chikinhammr

It's funny how love and happiness ruin my will to blog. I've spent the last several months getting to know a wonderful woman in Arkansas. Her name is Ginny, and she's my new girlfriend. We are both XM Radio junkies and fans of the Motorsports talk show Powershift. Last October, mostly on a whim, I asked the producer of the Powershift show if I could get Ginny's IM screen-name. He asked her if it was OK and foolishly, she agreed. So, on and off for the next few weeks we would IM each other while listening to the show on XM. Somehow, through gentle persuasion, I coaxed her cell number from her and I gave her a call. Now, I realize she is going to read this and I'm going to remember some of this wrong because I'm a dude, but that first call seemed to go pretty well. I remember telling her that she could call me anytime and she pretty much ignored that. It is the man's duty, after all, to do the dialing. So, after hundreds of hours on the phone, and hundreds of dollars in cell phone overage charges later, I convinced her that I'm not a psychopath and lured her to meeting in Springfield, MO. We had a great time. We had lunch at Red Robin, dessert at Andy's Frozen Custard, watched a Nascar Busch Series Race, and made out like teenagers. I'm thinking that was a successful date. At that point, back in April, I knew I liked Ginny a lot, but I wasn't ready to commit to a relationship and I wasn't thinking I was in love at that point. A few days after our first meeting, I was able to stop in her hometown in Arkansas on my way to picking up a load in Memphis. I was so glad that I decided to stop and surprise her. I wasn't super sure after our first meeting that there was going to be a second, even with the kissing. I'm a wounded boy after two rough marriages. When I saw how happy she was to see me, I figured she liked me. Plus, she kept trying to kiss me even though at the time, I was clearly dying of pneumonia. Several dates later, and a really sad two day period where we nearly broke off communications because of fear of heartbreak, I realized that I was in love. Real, live, genuine love. I didn't tell Ginny at first, because I wanted to make sure of it for myself. What I feel for Ginny is just amazing. It's a peaceful feeling of contentment. It's hope for the future. It's a mutual respect for the people we are and not the people we project an image on. I have been completely open and honest about my past and my flaws along the way and she has done the same with me. By nurturing this open, honest communication, I have discovered that I like myself, despite my flaws, and that I am worthy of love. And I have found that I am deeply, and wholly in love with a beautiful woman named Mary Virginia Rose. I found my Virginia in Arkansas. Sounds like a song. My heart sings with the love I found in the Ozarks.

Pour me on tortilla chips and call me Nachos. Yeah, I'm cheesy.