Once upon a time...

There was a boy and there was a girl and they met at Speed Dating. He was all, I'm afraid of being exclusive, and she was all, well, you ain't dangling my thongs from your rear view mirror if we ain't being exclusive. So they became exclusive. And he became Boyfriend Dave in her cell phone.

They did the exclusive thing for a couple of years. They had great parties and lots of fun nights out, most of which had her sisters tagging along because that's what we do. One night he let her get over-served and brought her home to her parents house, where her kids were sleeping and her sister was living. Her sister, being the kind, caring, generous, doting, extraordinary person that she is, offered to make sure she didn't die and told him he could go home. Her sister gave her a just-in-case-bucket, a glass of ice water, and made her take ibuprofen. Then she went to bed. But at one point she got out of bed and went to make sure her sister hadn't died, and she found the boy, laying on the ground next to the couch, because "I just like to be close to her."

Yes, the sister threw up at that comment. But she decided to love him then for loving her sister so much.

There were some bed bugs, a fight about sunglasses, a robbery, and an ex-husband situation, but the boy couldn't help but fall in love with her and her son and her daughter. And she couldn't help but fall in love with him. Even though he was a Louisville Cardinals fan.

They got engaged and he became Fiancé Dave in her cell phone. There were more parties, weekends at the go-kart racetrack, and one time he tried to die after crashing a lawnmower and falling down some very steep stairs. They moved in together and he played Minecraft with her son, built a Barbie Dream House for her daughter, and didn't seem to notice how much laundry she did not do. Love makes you crazy.

In December, they did this.

Their families met them in Mexico and watched them become realllllllly exclusive.

His family showed off their dance moves, and her family showed off their collection of dads. His friends made everyone in the pool get drunk on Don Julio and her friends put such special touches on the celebration that everyone felt loved and embraced. Everyone put their toes in the sand, watched the wind in the palm trees, and ate too much food. And the two kids got to see their favorite auntie.

Love stories are not perfect. People are not perfect. But happiness comes from love, and the amount of love between and around this boy and this girl will hopefully get them to the happily ever after that they both deserve.

If anything or anyone tries to get in the way of that, there will be Man Time. You don't want to know the wrath of Man Time. Trust us.