Jessica's Thrilla in Manila: December 2004

So in December 2004 I was spending time with a friend in Manilla, Phillippines. The week before Christmas we went to the island of Boracay, one of the top 5 beaches in the world. Baby powder sand and striking sunsets captivated me each day. There was about 25 of us that we loosly aquainted hanging out on the island and a friend of my friend was dating a guy named Kristan. Long story short, he and I hit it off and stayed in touch over the next few months. He happened to be from Australia and said if I was ever to go there that I would have to hook up with his friend Louis in Brisbane.
(Louis is the best man is our wedding!)

Introduction to Louis: March 2005

So after deciding to go to Australia, Kristian hooks Louis and I up via email. Once I get to Brisbane, I stay with another contact of mine who shows me an interesting side to the Australian Man (I wasn't impressed). I call Louis a few days later and we meet up at the venue he is promoting later that night. I am introduced to his crew and he assures me that they can rectify my opinion of Aussie men (If he only knew:-)... He then invited me to come back to the club later that night for some good fun...

Computer Nerd Twinkle

I agreed and came back that night to see what the urban nightlife was like in Australia. His Crew, namely Danilo and Kulbir, looked out for me most of the night. Of course I didn't want to drink so I drank soda all night and by 1am I was starving. I made my way out of the club to find Louis and to see if I could get some grub. I had the number of the manager at a great bar/restaurant called the Normanby which I had eaten at before. As I chatted to him over the phone Louis taps me on the back and simoultaneously yells towards a guy that was walking towards the club doors. Louis whispers, "that's my roommate", with a big grin. As I turn around to continue my conversation the computer nerd walks back towards Louis and chats with him half drunk. I get off the phone and turn around swiftly... My eyes meet the Nerd's... His eyes twinkle and the warm smile hits me hard. The moment is broken by Louis's command, "Grant, Jessica is hungry, you need to find her something to eat". Grant happily leads me down Queen Street mall to find some good eats...

2 Hours Later

So after our in depth conversation about fear, death, money, motivation, friends, and religion, I think he passed the half drunk still able to speak test:-) All of a sudden we realize it is 3am and the party is over. We say good-bye and I tell him I will see him tomorrow as Louis had kindly insisted I stay at their place while I was in town and I happily accepted.

"Watching Over Me"

Although Louis is an exceptional host, he was very busy and so he assigned the task to "watch over me" to Grant. Turns out, Grant was willing:-) We ended up spending every day together without really trying. He came home for lunch everyday and according to Louis he never did that. After a few days I was scheduled to go to the Gold Coast (1 hour away) for three days as one of my friend's parents lives there. Grant kindly came down 2 of those three days to take me out etc. We enjoyed the beautiful coast and our time was running out. In a few days I had planned to go to Sydney then travel around the southern coast of Australia. The last night I was there, as a parting gift, he gave me a beautiful swarovsky necklace that blew me away. I didn't know what to think or what to do for that matter, I was leaving...

No Vacation for Grant

As a good friend, Louis of course is very curious about my opinion of Grant and expresses his observations of Grant's behavior. He thinks Grant is head over heels and wants to know what is going to happen when I leave. I said, "I don't know", as you can imagine I wasn't too concerned at this point. Then Louis hits me with, "You know, Grant hasn't taken a vacation in 5 years! Maybe you two could travel together to Southern Australia. Ya know his sister is down there..." I ponder the idea and after a few moments I say "Done". I told him I would mention it to Grant and see what he thought before I left. Turns out, Louis was right and Grant was well over due for a vacation. After checking airfare, within a few hours Grant and I were to meet in Melbourne in about 4 days. Oooh, the plot thickens!!

2 week Aussie Adventure: March - April 2005

Reuniting in Melbourne was so fun! I could relax a bit and let my hair down since I was very much at arms distance while in Brisbane. But knowing that we would be spending 2 weeks togther straight, I figured well what the hec! We stayed at his sisters place for 2 days then flew to Tasmania for 4 days. After that it was back to Melbourne, the off to cities along Great Ocean Road and finally Adelaide. Wow, how time flew. We couldn't have gotten along better. We didn't have one arguement which is quite surprising since I can be opinionated and intense. I was impressed at the way he handled me; calm with strength. He wasn't threatened nor did he feel intimidated. I was quite impressed actually (which is rare:-). He was like a breath of fresh air...

