Melissa and Jessi were joined by one of Jessi’s (and Melissa’s now too) best friends, Vanessa, and her daughter Grace, and their friends at the Columbus PRIDE festival.
Vanessa is a very special person to Jessi. She’s the one who has helped her to learn to love and accept herself. Vanessa will be one of the Officiators at their wedding.
Jessi has always wanted to go to a drive-in movie so Melissa took Jessi to see the new live-action Aladdin movie.
On Friday evening, 7 June 2019, Melissa asked Jessi to spend the rest of her life with her.
In THE MOST ADORABLE WAY EVER…
They were playing the Game of LIFE which is Jessi’s most favourite board game and the very first game they played together.
Jessi had just landed on the “Get Married” tile and stated, with excitement, “hey look! I’m getting married!” She then held out her hand for Melissa to give her a little pink person.
Melissa reached down under the coffee table to get, what Jessi thought, was a pink person for her car.
Jessi, distracted, as always, didn’t notice that Melissa had pulled a small box out from under the coffee table. Melissa opened it and asked, “how about you marry me in real life instead?”
Jessi, shocked, just stared at the ring with her mouth gaped open struggling to form words. She was completely taken by surprise.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Melissa, Jessi began speaking, “that’s a ring! That’s a ring! That’s a ring!”, she shouted repeatedly.
Melissa sat, nervously, waiting for Jessi’s answer.
FINALLY Jessi’s brain began working again, “yes! Of course I want to marry you!”, she exclaimed with excitement and happiness.
THURSDAY
I had to work a very long day on Thursday so Mumsy took Toby with her when she left my house on Wednesday night. I missed Toby but, apparently, he didn’t seem to miss me.
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
I introduced Melissa to Young’s Jersey Dairy. We got milkshakes and visited the petting zoo.
SUNDAY
We took the boys to the BarkPark. Because of the extensive abuse and trauma Rusty endured during is puppyhood, he has some severe anxiety about strangers and new places. Though he’s never bitten anyone, we decided to muzzle him just as a precaution. He did so well at the park. The amount of progress he’s made in just 8 short months is amazing. It’s taken a lot of patience and consistency from us, which has tried our patience and resulted in our losing our cool sometimes but, overall, it’s been an amazing journey with this little boy.
MONDAY
Every Memorial Day, Jessi’s gym does “Murph” a hero WOD in honour of Michael Murphy. It’s mentally grueling and physically challenging but so worth it. Plus this year Melissa was there to cheer her on. A great motivator.
We decided to try out one of the Metro Parks trails in Columbus this Saturday. Sadly the trail was a giant mud pit from all the rain we’ve gotten recently. So we had to postpone the trail walk and just walk on the paved sidewalk near the park instead. The boys didn’t seem to mind.
On 6 May 2017, I met Toby for the first time. I saw Toby’s picture in mid-February, applied for adoption in late-February, and got approved and officially adopted him in early March. He spent 3 weeks at the shelter and 4 weeks with his foster family before finally coming home to his “forever home”.
Adopting Toby is tied for first place for the best decisions I made in 2017. Around the same time that I adopted Toby, I had FINALLY, after years of struggle and denial, accepted that I was gay.
I had struggled for years with accepting myself, learning to love myself, and learning to live with anxiety and depression. I was encouraged by a dear friend to adopt a dog. After some hesitation I finally decided to. The first couple of months were hard but once we got over that hurdle, I haven’t once regretted my decision. Toby has helped me in so many ways, with so many things. He is the most perfect dog.
We took advantage of the gorgeous Spring weather and took a family walk. We are so ready and excited for Summer!
We took advantage of the beautiful spring day and did some planting. Our dream is to own a little house on a big piece of land with a big garden and some animals. But, until then, we’ll settle for our potted garden.
An Awfully Big Adventure 