meet Otey’s parents…. but I was also about to meet about four more sets of parents and sit at a table with 15 people who had known each other for YEARS.

Double Yikes.

You know that awkward feeling when you are the only one who doesn’t know everyone?  The awkward feeling when you don’t get the inside jokes and old stories?  Well, cross that with the awkward feeling of meeting the love of your life’s parents… your future inlaws… for the very first time.  THAT’S how nervous I was.

Triple Yikes.

I finished up my work and we headed over to the restaurant.  When we pulled in to the parking spot, Otey turned off the truck and as I started to jump out, he grabbed my arm on the console and stopped me.

Otey:  “Wait… there’s something I need to tell you before we go in.”

***What the heck?  Is he an ex-con?  Does he have a wife and kids somewhere that I don’t know about?  Did he pick his nose and eat it when he was a kid?  What is he scared they are going to tell me?  What could possibly be weighing so heavy on him that he feels the need to have a big talk RIGHT before I meet his parents for the first time?***

Otey:  “I just want you to know before we go in there that my Mom could possibly say anything at any moment and she’s probably going to say something funny and try to embarrass me”.

WHAT?

QUADRUPLE YIKES!

Now I walked across the parking lot of the restaurant, holding Otey’s hand, with a near vomiting feeling in the pit of my stomach.  Like my reoccurring nightmare of being in front of my high school assembly in just my underwear.  THAT kind of feeling.  I decided to just march in their with confidence and face the music.  I knew I was going to marry Otey.  I knew that these were going to be my inlaws, so there was no time like the present to meet them.

We walked up to the table where 15 PEOPLE I DIDN’T KNOW (except for Ben) sat all together and the introductions started.  We quickly sat down and Otey introduced everyone at the table and I awkwardly said hello and then made a mad dash for the buffet.  Thank you Lord for a restaurant with a buffet.  Not only could I escape the table, but I also could inhale 42 hot roles to calm my nerves.  When I came back and sat down everyone was involved in their own little conversations and it was surprisingly comfortable.  Otey and I talked amongst ourselves and I occasionally fielded a “Where are you from” or “How’d you end up secretarying rodeos” question.  ***I don’t know what Otey was so worried about.  His parents are really nice.  His Mom hasn’t tried to embarrass him.  She has been so nice to him and I both.  They haven’t even asked about “us”.  Both his parents are wonderful.  Normal.  Just parents.  He had me all worried for nothing.***

We finished up eating and started saying our goodbyes.  When it came time to tell Bill and Georgia goodbye, I politely thanked them for lunch and before I could get “It was nice to meet you” out of my mouth, Otey’s Mom said (and this is an exact quote)…

“We’re just glad Otey brought a girl with him.  We were starting to think he might be gay.”

If you know Georgia personally you are laughing out loud right now.  She had held it in for the hour we were at the restaurant.  She had been on her very best behavior and made an effort not to scare me at our first meeting.  She had been so quiet, so good,  but she JUST couldn’t let us leave with out slipping one in.  And that my friends is a wonderful trait in a mother-in-law.  At that moment I knew that not only did I like Otey McCloy, but I also liked his parents.

Friday night’s performance went off without a hitch and by the time Saturday rolled around Otey and I had decided that we couldn’t spend that next week apart.  He was going to leave with me after the rodeo Saturday night, and make the all night drive back to Indiana for my family’s Easter celebration.  Then instead of me staying in Indiana all week and preparing for the next weekend’s college rodeo, I would drive him back to Missouri on Sunday evening and spend the next four days with him there.  That decision made Saturday wonderful.  Instead of spending the entire day dreading saying goodbye that night, I was able to just enjoy every minute with him.  That Saturday I took Otey on his first major shopping outing with me.  We drove to Memphis to find a Toy’s R Us that carried the exact scooter that my niece wanted for Easter.  We drove around in circles for hours and braved the Memphis ghetto for that scooter.  Otey never complained once.  He must have been just as warm and fuzzy inside as I was.

Saturday after the rodeo we headed to Indiana.  We got to my parents house in time to shower and get cleaned up to head to my aunts house.  I’m bummed that I don’t remember the exact moment that Otey met my parents, but I do remember introducing them and giggling inside my head thinking ***You don’t know it yet, but he’s going to be your son-in-law***

We all headed for the annual family Easter Egg hunt and lunch that my ENTIRE family attends every year.  We’re talking Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Nieces, Nephews… EVERYONE.  The ironic part of that specific Easter Sunday gathering was that none of my family even knew I was dating anyone before I showed up with Otey in tow.

