The Wonderful, Amazing, Magical Fairytale of Us.

It's August of 2010.

The new gym is FINALLY open. A gorgeous 3-story fitness facility complete with a swimming pool, cardio theater, indoor track, tanning, smoothie bar, tons cardio equipment, free weights, and STAIRMILLS.

I love the StairMill.

The main gym is on the second floor. The first floor is dominantly the front desk, smoothie bar, offices, and the tanning company.

Luckily, the StairMill overlooks the first floor.

Get in a a hard cardio session while people watching = win. It helps stepping through hell easier.

Upon my ass-kicking sessions on the StairMill I notice this big buff (yes, please) man coming in the gym. He is in crutches with a big gym bag.

"Wow, that's dedication" I thought.

His friend carried his gym bag up the stairs and the man on crutches took the elevator up to the gym floor. They then start to work out.

The man with crutches is Marquis.

I was intrigued by him. I watched him work out. I watched him fight through the struggle and the pain and still continue to push himself in the gym.

He had a torn achilles.

After watching him a few months, I started to strike up conversations. He and I talked a lot about the gym. It was both our passion. He talked about his struggles, my struggles, his getting back into competing, and everything in between. He is so damn smart in exercise, fitness, and nutrition. It amazes me. He is literally a walking textbox. I have never seen anything like it before in my life.

We developed an awesome friendship.

We talked regularly, had great conversations, I knew he was single, and I assumed he figured I was single, and after 9 months of being friends, he had not even so much as asked me for my phone number.

I was a little annoyed.

We were good friends, we would flirt, and I got nothin' more.

Well in May of 2011 he gave me his business card.

Grrreat.

Since this dude was not asking me out, I was going to search his name on Facebook to see if he had an account (come on everyone does that). HE DID!. I could tell it was barely used, but nonetheless.

I added him and sent him a message.

"Hey babe! My best friend and I are going to Cosmo's tomorrow night, I would love for to come out! Here's my number blah blah and I hope to see you soon".

He texted, and literally the first ever text he sent:
"Hi Liz. You are so beautiful, even when you have no make up on and sweating at the gym. It's me, Marquis".

LOL. What a weirdo.

But he is my weirdo.

The Cosmo's plan was cancelled and he and I went to local bar/pub, shot pool, and had dinner. We were there four hours that hot June night in 2011. I had a blast. And I had a feeling "this was it".

First picture together; June 2011

As we were leaving, I asked him why he had not asked me out and he said "I was a little afraid. You're 22 and I am 42. We have a huge age difference. I have never dated anyone this young before and it was just out of concern".

That made sense and I completely get it. It does not bother me though. Number 1) I couldn't care less about what anyone has to say about my relationship. My parents had a 14 year age difference. Number 2) I have always dated older men.

August 2011 - Before UFC fights

So yep, people that means:
When he was graduating high school... I wasn't even born.
When he was fighting for our country in the Army, I was fighting naps.
When he was taking his first legal drink, I was taking my first steps.

We decided to give it our all and on June 15th, 2011 we officially became a couple. Like O-M-G, right?!

July 2012 - Myrtle Beach

October 13, 2012 we became engaged.
We had been SO busy moving me in, arranging the house, unpacking, and literally as we were walking out of the door to get dinner, he got one knee and proposed.

And then we went to Steak-N-Shake.

True story.

February 26th, 2013 we lost our first child via miscarriage at 6 weeks. I have never talked about that before, probably never will. Except right now. I don't need condolences. Only a handful of our friends and family know about this, and now my Blogger friends (I don't share this blog with my real life friends, this is just my little space)

St. Augustine, FL - February 2013

Now we are planning our wedding... kind of. We have a ton going on because of my job, him being an entrepreneur and starting new businesses, his competition, traveling, and just life in general. We are aiming for an easy, small "Destination Wedding" in Maui.

Thanksgiving 2012

He truly is an amazing person. He came from nothing and built an incredible life for himself. He grew up poor, on a farm in upstate New York. He lives with mild OCD, and ADD and has been able to serve our country in the Army then put himself through college while working full time AND bodybuilding.In the Army he graduated number 1 in bootcamp. He then graduated top of his class from Ithaca College, with honors. Like he says: I wasn't born with talent or grave intelligence, but I had the drive and I had the will to work for it.

Myrtle Beach, April 2013

That's about it. Nothing crazy, or out of the ordinary, but I can tell you I love him. And I know he loves me. The relationship has been anything but easy. It has been hard with knock down drag out fights, but we work through everything, as a team. We have so much passion and devotion, and I can easily look at him every day and smile knowing I have him as my partner for the rest of my life.

Us now: August 2013

The end.