I Pledge Allegiance…

You wanna know a secret?

I met Mr. Zoom on Myspace. So vintage. I’ll spare you the insanely cheesy details, and cut to the chase. We started “chatting” in April of 2006 after I spotted a profile picture of this cute Irish guy with an incredibly bizarre name holding a football (American). Confused about why he had that football in his hands and curious as to how his name was pronounced, I “messaged” him. He responded immediately. I must have had a good profile picture up that day.

3 months later I had quit my job, sold my belongings and enrolled in a master’s program in Dublin. I arrived in Ireland in September of that year eager to meet that cute guy begin my studies and explore Europe for a while.

We hit it off immediately. Probably because he used to wear tight t-shirts.

Or because he was just so dang cute.

This was day 3. I’m not even kidding. I told you it was cheesy.  8 months after I arrived, he proposed in Paris. I said yes. Duh.

We were married a year later in the Bahamas.

And then honeymooned in Italy.

In December of 2009, we moved back to the States because Mr. Zoom got a job transfer. And, I desperately missed Target and peanut butter.

We landed in North Carolina and lived in a converted loft in the old Lucky Strike tobacco building. We used to be so hip. Six months later, this happened…

That’s only 2 of the 5 tests I took.  I was unaware that false positives don’t really exist. I called Mr. Zoom at work that day and told him to come home immediately. We went to Cheesecake Factory that night for dinner to celebrate and I began my “pregnancy diet”. We were thrilled.

How could we not be? After Big Zoom was born, a lot of stuff happened. My little brother got married in San Francisco, we bought and moved into our first house, we visited Ireland for Christmas. It’s all a little fuzzy. Baby brain was in full force. Such full force that on Christmas Eve, in Ireland, we got some news. Big Zoom was going to be a big brother.

In August of 2011, the sweetest little boy in the world was born. So quiet, so easy, so happy. Little Zoom has been such a welcome blessing to our family.

And finally, after 4 years of paperwork and status changes and BIG FAT checks to the Department of Homeland Security, Mr. Zoom said the Pledge of Allegiance a few weeks ago and is now dual US/Irish citizen. He managed to memorize lots of vital facts about American history (which I, sadly, did not know), and swore his oath to serve and protect (though he says he’ll flee to Ireland before going to war).

Our 4th wedding anniversary is coming up in a few weeks and we often feel like we’ve been living in fast forward. Each year since we met, something major has happened. Engagment, marriage, moving countries, a baby and a house, another baby. You see, it’s been exhausting. This year, 2012, has been deemed the year of rest. No major life events to occur this year (we hope!). We’re settling in and finally slowing down and it’s feeling really nice.