DATING

That seems like such a tiny little word to describe what I was actually doing.  I wasn’t “dating” Otey McCloy.  “Dating” suggests a kind of trial period… a time to determine if a person is worth  investing your heart in.  I was already invested long before my family even knew Otey existed.  We were technically only two weeks into our relationship.  Just two weeks prior I was driving home from that first weekend at his house.  Just two weeks and two days earlier we were only work acquaintances and now there he sat on my Aunt’s sectional with four little heathens crawling all over him.  My littlest niece, Lenzi, took a real liking to Otey that day.  The only thing in the whole world I loved more than my family was Otey, and now those two worlds had meshed together forever.

We hunted some eggs, ate a big meal, and made it through twenty more introductions.

We loaded up my Durango and headed west for Missouri.

To be continued…

And because I’ve been getting hate mail asking for photos from this story… Here’s the only one I have from that weekend. That’s sweet little Lenzi (who is now almost a teenager) in the photo with me.

Yes, I’m wearing bib-overalls?!   I don’t know why.

Yes, I was about half a person skinnier than I am right now.   I do know why (too many donuts).

Yes, I am squinting and I have bad hair.   Sorry, no excuses for those.

Check out the camera in my hand. That was a brand spankin’ new film shootin’ “Elf”.  Minus the whole gaining a half a person thing, I’ve came a long way.

OM+KC (part 2)

OM+KC (part 3)

OM+KC (part 4)

OM+KC (part 5)

OM+KC (part 6)

I woke up the next morning on cloud nine.  Before I even opened my eyes I smiled knowing that it wasn’t a dream.    I FINALLY had confessed my feelings to Otey, and he didn’t say… “uh… no thanks.”

He said he liked me.

He said he had liked me for awhile.

He said he wanted to get to know me better.

That was wonderful… but what happens now?  I was still the Regional Secretary, and he was still a rodeo coach.  Would the other coaches care?  Would I have to quit my job that I loved so much to be with Otey?  I would have.  I would have quit that morning and never looked back.  I was that sure that Otey was my future.  As the Regional Secretary I am required to be fair and impartial.  I take all of the entries from all of the schools in the region and position them in the rodeo by a random number system.  If I wanted to cheat for a contestant (or a coach for that matter) it would be easy.  No one would ever know.  What if I was dating a coach… marrying a coach… would the other coaches trust me to be honest and impartial?  I knew I would NEVER cheat for anyone… not even Otey McCloy… but would everyone else trust my integrity?

Who cares.

I had bigger fish to fry.

I had morning breath and I want to kiss Otey McCloy again.

I jumped up out of bed, got dressed and brushed my teeth.

Twice.

Maybe even three times.

Otey’s house was empty.  He was out at the barn doing coach like things.  I piddled around his house, packing up my stuff and killing time until he got back.  You just can’t imagine how I felt.  It was soooo easy.  Soooo simple.  From the night before, until this very second right now in 2009, I felt like I was his.  Like I belonged to him from that night at the dining room table on.  There was no more wondering, no more dating, no more “first kisses” no more “I wonder if that guy likes me”.  I was just his… and he was mine… and that was it.

He got back to the house and we talked about the week to come. (remember… it’s Sunday now).  I had to be home to take entries for the rodeo that started on Thursday, and Otey was flying from Kansas City to Atlanta on Tuesday.  His older brother lived (still does) there and he was flying down to visit him for a couple of days before the rodeo in Tifton, Georgia that started on Thursday.  His original plan was to have Ben (his little brother that was on his rodeo team) stop and pick him up on the way drive down on Thursday.  By the time I left his house that morning, we had decided that I would pick him up instead.

Did I mention how easy it was?

There was no drama.

We both just knew we wanted to be together… so we were.

We loaded up my suitcase in the back of the Durango (I hated that Durango… that has nothing to do with my story… just thought I’d mention it).  I wondered if the good bye would be awkward.  It had only been about 8 hours since we both fessed up and now we had to have our first goodbye.  I didn’t even care about kissing him when it came time to go.  I just wanted him to hug me.  Hug me tight.  Hug me as long as I wanted to hug him.  Hug me like he didn’t want me to go.

