Ran Off and Got Married: The story of Melissa and Sean

So, I've had a couple of people mention wanting to know the back story of Sean and I "running off and getting married". Well, it's not a story I'm sure I want to tell my children, simply because I'm not sure I want them following in our footsteps, but it does make for an interesting story and kind of romantic too.

It all started in November of 2006. I was living and working in my hometown and just having gotten out of a two and half year relationship I wasn't looking for anything serious. I was dating a few different people and knew the relationships weren't going anywhere.

At this time I had an account on the ever-popular MySpace. I used it mainly to keep up with my friends. However, a guy started messaging me. He was in the Army and from the same hometown I was. I had never known him though because he was four years older than me and we had attended different high schools. I kept talking to him because unlike a lot of the messages I got from random people at that time, he wasn't hitting on me or sending any sort of raunchy messages. He seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. I kind of dismissed him at first. Sure I enjoyed talking to him and I knew he was different then anyone I was seeing at the time, but he was in Louisiana and I was in Oklahoma, seperated by over 9 hours so I really didn't see the point.

A couple of months went by and we were still talking through emails and by now I'd given him my phone number. We talked a few times and I was so nervous everytime we talked but really enjoyed our conversations. He would jokingly ask when I was going to marry him and I'd just laugh it off. I couldn't deny the feeling though that I knew this one was special. This guy was different then all the other men I'd been in relationships with, yet we weren't even really dating, how could we when we were so far apart?

There were several times when he would try to come home and visit me, but not having a car that was hard to do. Eventually we just planned to meet up on his block leave in June. That seemed a long time to wait, but the months went by and I by now as odd as it seemed I knew I was going to marry this man that I'd never met, just spent huge amounts of time on the phone with.

June came finally, I met him in Dallas and we drove back to our hometown, we spent 2 weeks together and in one of his last days there he asked me to marry him. We decided to run off to Texas and do it since active-duty didn't have to wait any days to have the ceremony once we applied for our marriage license. We broke the news to my parents the day the met Sean and of course they were less than happy. They didn't speak me to me for about a month and a half after that. It did seem crazy to everyone but us.

We got married in Gainesville, Texas on July 5th, 2007 by a Justice of the Peace. I planned on wearing a dress, but the JOP was running late so I didn't have time. It was just us in our causual wear. Our "honeymoon" was nothing special. We spent the night in Dallas and ate at a Grandy's. Very low-key and very low-budget! The next day Sean had to go back to Ft.Polk so our time together got cut short. We spent the next five months in seperate states since I had a work contract to finish before I could move to Louisiana with him. We did eventually have a bigger ceremony in December since we both decided that was something we really wanted to have, but we consider our anniversary to be in July.

I am by no means an impulsive person, I think everything through, I plan ahead, but I knew that this was something I had to do at that time and I've never regretted doing it. A lot of people thought we wouldn't last six months, but we knew this was forever and we love proving people wrong that doubted us. My parents eventually came around and I know they really love Sean. I don't tell this story to everyone because some people find it odd we met online and then got married without really even "dating", but it works for us and that's all that matters!