Saying Goodbye at the Airport

As Grant and I mosey on over to the airport, we are so consumed in conversation it hasn't really it us that we are parting ways. 30 minutes before his flight leaves to Brisbane, it sinks in. I was planning on going to Ayers Rock for a week, then flying to Perth then either off to the UK or Japan from there. I told him I didn't have to go to Perth and I could come back to Brisbane if he wanted... Well, as you might have guessed he said YES! Later that day I realize I can't get a flight or a train to Ayers Rock so I don't know what to do. I call Grant that night as planned and tell him what is happening. He asks me to just come now! And I say... okay:-)

Back to BrisVegas: April 2005

So I spend it seems an endless 3 weeks in Brisbane. It is a whirlwind. Grant takes me to dinner with his parents, then a long weekend on Fraser Island, out for sushi 4 times a week, a weekend with his parents in Noosa and the courting never stops. I planned to go back to London to work and to visit Kristian and his mother who was very ill. Kristian being the uniting force between Grant and I as well as an only child like myself, I felt an overwhelming need to visit him in London. I wanted to be there for him as well as thank him for the introduction to Louis, leading me to Grant...

3 Little Words

These 3 weeks were packed with excitement. Niether one of us knew where it was leading but somewhere inside me told me this feels so right. Two nights before my flight was off to London via Dubai for a 4 day business stop over, Grant and I have a heart to heart. Tears overcome me and I feel like I am going to burst if I don't blurt out how I am feeling. The next 3 hours we spend crying and embracing... We have no next steps planned to see each other and I will be about as far away from Australia as you can get. I choked back tears as I told him I loved him and as we embraced we let the tears rock us to sleep. Two days later, as he saw me off at the airport, a deep sadness consumed us. There was little words spoken just a sorrow in our expression. As I was about to descend down the escalator, Grant grabbed me by the waist and stared deeply into my eyes. As his eyes welled up, he firmly utters, "I love you". His hands caress my face slowly and all I can do is close my eyes and hug him tightly. I then turn around and descend down the escalator...

Dubai Here I Come: May 5-8, 2005

Of course being half way around the globe and possibly making a career move into the Arabian desert, the heart seems to grow fonder REAL quick! Those four days we spent many hours on the phone going over the "If's"... and every possible scenario. What were we going to do??

Off to London: May 8th, 2005

Reuniting with Kristian and my beloved colleagues at the Love Organisation was great and invigorating. (I had worked with them as their Marketing Director the previous year and was returning to do the same...) While I was there Grant and I spoke twice a day on the phone, once in the morning and once at night. Over the course of my stay, we had many discussions... some about me traveling again, some about me going back to Australia and the most hard hitting, the about being "an item".

Being a single independant woman with aspirations to fill 10 books, I had to consider the weight of this decision. What would it mean? Where would I go next? How would I make a living? Am I ready to be in a relationship let alone with an Australian!!

But after a couple weeks, I came to the realization that he was who I wanted to be with and had to face the fears and anxiety that come along with a new endeavor. So we planned for me to fly back to Australia on June 17th with not a lot planned yet:-)

Back to Brisbane: June 17 - August 4, 2005

28 Hours of Vomit, Sweat, and Tears... I unfortunatley had been passing out and vomitting almost eveytime I flew for the last year but I didn't know why and I never looked into it. (I was later diagnosed with something really simple, low blood pressure! It is under control now and I have lots of tricks on how to stop these symptoms from happening while flying.)

So my glorious arrival is somewhat dampened by my very physically stressful journey across the globe but Grant had no idea. My perfume must have distracted him:-) Anyway, we spent the next 7 weeks discussing future plans, business ideas, investment opportunities, visas, you know, the usual... hee hee. In our case, these things were very important as we needed to see what each other was made of and if we were serious about each other, what does that mean...

* On my birthday we went up to the Sunshine Coast and spent the fourth there. Of course there wasn't any fireworks in the sky but .... we had a good time:-)

Two Months of Hostelling: August 5 - October 6, 2005

So although we decided we would be together I wasn't quite ready to stop traveling. I had already been planning to go the the Greek Islands as well as do some Eastern European countries and of course meet up with my parents in Italy who I hadn't seen in over a year!

So upon my arrival in Athens (and vomiting all the way there) Grant and I are attached to the phone. We are like school children... Anyway the next day or so I am off to the island of Mykonos. I hate it. Then after a couple days I go to Santorini, I love it but I hate it too. So within one week of being gone Grant and I are so miserable without each other that he buys a ticket to meet me in Split, Croatia to arrive in 3 weeks. He would then travel with me for another 4 weeks surprising my parents in Venice, Italy. We were so excited but the inner anguish I experienced during the next 3 weeks was heart wrenching and almost unbearable. My next stop was Crete and although I tried to keep myself busy there was a day that I spent in my room sleeping and feeling sorry for myself, it was pathetic, I know.