He did.

I died.

Then I died again.

I climbed in my Durango, backed out of the driveway and headed to Indiana.  I instantly called Ashley.  I gave her a minute by minute, play by play of the entire weekend.  We screamed and giggled like two 17 year olds.  But I wasn’t 17.  I was 24.  I was 24 and I had just spent the weekend with my future husband.

Otey and I talked that night on the phone.  I could hardly wait to hear his voice again, but in the same moment I was nervous.  What were we going to talk about?  Couldn’t we just skip all this getting to know each other stuff and just get married?  What the heck was wrong with me?  Since when did I care about getting married? We confirmed that I would pick him up on Thursday morning in Atlanta and he would ride with me the couple of hours to Tifton.

I COULD NOT WAIT.

We didn’t talk for long.  Nothing to deep.  He didn’t tell me he missed me.  He didn’t tell me he loved me.  But his voice was so kind.  So safe.  I knew we’d have to talk the next couple of days for rodeo business, so it was easier to say good bye.

We talked Monday night and Tuesday night.  Both conversations were fairly short, mostly about business.  I knew he liked me.  He TOLD me he liked me… but was he second guessing it now?  Did he get to know me a little better and now he’s not so sure anymore?  Was it going to be weird when I picked him up Thursday morning?  I missed him like CRAZY.  I knew that when I saw him I would want to hug him… more importantly I wanted him to hug me.

I left Wednesday and drove down to Dalton, Georgia and stayed with an old college friend.  It was tradition. I always stayed with the Gobles on the way to Tifton.  The difference this time was I woke up Thursday morning giddy and ready to hit the road.  I remember putting on my make up and telling Anne-Marie about how I was kind of talking to this new coach, Otey.  I remember trying to make it seem like no big deal when I really wanted to tell her that I already had her name on the invitation list for our wedding.

Cody lives right in town in Atlanta, so Otey called me that morning and said we could meet at an exit on the edge of town so I wouldn’t have to navigate downtown traffic.  I pulled in with butterflies swirling in my stomach.  Would he kiss me?  Would he hug me?  How would he introduce me to his brother?

“Cody… this is Kathy… future mother of my children.”

No.  That wasn’t how it went.  It was fast and casual and I’m not even sure that he did introduce me.  We got in my truck and headed south.  Our first road trip.  Our first mile of thousands, actually hundreds of thousands of miles we would drive together.  We decided not to tell anyone we were talking.  We weren’t sure how it would go over with the other coaches.  We decided that we would cross that bridge when we were forced to, but for now we were keeping it on the down-low.  We held hands and after about an hour I told him I couldn’t stand it any longer and I kissed him.  I know I spent three quarters of the trip laying over the console.  I just wanted to be close to him.

We arrived in Tifton and I dumped him out at the hotel and headed out to the arena to get to work.

We actually didn’t get to spend a lot of time together that weekend.  There was slack after the rodeo (the contestants that don’t fit in to the performances) on Thursday night, slack all day on Friday, one of his students got hurt on Friday night so Otey spent half the night in the ER with him.  We did spend sometime together on Saturday.  Before the weekend was over we had both told a couple of people that we were now “more than just friends”.  There was a coach in our region that Otey had went to college with.  We sprung the news on him first just to see how it went over.  So much for crossing that bridge when we came to it, huh?  We just ran right out and looked for the bridge.  By the time we left Tifton on Saturday night everyone knew we were together, and the good news was…

no one cared.

check!

First hurdle marked off the list.

Saturday night after the rodeo Otey rode with me the seven hours north to Nashville.  He drove my truck and the game plan was that I was going to get some sleep since when he got to Nashville, he was going to get in with Ben and head west to Missouri, and I was going to have to drive the last six hours by myself north to Indiana.  That seven hours of him driving me to Nashville I didn’t sleep one single second.  No way was I going to waste a moment we had together with sleep.  I laid in the seat with my head in Otey’s lap (those were the good old days… before bucket seats).  We held hands and talked about the next few weeks to come.  The following week was Easter.  We had another college rodeo in Jonesboro, Arkansas.  We were now a whopping six days into our relationship and the very next weekend I was going to meet his parents, and although we didn’t know it yet… he was going to meet my ENTIRE family.

We got to Nashville around five in the morning.  He hugged me… the kind of hug that made me warm and fuzzy.  Made me die…

and then die again…

the kind of hug that still makes me warm and fuzzy.

