Have I told you how it happened?

I mean the story about how John and I met, and then became friends... and then FINALLY started dating.

Way back MANY years ago (like when I was in high school, John spent a lot of time with the neighbors). That happens to be the house I live in now. I didn't really know him then, but I remember the neighbor lady talking about him quite a bit.

Then a few years ago (summer 2006), Onna's dad was visiting her after our divorce. Because of the protection order, he wasn't allowed to come in my house. He also wasn't allowed to have her for very long amounts of time so usually he just played with her in my yard. She was in a stage where she LOVED trucks. One day he decided to walk down to the ice-cream place in town, but she didn't want to leave me, so I walked with them. On our way there, we passed the firehall, and the doors were open. John was there because he had been wetting the track for the tractor pull that was going to take place the next day. At first, I hadn't seen him for so long, I didn't even recognize him. He said it would be fine if we came in and let Onna and Jake come in and look at the trucks. We visited for a little while. I had just started working at the golf course. He assumed that Andy and I were married.

As time went by, I started to see him more and more at the golf course. We visited and he found out that I was divorced.

Then the golf course closed for the season and I didn't see him much for a few months. As soon as the course opened in 2007, I started seeing him come in again. He was more of a regular, especially on Sunday mornings for our breakfast buffet. The fire department puts on the street dance, and we had a lot of fun that night. We were just friends hanging out though. John did ask me out a couple of times over the summer, but he is such jokester that I thought he was kidding.

Then Laura's birthday came (in August) and I met Mike. We started dating and I had an awesome time with him. John, not knowing I was dating Mike, said to me "Kari, I'm serious I want to take you on a date sometime." Then I told him about Mike, and he said, "Well, I'm happy for you, but if things don't work out between you, keep me in mind."

He continued to come into the course and we talked about things like baseball, football, fires, food, etc. Things you would talk to any of "the guys" about. He was very respectful of my relationship with Mike, never pressuring me or making passes at me.

After things ended with Mike, there was one evening that John and I talked. All I really told him is that Mike is super busy and with my schedule being the way it is things didn't work out. Then he said, "Well remember that you said you'd give me a chance?" I said that I did. He said he had a plan and we ended up going to the Lawn Mower Poker Run.

I was really hesitant to start anything with John. He is after all 12 1/2 years older than me, and it was really soon after breaking up with Mike. I feel bad about hurting Mike's feelings. I wish that could have been handled differently, but breakups always suck. As far as the age difference, it doesn't even matter to me now. I don't even notice it.

Here we are over 3 months later. This coming weekend, he's invited me to his hometown to met his ENTIRE family for the first time. To say that I'm nervous is an understatement! He's told me a lot about them though, so I feel like I kind of already know them. So I guess a "test" to see if this is it or not. He's already passed the test with my family. We'll see how I do.