193: Timmy and Alex

People often ask me if Timmy and I have always gotten along ... the answer is always a very emphatic and quick "no." In fact, when we worked together for a year at Rebound and were at the company holiday party one of our coworkers asked us just that. When we told her "no" she asked, "what about your other sister? Have you guys always gotten along with her?" We answered that with a quick "no" as well. When she asked why not, my only response was, "I don't know. I always wanted him to like me but he just didn't." She asked Timmy why he didn't like us and he chimed in with a response that has stuck with me and I enjoy giving him crap for it ... "Let me put it this way. If both of you (Kyra and me) were hanging from the side of a cliff, I would have let her hang there ... and I would have pushed you off." ... !!!!!!! Needless to say, we've come a long way since then.

When Timmy first told me about Alex, I was driving from Portland to Eugene with the girls sleeping in the backseat. He had just gotten out of a pretty long relationship and I remember asking him, "don't you think it's a little too soon?!?" I certainly thought it was. But he insisted that this girl was different than any other he'd ever dated. He said he'd never been able to truly be himself, but he is with Alex. He told me that "she is a colossal spaz"and that "even her verbal diarrhea is cute." He continued to tell me that they "just get each other" and that he knows he's falling hard for her but he knows it's bigger than anything else he's experienced. I was intrigued and wanted to meet her, but he said he wasn't sure if she'd be able to join us for our family Christmas trip at the beach.

When I finally did meet Alex a little while later, I liked her. I wasn't convinced, though, that they weren't both jumping in to something too quickly. They seemed very much into each other and their personalities definitely fit, but I was worried that it was the novelty of a new relationship. Then they told us that they were going to travel to Thailand for a month together. At that point, I knew that a trip like that would either make them or break them - spending 24 hours a day together for a month in a foreign country could either make them want to strangle each other or it would glue them together ... and thankfully did the latter.

I never really knew that there was something missing until I saw "Timmy with Alex." He's always been a spaz himself and has always been the life of the party. But now he is the best of him. I have never seen him so genuinely happy. He smiles more than he ever has - even in pictures, which is a big deal for him. He used to have such a horrible forced smile - it looked like he was trying to smile while someone was making him smell something awful. Now we see his infectious smile that he gives when he laughs. He laughs more, he is more playful, and there is another side of him that I have never seen - his loving, committed, devoted side. I can tell that he loves Alex with every ounce of his being.

Their vows this weekend were so beautiful - they wrote them themselves. They were so sincere and so loving and so heartfelt.

Timmy and Alex bring out the best in each other. They are playful and funny, but they are incredibly loving. I am so thankful that Timmy has found someone who he can honestly be himself with and I am thankful that she makes him so genuinely happy.