I hoped in the drivers seat and was home by lunch.

Sleepy?

Not a chance.  I was running on 100% pure warm and fuzzy.

to be continued…

OM+KC (part 2)

OM+KC (part 3)

OM+KC (part 4)

OM+KC (part 5)

Yes… I really did say “Kathy McCloy” out loud. I knew it was going to be my name. I knew when I crawled in to bed that morning that I was meant to be with Otey McCloy. I laid there in bed with all kinds of emotions swirling around inside of me. I was excited about all the feelings that the all night conversation had brought out in me… but in the same moment I was scared that Otey didn’t feel the same way about me. We had just had a seven hour conversation… how could he not even give me one tiny little hint if he was interested? But did I give him any hints? Did I have the courage to tell him I wanted to have his babies?

No.

Thank goodness.

Knowing Otey like I know him now… I’m afraid the “I want to have your babies” approach MIGHT have scared him off. THANK YOU LORD that for once in my life I actually kept my mouth shut.

I laid in the bed wide awake. How on earth was I going to sleep? I was so warm and fuzzy inside that I wanted to jump on the bed and scream. A little over an hour later I heard Otey come in the front door. He piddled around the house for awhile and then he knocked on the bedroom door…

Me: (in my best fake sleepy voice) Come in…

Otey: Hey… my brother’s girlfriend is in town (Otey’s little brother Ben was on the rodeo team at Missouri Valley) and they are going to eat breakfast… are you hungry? Do you want to go?

Me: Yeah. Sounds good. I need to get up and get on the road anyway.

Oh man that was smooth… make him think I ACTUALLY care about getting to Indiana. Make him think that I wouldn’t just unload my car and move in that very day if he’d ask me to.

I quickly brushed my teeth and then tried on fifteen different outfits at some kind of world record speed before strolling out in to the kitchen looking like I just pulled the top thing out of my suitcase and slipped it on with out looking in a mirror.  We headed to the Chuckwagon Cafe (I just added that in for my blog readers from Marshall… yes… Chuckwagon) in the backseat of Brandy’s car.   Here we were again.  In the backseat of a car both of us pushed up against opposite sides.  I wanted to touch him.  I wanted to hold his hand.  But why complicate things?  Maybe it was simpler just loving him and not knowing if he felt the same… maybe it was simpler not complicating the clean and pure feelings I had with a fresh round of crappy guy/girl drama.  The last two relationships I had been in were so complicated… so yucky… I didn’t want that to happen with Otey.  I just wanted to sit on the opposite side of the backseat and love him from there.  That was simpler.  That was comfortable.  I just wanted to enjoy it for awhile.

Breakfast started out awkward and weird.  I barely knew Otey.  Ben only knew me as the Region’s Secretary and I could tell he was slightly confused on why I was there in Marshall eating breakfast with them.  I had obviously never met Brandy.  Thank goodness Brandy is a bit of a blabber mouth like myself (that’s a compliment Brandy) and she talked up a storm and kept me from having to make much small talk.  I sat through breakfast DREADING leaving town.  I wanted to stay right by Otey’s side.

Forever.

After breakfast Ben and Brandy dropped us back off at Otey’s house.  I started gathering up my stuff and secretly dying inside.  How could I leave without knowing if he liked me?  No.  This was best.  This was simple.  If I didn’t know… I couldn’t get hurt again.  Right now he was perfect… and that is how I wanted him to stay.

I loaded my stuff and came back inside to say goodbye.  Otey’s phone rang and it was one of the senior boys on his team.  He asked if I was there and said he was coming by to say hi.  Otey and I laughed and realized at that moment that all fifty kids on his team were probably buzzing about the Region Secretary staying at the coaches house the night before.  I didn’t care what anyone was saying… I was just glad that I had an excuse to stay a little longer. 

We sat in his living room that afternoon and visited with a bunch of the older kids on his team that I had known when I was still a contestant just two years before.  They all did most of the talking.  I remember sitting on his futon (yes… that was the only furniture in the house to sit on besides the folding chairs) watching Otey sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall with his legs out in front of him, crossed at the ankle thinking how handsome he was.  He wasn’t just hot anymore… now I knew him.  Now I knew what was inside… now he was handsome.

