My Knight In Shining Armour

Good Morning Bleeps.

This morning before he left for work, I asked Phil how he feels about the fact that I mention him in my blog. You see, I am a bit of an open book (no, really? I hear you say) and I wear my heart on my sleeve. I meet people and after about five minutes they know about my whole life and I often think to myself "why on Earth did I tell that person such a personal thing?" I can't seem to stop myself though, it is just who I am, the girl with verbal diarrhoea.

Phil on the other hand is more private than me so I wanted to make sure he was OK with the fact that I mention him (often) here. The thing is, it would be sort of hard to NOT write about him because he is one the biggest parts of my life along with my girls and now of course, my MS.

He replied that he didn't mind as long as I didn't write something that he could sue me for. That does narrow it down a little (kidding) but it was a relief to know that he is OK with being one of the stars in the blog drama that is my life.

It took until I was almost 40 (yikes) to meet this lovely man and how we met is quite a story, which I would like to share with you today. It was going to be my Mum's 60th birthday and she asked if I would fly over to Florida (where she lives) so that I would be there to help celebrate.

As I boarded the Virgin flight at Heathrow and walked along the aisle I noticed a rather handsome man sitting in what I believed to be my seat. I asked him if maybe he had made a mistake but he insisted that no, the aisle seat was his and the other seat (window) was mine. I was quite happy about this as I hate the aisle seat. Win!

I fly quite often and would consider myself somewhat anti-social on a plane. You see in the past I have made the mistake of opening a conversation with someone who then just WOULD. NOT. SHUT. UP. I have learned my lesson and usually just say hello, open my book and ignore.

As we sat there waiting to take off somebody yelled at someone else a few rows in front of us. It wasn't immediately obvious if they were messing around or if an argument was about to start. It soon became apparent that they knew each other and were simply having a laugh. My fellow traveller (Phil) and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows as if to share a "phew" that it was nothing serious.

The flight attendants then started their usual safety drill showing us how to fasten a life jacket etc. and then the person doing the talking over the speaker system said something along the lines of "and once leaving the aircraft run as fast as you can to get away". Phil and I looked at each other in surprise (he is also a frequent flyer) and I said "Did I hear that right?" he replied "Yes, they don't usually say that do they?" to which I answered with laughter "No".

So from that point on we both DID. NOT. SHUT. UP. We shared wine, stories about our lives and families, Phil suggested a movie that he heard was quite good that we watched together (it was quite rude, didn't he realise I am a lady?), we basically laughed the whole time. We got a few dirty looks from a lady sitting across the aisle from us but to be honest her two little boys were dressed in suits with bow ties so who cares what SHE thought, poor kids dressed like that for a nine hour flight! I hope we made her flight as uncomfortable as she had for her children. Looking back, with three (or was it four?) glasses of wine in us, we were probably annoying to people sat close by.

I felt an instant connection with Phil, like I had known him forever. It was one of those situations when someone tells you they like something and you think "no way, me too and nobody else I know likes that". We seemed to just "fit" and I was delighted when he handed me his business card for if I ever "fancied going out for a drink" when we both got home.

I think Fate meant for us to meet as I usually fly British Airways (not any more) but they had no seats so my Mum booked me on to Virgin Atlantic. She assigned me a seat but when I went online to see where it was it was right by the toilets (ewww, toilet smell for nine hours? No thanks) so I decided to change it. There was literally only one seat left open, 37K. It wasn't a great seat in as much as I thought it was an aisle seat (I have been corrected on this point many, many, many times) but it was at least away from the loos so I took it. The Universe wanted me to sit next to my Mr. Right. Thank you Universe!

So, as they say, the rest is history. We have, like most couples, had our ups and downs but they say you find out the true colours of someone when you really need them and boy has Phil stepped up to the plate with all of his support since I haven't been well. It mustn't be easy for him and yet he hasn't complained once. He has been with me at every doctor appointment, he has been on the MS websites to get knowledge and has just been a complete rock.

When I first got diagnosed I told him that I would understand if he couldn't handle this, that I knew that this is not what he had signed up for. He look at me straight and asked "are you giving me an out?" I replied that yes, I suppose I was to which he said "You're an ass". He was insulted. I completely underestimated him and it made him angry. It wasn't my intention, I just didn't want to be a burden.

There have been times when I have been sad and angry, taken out my frustrations on him and the rest of the family and yet they haven't once held it against me (not to my face at least, maybe they have "what a bitch" parties behind my back). I won't ever really be able to put into words not only how much I love my man but also how much his continued love and support means to me. I am a lucky, LUCKY girl.

So enough about me, how are YOU?