Pete – How did your family and friends react to your marriage?

When I told my family and friends that I was getting married, they were happy for me, but I think that they were cautiously happy because it all unfolded very quickly. But I had this feeling inside that this woman was special. And, we had a long time of not dating and not being close, and a long time of this feeling that maybe that this person was special. And when the stars finally aligned for my fiancé and I to get to know one another better, it proved to be true that we just did seem to click. We had similar philosophies about how we should be living, and how we should set our goals, and then how we should obtain them. And what those goals should be, and the value that we put on tomorrow, and the value that we hold for today. And all of those things are the foundation for living. And if you’ve got somebody who has the same perspective on the pursuit of happiness, then they’re probably going to be a good teammate. And I think that when I was able to convey that to my parents and my family, they were able to then recognize it once they had embraced my fiancé, and folded her into our family, and had a chance to get to understand her and to know her. And my mother reminds me every week at least of how fortunate I am to have somebody so unique and special in my life. I needed to be careful about not projecting my fears of how they might perceive me as person with the disability marrying into their family. So, I just decided to beat myself carte blanche in front of them and let the cards fall as they may. I’m confident that I’m a good person and if they are good people, they will be able to see this in me. Her father and I worked together on a project building a privacy fence in my fiancé‘s backyard. And I think when he saw how hard I was willing to work, and how well I worked with him as a team of two leaders coming together on a project, that his confidence in me was inspired that I could be a good husband for his daughter and he gave it his blessing.