Before I knew it, it was four o’clock in the afternoon.  All of the kids had cleared out and it was just Otey and I again.  He asked if I was hungry and I told him I would love some Taco Bell.  We hopped in his truck and ran through the drive through.  When we got back to his house we sat down to eat (now is where he starts getting smooth)…

Otey:  You didn’t get any sleep last night and it’s already five o’clock.  Do you want to just stay again tonight and head out tomorrow morning?

HECK YA!!!!  He can’t just be THAT nice of a guy…. he must be interested… he must like me just a little tiny bit… he doesn’t want me to leave… he wants me to stay… he wants to spend more time with me…. he LOVES me.  Okay, he doesn’t LOVE me… but he doesn’t want me to leave. 

That was enough.

Me: Well, I don’t guess I have to be home until 5:00 tomorrow night.  I could just get up and leave tomorrow morning.  Then I’d get a good nights sleep tonight.  If you’re sure that it won’t put you out?

Otey:  No big deal.  I’d hate for you to drive home  on no sleep.

So, with that, we settled in on opposite sides of the futon (seriously… like four foot in between us) and started watching the brand new movie that had JUST came out on DVD… Shrek.

Dorks.  I know.

I watched the movie all warm and fuzzy.  All warm and fuzzy four foot away from Otey.  I was comfortable.  I was happy four foot away.  Deep down inside I was dying for him to grab me in his arms and confess his love for me, but in the same exact moment I was praying he would stay four foot away so nothing would get complicated.  So I could just love him from a distance.  From four foot away.

As the movie progressed we comfortably got closer and closer.  I was nervous.  I was FILLED with emotions.  Please please please hold my hand… kiss me… tell me that you are crazy about me.  Please please please stay all the way at the other end of this futon, please don’t complicate things, if you have feelings for me… keep them to yourself. 

But he didn’t.

Before the movie was over we were sitting right next to each other… we were holding hands… and then it happened.

We kissed.

I died.

And then I died again.

If there was ANY questions before (who am I kidding… there wasn’t) if all these feelings I had for him were real, everything was confirmed at that moment.  I was HEAD. OVER. HEELS. in love with Otey McCloy.

Over the next hour my life changed forever.  I told Otey EVERYTHING.  Well not EVERYTHING.  I didn’t tell him that I loved him, and I didn’t tell him that I was going to have his babies, but I did tell him everything else.

I told him about hearing he was going to be the coach at Ogden the previous summer, I told him how DeWitt called him a “real man” that I should date, I told him how I counted the moments in between his phone calls even if they were just about work, I told him about how excited I was the night we all went to Applebees even though he didn’t invite me, I told him about how this whole “stopping on my way home from Colorado” was just a plan to end up right where I was… with him… on his futon… confessing that I have been crazy about him for months.  He told me that he had liked me for months too.  That he tried to think of reasons to call, that he was going to ask me out at the last rodeo of the fall in November but he chickened out, that when we all went to Applebees that night Cody and Waylon were yelling at him to ride with me in my truck, that they forced him to sit in the backseat with me, that the reason he decided to turn out from that rodeo and stay home this weekend was because I was coming through.

Warm and fuzzy.

This my friends is the definition of feeling warm and fuzzy.

It was clean. 

It was real.

It was pure.

It was just like it was supposed to be.

We stayed there on the futon for another hour or so comparing stories from the past six months.  The joy of knowing that he felt the same way, the relief of confessing all those feeling I had bottled up for months, the fact that I had been up for 36 hours… they all suddenly consumed me.  I was soooo tired.  I didn’t want the night to end, I didn’t want to go to bed, but just like seven years later, Otey knew what was best, and suggested that I get some sleep.

I made my way to his room and climbed back in to that same bed I laid in the night before.  He stuck his head in the door and told me good night and made his way out to the futon.  I laid there in COMPLETE and TOTAL happiness for the first time in my life.  I always thought I was a happy person.  A complete person.  But now I truly knew what that meant.  Otey was my missing piece, and now I had him.

I drifted off and slept like I had never slept before.

to be continued…

OM+KC (part 2)

OM+KC (part 3)

OM+KC (part 4)

I arrived home to Indiana and quickly left on a ten day trip to the beach with my parents.  It was a wonderful trip.  I did absolutely nothing the entire time we were there but lay on the beach and jog (I actually liked jogging then… what happened?).