• The Lonely Islands: Mykonos, Santorini, Crete
• Slovakia: Brataslava
• Hungary: Budapest
• Bosnia-Herzegovina: Mostar, Sarajevo
• Croatia: Dubrovnik, Korcula, Hvar, Split, Zadar, Pula, Rovinj, Porec
• Italy: Venice, Florence, cinque terre, Deruta, Siena, Assisi, San Gimigano
• Overland to London!: Weekend at the Doc
• 30 Hours Back to Australia
  

Grant’s 30th Birthday: October 10, 2005

So I have this great party planned for Grant's 30th birthday. I actually started planning it well before I left the country since I knew I would only have a few days before the actual party. With the help of some of his amazing friends, his parents, and his sister we managed to pull it off! It was so fun... See some pics in the photo gallery.

Now What? October - November 2005

So what is on the menu next... It was time for the Real Talk... What about marriage... We were ready. the few discussions we had we so natural... we knew we were ready and that we were staring our future spose in the face. It was the best feeling I have ever felt. Words cannot describe the deep down knowing that this is the person I want to spend the rest of my life with... (Oh, fyi, Grant asked my parents for my hand in marriage while we were in Italy but I didn't know!)

Also we decided to start our own company DynaDesign Websites and Hosting. We took something Grant was already doing and created a name, logo, slogan, business cards, and most importantly a business model. It was great! I could do Marketing and Sales for myself rather than someone else and Grant could kick his web development career into high gear!! We are still loving the life...
check out our website www.dynadesign.net

Back to the U.S., Finally! December

So I haven't been back to the U.S. since leaving the country back in July 2004. (This means I have been overseas for 17 months.) The exhilarhation of coming home was so immense. I hadn't realized how much I missed it. Of course, as always, coming home after any type of travel is great but this was extra special because it was during the Christmas season, my favorite time of year.

The Proposal: December 26th, 2005

So after being in the courntry for 4 weeks, on December 26th, one day before we go back to Australia, we all went down to my Uncle Joe and Aunt Arlette's house in Sun city, CA to celebrate Christmas with my Mom's side of the family. It was so great having everyone together...

Towards the end of the evening I wanted to give each person in my family a framed picture of somewhere that I had visited during my travels. As Grant and I presented them to each family member I spoke about how happy and thankful I was for all of them and for also having the opportunity to meet Grant etc. As I finished and began to turn to leave "center stage", Grant turned to me and got down on one knee... opened a small box and took my hand... "Jessica, will you marry me?" The whole place became silent. You could hear a pin drop. I gasped and stared... I was speechless... Of course, after about 30 seconds of wonderment I snapped out of it and said yes. The place burst into cheers and clapping... it was so surreal. We hugged and cried for at least 2 minutes as if we were in a room all alone... We were lost in each others arms.

My Aunt Patty popped open the Champagne and everyone celebrated. I drank 2 glasses in 5 minutes... surprising even myself. I was in a daze. It was a whirlwind of emotions...

Reflections - August 2006

Marriage is the epitomy of commitment, love, respect and security, at least it is for us. Over many conversations we discussed what we believe Marriage is about, what it represents and our views about being married. Being on the same page is so crucial to a successful relationship. As time passes we just keep falling deeper and deeper in love. His committment to me runs more deep than anything I have ever experienced. His sensitivity towards my feelings, his concern for my well being and overall attention to detail keeps me starry-eyed everyday. Of course his sense of humor is a bonus!!

I feel so blessed to have found my Soulmate... It is the ultimate gift from God to have been able to find him in this lifetime. To be able to spend the rest of my life with such an amazing person is the ultimate gift... My cup is so full it is spilling over...

I love you Grant Fern... forever and ever... for all of eternity... you are my life...

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Our Wedding Song

Thank you Louis for sharing this special song with us...

AMEL LARRIEUX
Make Me Whole

Darling I want you to listen
I stayed up all night, so I can get this thing right
And I don't think there's anything missing
Cause a person like you, made it easy to do
I've waited for so long, to sing to you this song

Cause your eyes are the windows to heaven
Your smile could heal a million souls
Your love completes my existence
You're the other half that makes me whole
You're the only other half that makes me whole

I think the angels are your brothers, yeah
They told you about me, said you're just what she needs
And I find myself thanking your mother
For giving birth to a saint
My spirit flies when I say your name
If there's one thing that's true
It's that I was born to love you

Cause your eyes are the windows to heaven
Your smile could heal a million souls
Your love completes my existence
You're the other half that makes me whole
You're the only other half that makes me whole

You make my dreams
Come true over and, over again
And I honestly truly believe
You and me are written in the stars
I live my whole life through
To giving thanks to you

Cause your eyes are the windows to heaven
Your smile could heal a million souls
Your love completes my existence
You're the other half that makes me whole
You're the only other half that makes me whole