Dear Karleigh,

The begining is tricky. I could start with how  you came about but I think it would be more appropriate to start in the very beginging.. When your daddy and I met. I was 16 years old and at a crazy place in my life. I was hanging out with a random group of friends that I would come to find weren't really my friends at all. You dad was standing against the fence at the Horse Shoe Pits in Niceville. I walked by him hardly even noticing he stood there. Clumsy me tripped over his extra large sweet tea and spilt the entire thing. (oops..) That's all I could manage to say. Justin didn't have very many nice things to say to me after I knocked over his beloved tea. (eye roll) So I offered to get him a new one in a playful, sassy tone saturated in sarcasm. He offered to drive me across the street to the Tom Thumb. I sat in the back seat next to your Uncle Vince and flirted with him quite obnoxiously to get Justin's attention. I think it worked because he was still quite rude to me. ;)




After our first little encounter I found myself seeing your daddy everyone. Baseball games, in the hall at school, in the parking lot... but I never said anything else to him. Until he messaged me on MySpace (a social networking site that was all the rage back then). After that I got in quite the trouble because of him. THIS IS VERY WRONG but I lied to my mom and dad and snuck to see Justin on the beach at a party with a friend. Of course my parents caught me in the lie and I got in a lot of trouble but that was the first night he kissed me. And that was the night that my life changed FOREVER.



After Justin graduated from high school (he was 17 and this was just a couple months after we first met) he moved to Dallas, TX to work with Uncle Vince for a while. We talked, texted, and myspace messaged all day everyday. We would always end our conversations with I miss you. One time, I slipped up and said I love you, then hung up really quickly because I was so embarrassed. I wondered if he'd ever call back after that because we'd only been talking for a month or so. Not long after that we made our relationship official.



Two and a half weeks after we made it official Justin came back from Texas and moved in with Rafe. It was just in time for the Fourth of July, where we had a very heart warming heart to heart and decided to be together forever. This was the first night your daddy told me he loved me. I will never in my life forget his sweet words as I sat on his lap on Matt Mulligan's back porch. It was perfect. Right as the fire works went off.



That's the begining. How our family started off. Your daddy and I have had our moments. Highs high enough to touch the moon and lows low enough to hurt my heart. But that's how love goes, there is no such thing as a perfect relationship, just two imperfect people who fit perfectly together.



After four years together, we got pregnant with a little peanut who didn't make it to my second trimester. You would have big sister or brother but God had other plans. That was sad but I trusted in God and a year later I was pregnant with you. Neither of you were planned by us but we fully believe God has plans for you. I wouldn't trade a single second of having you be apart of my life for ANYTHING in the entire world. This blog is documentation of our lives together! We love you Karleigh Piper Reeder. More than anything in the world.






Love,
Mommy