After my long relaxing vacation I packed up and headed to Colorado Springs for a week long rodeo secretary school held at the PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association…. our equivalent to the NBA, or NFL) office.  The school was about eight hours a day so in the evenings I had a lot of free time.  Two days in to the school… on Tuesday night… it was time to put my “Make Otey McCloy fall in love with me” plan in to action.

Cody (remember him?) and Otey had lived together when Otey first got the job at Missouri Valley.  Recently, Otey had bought a house there in town and Cody stayed in their old one.  I knew this… but Otey did not know that I knew this.  Cody and I had been friends for years and in the rodeo world, when you have a long drive and are passing by a friend’s (or sometimes even acquaintance’s) house you call them up and stop and stay the night.  It’s never formal.  No need to be cooked for… just a bed to sleep in and then you are on the road again bright and early the next morning.  Do you see where this is going?

I called Cody’s house… aka… Otey’s house on Tuesday evening…

Otey: Hello

Me:  (long pause like I was thrown off by someone other than Cody answering the phone)  Cody?  Is Cody there?

Otey: No, Cody doesn’t live here anymore.  Is this Kathy?

Me: Ya… this is Kathy, who’s this? (insert evil laugh here… he’s puddy in my hands)

Otey interrupted me…

Otey: Hey Kathy.  This is Otey.

Me: Oh!  Hey.  (in my best surprised voice)

Otey: I just moved and Cody and I don’t live together anymore.  Do you have his cell phone number?

Me: Ya, it’s no big deal,  I was just going to call him and see if I could stop at his house on my way through on Friday night.  I’ll be driving back from Colorado. (OH MY GOSH I’M SMOOTH)

Otey:  Why don’t you just stop at my house?  Cody and I are entered at Montgomery and will be gone for the weekend… my house will be empty.  I’ll put clean sheets on my bed and leave the door unlocked if you want to stay.

Me:  Thanks…. I’m not even sure if I will need to stop, just depends on when I come through and how tired I am.  If I decide to stop, I’ll call you for directions on Friday before I get there.

Heck ya I’m stopping.  Heck ya I’m staying.  Heck ya I’m going to sniff your pillow cases and pretend that I live in your house.  This is almost like a date… except that he didn’t ask me and he won’t actually be there.  Other than that… it’s JUST like a date.  Okay… it was going to be nothing like a date but I was still on cloud nine.

Dork.

Friday could not arrive fast enough.  They let my class out a little early because they were forecasting a big snow storm in Colorado.  What?  There was no way a little blizzard was coming between me and Otey McCloy’s house.  I left out from Colorado Springs like four hours earlier than I had originally thought I would get to leave.  I drove my silver Durango like a silver bullet… right across Eastern Colorado… right across Kansas… and as I approached Kansas City (that’s the Kansas/Missouri line) I called Otey’s cell phone to get directions to his house…

Otey: Hello.

Me: Hey Otey.  If it’s still alright, I think I’ll stop and stay at your house tonight on my way home.  I was just calling to find out where it was.

Otey: (he gave me directions… I’ll spare you those details) Oh… and I’ll be here when you get here.  I didn’t have a very good one (proven bronc) at Montgomery so I turned out and stayed home.

WHAT??!!!??!!  HOLY.  CRAP.  HE’S AT HIS HOUSE!!!  HOLY. CRAP.  I’M GOING TO SEE OTEY MCCLOY TONIGHT.  HOLY. CRAP.  HOOOOLLLLYYYYY CRAP.

Me: Oh… is it still okay if I come through?  ***please say yes, please say yes, please say yes***

Otey: Sure, I just put clean sheets on the bed in case you called.

Me:  Great, I’ll call you when I get close.

Now.  Here is where the slight flaw in my perfect plan shows it’s ugly head.  Remember how I left Colorado Springs four hours early?  Remember how I drove like a silver bullet across middle America?  Well, now if I kept on route, I was going to arrive in Marshall at Otey’s house at about 6:00.  That wasn’t okay.  It had to look like I just needed a place to sleep.  It’s only six hours from Marshall to Indiana.  If I was to drive on through I would be home by midnight.  Under normal circumstances I would NEVER stop for the night if I was going to make it home by midnight.  Truthfully, back then I drove all night all of the time.  But I had a plan.  I had to stick to my plan.   I had to come up with a solution….

