“Do not get on that plane if you don’t want to marry me”.  Just like that he said it.  “Excuse me?” I thought.   Again I heard, “Do not get on that plane if you don’t want to marry me”.   I was beside myself.   Why in the world was he going from asking me to come for a visit with him in Texas to such a monumental step as committing the rest of my life to him?  The even bigger question is why didn’t I tell him he was crazy and breakdown the conversation into little pieces in order to prove to him why he was being so dramatic? That would have been a more typical response from me but not that moment.  Instead, I booked the tickets that day, which took place a little over a year from today.  Now take a step back with me to a day about 1 month before this conversation when a handful of my girlfriends were visiting and we were having fun and talking about nonsense all day.   It was December so we were all thinking about the year gone by and looking to the New Year coming up wondering what was in store for us.  Like many, we wanted to know if we would land that career position, would we find love and so many other things.   The one woman visiting was holistic healer by trade and had a special gift of bringing positive energy and the rest of us all had optimistic outlooks in general so we had a lot of hope.   When it came to me and the question of would I find love in the New Year, the answer was Yes and it would be with someone I know.   Darn, I thought, I recalled my list of past loves and current friends and thought, I don’t want any of the people I know to be the one I fall in love with.  None of them met my little checklist of characteristics I believed I wanted and needed in my life.  But this plan for me that was unfolding was not wavering.   Finally, I looked up and said, “Please don’t let it be Russell!”.   I don’t know why exactly he came to my mind but he did and I said it.   All 3 of my friends perked straight up, grinned and looked at each other before asking almost in unison……”Who’s Russell”?  I couldn’t believe it but yes it was true, I didn’t tell them anything about him over the past few years and they knew just about everything in my relationships.   Well I had to start explaining somehow to them because I know this was not going to just slip itself quietly under the rug.  I began to tell my story.