Ken and I met my senior year (his junior) of high school back in Fall of 2005. We had P.E together. The first day I saw him I thought he was pretty cute and he was wearing a Philadelphia Eagles jersey so not only was he cute but he had good taste too. I went up and asked him if he watched the game the night before, he hadn't due to work but we became friends anyway. From then on there was occasional flirting back and forth. I would stop by his work sometimes and he would stop by mine just to talk for a little bit and say hi. We would talk a lot during class, and at first I was a little hesitant to date him because I had gone out with younger guys before and it never worked. Well the more we talked the more we learned about each other, and surprise he was actually one day older than me. We also learned that we had a ton more in common than just our favorite football team. Then there was the butt slapping incident...we were running laps around the gym and he came by and slapped my butt. After class he asked me out on our first actual date Dec 8th. The next day he asked me to be his girlfriend.
In March we celebrated our 18th birthdays and he gave me a promise ring. We had been together for 3 months, but we were inseparable. After my graduation May 2006 ( Picture on right is my senior Prom) we spoke about our future plans. I wanted to move into my own place and his parents had not been getting along so we decided to move in together. We saved for our deposit and moved in to an apartment in August, 3 weeks before he was to start his senior year. About a week into living together I became very sick with West Nile Virus, Ken took amazingly good care of me. I was fired from the job I had due to many sick days ( I was doing home health and sick days were a huge no no... no matter what) We knew it would be tough but we also knew we believed in each other and that we could make it through. I got another full time job and so did Ken, plus he was still in school. We struggled financially but held on.
In December we went to Washington to spend Christmas at my Dad's. Ken asked my Dad for his permission and proposed to me on December 30th. We had been together just over a year.
On July 27th, 2007, Ken and I became man and wife. It was one of the most amazing day's of my life. This person who I had gone through pretty much everything with was now my husband. (pictures here)
After our wedding we moved to Washington to be closer to my family that lived there. We moved in with my Sister and her family. In May of 2008 Ken joined the navy. We moved in to our own apartment in August and waited anxiously until he would leave for boot camp in January. After he left I moved in with my Dad to save money. It was very tough to be away from my husband. We talked 5 times in 3 months, but wrote letters daily. Ken graduated boot camp March 13th, 2009. I was in the audience watching with pride and love. He stayed in Chicago for 3 more months for training and in May he received orders for Virginia. He came home the following month and we started our cross-country drive to Virginia. We arrived on the 3rd of July and 3 weeks later found out we were expecting. Baby Kevin Riley made his much anticipated debut on April 3rd, 2010. Our story is one of friendship, hope, tragic loss, excitement, and LOVE!! So far it has been a crazy and intense ride but I wouldn't want any one else by my side.