I arrived in Kansas City at about 5:00.  I decided to stop at my favorite mall (when you travel like I do you have one in every city) and kill some time so I would arrive at Otey’s house late enough to seem believable.  Man I was sneaky… and smart… and a dork.  I wondered around with butterflies in my stomach.  I call Ashley and screamed in the phone that I was about to see Otey McCloy at somewhere other than a rodeo.  I was nervous.  I was happy.  I was giddy.  I was feeling like a 13 year old girl instead of the 24 year old woman who supposedly had it all together.  How did he always make me act like such a dork?

After leaving the mall I decided that I was still a little ahead of schedule.  I stopped at a truck stop that I frequent when driving across I-70, and went in for a quick pee break and a bottle of water.  That’s when it happened… I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and realized I was still all gussied up from the meetings that morning.  ***What?  I can’t go to Otey’s house like this… he’ll think I like him or something!!!  He’ll think I am trying to get him to like me!!!*** I quickly ran out to my car and searched through my suitcase for the perfect thing to wear.  ***Come on come on come on…. my clothes should say look at me… I can travel all day and still look fabulous… but not too fabulous… like I am so secure that I don’t actually look at myself in the mirror… like I just rolled out of bed this morning with full makeup and fresh breath… like if you pick me I’ll never belch in front of you or skip a day shaving my legs…I am that fabulous.*** I changed in to some black yoga pants, a long sleeve bright colored t-shirt (of course just the right amount of white tank-top hanging out the bottom) and took off all my big jewelry.  I put on some more casual earrings, and left the makeup and hair looking put together.

There.

Now I look comfy.  Now I look like I just drove all day.  Now I can show off my skinny butt that I had been killing myself to maintain but not look like I was trying to impress him.

I did call Ashley in the middle of my backseat wardrobe change to make sure she thought I was choosing the perfect outfit.

Again….  Dork.

I then climbed back to the driver’s seat and headed out for the last 45 minutes that stood between me and the future father of my children.

I called him as I made the last turn just a few blocks from his house.  l was sick, shaking, and nervous as I pulled into his drive.  I was so scared.  What were we going to talk about?  I was about to be alone with him for the very first time.

He stepped out on to his front porch as I turned in to the drive.  I died.  Just the sight of him made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  It was like one of those sappy movies in slow motion until his new roommates little Jack Russell Terrier (the same kind of dog I had/have) bolted out the door and Otey took off chasing him.  THANK YOU LORD.  An ice breaker.  Now it wouldn’t be so awkward.  I quickly jumped out and preceded to help him try to catch the little maniac dog.  I could tell that he felt kind of awkward too.  We didn’t even know each other.  What on earth would we talk about?

After catching the dog we went in to his new house and sat down at the “kitchen table”.  I put that in quotes because his “kitchen table” was a round folding table (you know, with the plastic top?) and four metal folding chairs of different sizes and colors with all of the previous owner’s names neatly stencilled on the back.  One was green with a padded seat.  That was the one I choose (I think we still have that chair somewhere).

We started to talk…

We started out talking about rodeo and the college region, and it was so easy… so comfortable.  We talked about our families, our friends, our previous jobs.  We talked about politics, sports, and our religious beliefs.  We talked for hours and hours.  Not once did the subject of relationships come up.  Not once did he give me any clue to whether or not he was interested in me.  Not once did I blurt out I WANT TO HAVE YOUR BABIES. We sat there and talked for hours.  The perfect Otey McCloy that I had created in my head was even better in real life.  I knew I loved him before I got there that night, but now it wasn’t crazy.  Okay… it might have still been a LITTLE crazy… but now there was no doubt… I loved him.

We sat there in those metal folding chairs on opposite sides of that folding table until the sun came up.  We laughed about how it kind of defeated the point of me stopping to sleep since we stayed up all night.  He suggested that I try to catch a couple hours of sleep before I headed on to Indiana, so he showed me to his room and then headed out to the barn to feed.

I climbed in to his bed… it smelled like clean sheets and felt like heaven since I had been up for over 24 hours now.  I still had no clue if he was just a nice guy who liked to visit, or if he was maybe a tiny bit attracted to me.  I laid my head on his pillow, looked up at his white popcorn ceiling and said these words out loud with a satisfaction I had never felt in my 24 years…

Kathy McCloy.

I was sure.  I was positive.  I was in love.  He didn’t know it yet… but he was going to marry me.

to be continued…