Happy 8th Anniversay to us!

Steve and I met on January 21, 1995. We had seen each other around a few times previous to that, but I had just gotten out of a 2 1/2 year relationship three months prior and Steve and I had only seen each other at church a few times, and had never actually met. He later told me he had noticed me several times, even when I was dating the other guy, and told me he sensed many times that I wasn't happy with my relationship. I remember a few people commenting to me about him, like how good looking he was and wondering about him, etc.
On the evening of January 21 st, after work, I had headed to the South Florida Fair with a group of friends, to hear Diamond Rio in concert and then walk around the fair afterwards. The concert was great and we were walking around playing a few games and some were riding rides and then I heard one of my friends say, "Hey, there's Steve Owens". When I looked to see who she was talking about, I don't know why, but my heart kind of skipped a couple beats and for some reason I became a little shy.
We all headed his way and several of the friends that I was with, who had already met Steve, were telling him hello and then he locked eyes with me and came over and said "We've never met, my name is Steve" and I will never forget this, but when I went to shake his hand, he cupped my hand inside of both of his and I introduced myself to him. It may sound cooky, but there was something about the way he did it that kind of made me melt.
We all just stood around and talked for a few minutes and then one of the rides we were standing by started blaring this really loud country song, The Watermelon Crawl and a few of the people I was with were really good line dancers and they started doing the dance to the song and pretty soon more and more people started to join them and there in the main path of the fairgrounds, there were about 5 lines of a couple dozen or more people doing line dancing. Well, Steve and I kept getting shoved farther and farther back and we were trying to talk, but to do so and be able to hear, we had to basically yell in each other's ear. I decided while everyone was dancing, that there was a game nearby that had these huge stuffed bears, that I knew my niece would love, and I wanted to try to win one for her. So Steve walked over with me. I tried my hand a few times, but wasn't getting the ball were it should go and Steve just reached over and put his hand over mine and helped me throw it and just like that, we won that big stuffed bear for my niece.
Afterwards the group of friends decided to go get something to eat at the Applebee's nearby and someone invited Steve to meet us there. We ended up sitting next to each other and I was so nervous, I couldn't eat a bite of food. That's sounds so crazy now, but I guess it was just one of those things. I was so impressed with him, because he was so nice and such a gentleman, not to mention very good looking with a great looking body.
Right before we all headed home, I mentioned to Steve that a big group of people were going back to the fair the next night to hear another country group sing, so if he wanted to go he could give me a call and I would let him know where we were all meeting and what time. He still teases me to this day because I gave him my number before he asked.(But he says he was going to ask for it anyway.)
He called the next day and I told him that everyone was meeting at the school common's area and what time. That night I arrived at the commons and Steve was the only one there. After making a few phone calls, I found out that all the people that were supposed to be going were running late and they decided to just meet everyone else at the fairgrounds. (Steve also teases me about this, saying it was all a set up by me, to get him to go out on a date with him, alone.) So Steve and I headed for the fairgrounds and headed for the concert area. I then received a phone call informing me that the whole group of friends were stuck on I-95 behind a really bad accident and were not going to be able to make it. Needless to say, more teasing.
Well, the concert was great. We had a good time afterwards watching the guy in the dunking booth and playing a few more games and then we headed back to Applebee's to get something to eat. We stayed there a long time and talked and got to know each other.
The rest, as they say, is history. We have been together ever since. A week after we met, we went on what we consider to be our first real date and went on a dinner cruise out of the Port of Palm Beach and then three years and one month later, on February 21st, we went on the same dinner cruise and after dinner we went up on the top deck at the very front of the boat and there wasn't a soul up there and Steve told me to have a seat because he had bought me a Valentine's Day gift and wanted to wait until the cruise to give it to me. We both sat down and he told me to close my eyes, I did and then heard his chair scrape against the deck and realized in a split second that he was getting down on one knee and I started to cry. He told me to open my eyes and sure enough, Steve was kneeling down in front of me and holding up a beautiful ring and asked me to marry him and spend the rest of my life with him and slipped the ring on my finger. He also gave me a pretty watch at the same time. It was a very special and romantic night.
Eight months later on September 26, 1995, we were married. The few days leading up to the wedding were very stressful because hurricane George' was supposed to be hitting our area and several of my vendors were cancelling due to the threat. The morning of our wedding though dawned perfectly sunny and not a drop of rain. Our wedding turned out perfect and our reception was very nice and then we headed for our first night to a nice hotel in Palm Beach Gardens and then several days on Marco Island on the west coast of Florida.
Two years and one month later our first son, Bryce was born and two and a half years later our second son Connor was born.
I would do all of it over in a heartbeat. It has been a wondeful eight years of married bliss and over eleven years of knowing this wonderful man I get to call my husband and best friend.