I once was told from an extraordinary young lady that some of the best moments in life come from spontaneity. She was right. That spontaneous act for me was the day I had lunch at Garcias. That was the day I found my best friend. Who knew from that day forward that my life was about to be changed forever. Well to be completely honest with you, I did the moment I saw him awaiting my arrival. That was the day I truly began living my life. I know it's cliche but I found my soulmate. I want everyone to have what I found. I want the world to know who makes me so happy and completes me. I want to share with everyone I know and even complete strangers how much this man means to me.

That man is Jacob......

Let me give you a little bit of background on Jacob and I and how this all came about. In January 2009, I contacted Jacob through classmates.com of all places. We exchanged a few emails, nothing too exciting or so I had thought. But there was an email lost somewhere in cyberspace in which he had asked me to have lunch with him and so of course I never responded. Poor Jacob thought oh okay she totally blew me off. Well little did I know that persistence would pay off for him. In May, he again contacted me only this time via facebook. He thought okay, I am gonna ask this chic one more time to have lunch with me and see what happens. Well folks, WE HAPPENED!!!!!! It was the best day of my life and let me tell you why........


Jacob is an exceptionally striking man in every way possible. He always has rockstar hair, has a million dollar smile that will melt any woman's heart, has an intellect that is off the charts, his sense of humor is completely twisted and warped and I love everything about it. Life with him is an adventure. The things we get ourselves into are enough to make your stomach hurt from laughing so much in one day. There definitely is never a dull moment when Jacob is present.


Back in August Jacob decided to revisit the idea to play soccer again. Let me start by telling you this...He had not played in sixteen years, yes you heard me right, sixteen years! For those of you who don't already know, Jacob is an AMAZING goalkeeper! In all the years I have been involved in the soccer community, I have never seen anything or anyone who plays the way he does. This man is forty years old and can still fly like he is twenty. Doubting me? I challenge you to your opinion. Come watch this man play, you will be at a loss for words I can promise you that. Now there is this phrase that remains true for him today, "no pain, no gain." Jacob has certainly had his share of injuries since he has been back in the goal. We spent many sunday nights icing/heating pulled hamstrings, quads and calves, restocking the bandaid and neosporin supply on a weekly basis to cover all the gashes and abrasions his elbows and knees suffered on a biweekly basis, making sure there was enough motrin in the house to take the edge off of aches and pains in places he never thought was possible, and recapping that the chain of events that transpired throughout the game that day. Sundays are one of my most favorite days to spend with him. Now he has informed me that we are flying to Kansas City in March so he can tryout for the Kansas City Wizards. To some of you this may sound odd, Jacob is going try out for a major league soccer team. Well then you obviously don't know Jacob's true love or desire in life. There is not one thing I have known him not to succeed at or at least kill himself trying. In any event, I will be there right by his side to support him no matter what happens. I find my happy place watching him come out at the top of the 18 to take a one on one and body check a forward or a striker who actually entertains the thought that they are gonna score on him. HA!!! I have seen it and I believe it, this man is by far hands down, the cats ass and the bees knees!


So if that's not enough for you yet, I will share another adventure Jacob embarked on. In November, Jacob was asked by his cousin Ryan to come and coach the goalkeepers at Moon Valley High School this season. This was something he had never done before but he was more than willing to try and of course as usual.. succeed. He was given three boys: Aaron, David, and Diego to train and develop their skills or the skills they thought they had B.J. (before Jake). When these three first started out, they were all over the place and didn't understand nor respect even half of the things that Jacob was teaching them. It didn't take them long after seeing their coach do every drill they did and watched him defend the goal they way it should be done, "Jake's way." Jacob worked diligently to develop these boys into three amazing goalkeepers and hmm guess what? Yep, he succeeded! These boys had an amazing season. I attended almost every game and practice even to include Prescott just to support Jacob in what he believed in and that was these three boys. My happy place here is to be at the game on the sidelines with him when he turns to me and says did you see that Cathi? I taught them that yesterday or see that drill was exactly for that reason. The way his face lights up is priceless. He always made sure to text each one of his keepers after their games and praise them, make sure they knew Coach was proud of them. Who do you know that does something like that? At one point during the season Ryan was ill, Jacob had to take over the whole team and lead them to an amazing victory in the Glendale Invitational Tournament and of course yet again he succeeded. Jacob has never been called "hey coach, hey coach" in his life and it is now a common phrase in our house. Jacob gained the respect of these boys, inspired them and supported them. He helped them to make it to State Cup this year, even though they were defeated the first game, they still succeeded and achieved what they did because of him.

Oh how I love this man.

My three children love everything about Jacob. The day they met Jacob they knew why this man makes mom so happy. Griffin harasses him continuously that he makes up stories and never believes a word he says, Maddie stands by his side cooking and learning from him and not to mention loves shopping with him, and Logan loves nothing more than to bs with him about baseball, football, and of course exchange keeper stories. I really think they try and see who can top who's story. Hahaha.... I could not have asked for a better man to have come in to my children's lives and complete our family. He loves my children as if they were his own. I love his children the same. We now have six children between us, and a big black dog, Thursday and I love every minute of my life. I love every minute of all eight of us being together. Who would have ever thought we would have six kids and not lose our sanity at any given moment. To be honest, our blended family is perfect.


Jacob is perfect. What man do you know who buys his girlfriend a new outfit all the way down to her shoes and accessories every week just to make sure she knows how much she is loved? What man do you know who will stop whatever it is he is doing to cook anything his girlfriend wants? What man do you know who tells his girlfriend she is the catalyst to his life being so perfect? What man do you know that gets out of the car to dance and sing "I've got a feeling" in the middle of a traffic jam on the beeline highway? What man do you know who compliments his girlfriend at least ten times a day everyday? What man do you know who can make all of his girlfriends dreams come true? What man do you know that is adored by his girlfriend on so many levels? What man stays up most of the night to text his girlfriend as she pulls yet another night shift away from him only to get a few more minutes to talk to her and few less hours of sleep?


I know that man and love him with all my heart!!


That man is Jacob! That man is my forever and I don't want to miss a minute of forever with him!



P.S. As much as I hate to admit it, Jacob is perfect!