The Third Time's The Charm

This new blog is the journey of "us." M and Joseph K, a word and two letters. We are forty days away from our wedding.

In the interest of full disclosure, this is not the first time I have been engaged. I was engaged once before, a few years ago. Whenever M raises this, I always jokingly tell her, "Yeah, I was engaged before, but as you know the third time's the charm." I don't think she's been amused the 47 times I have made that joke. Surprisingly, it gets me every time.

So I reveal a secret to her and you today: I was engaged another time. Years ago. When I was nine, my parents were visiting a family friend and brought me along. They had a daughter, and they dumped me on her.

We sat around staring at each other at first. Finally she announced, "I have a Snoopy Snow Cone Machine." Then, I wanted to be her friend. I disarmed her with my charm. "Make me one."

She refused unless I agreed to marry her. I said fine. As I was trying to enjoy my Snoopy Snow Cone (cherry, of course), she tried to kiss me. This older cougar (she was 11 ) was aggressive, physical. I was up to the task and wriggled out of her grasp. She fell, broke a nail and lost it.

As I drove home, drowning out my parents yelling and licking the residual cherry syrup off my fingers, I thought about what just happened. She just didn't get me. At 9, I just wasn't the settling type. Now, with M, I'm ready.