Down To The Wire

So we're down to the last week of the indiegogo campaign (I know, you're probably thinking "Yay! Now she'll write about something else!" *grin*). We are currently $1,450 to our $6,000 goal. And first of all, I want to say a big huge THANK YOU to everyone who has donated to our love fund. And that's what I really want to talk about today - love. I want to tell you about this amazing journey, and this incredible man who has picked me to share his life. I've been through a lot - an alcoholic marriage, several abusive relationships, and a lot of men who would rather take advantage of me than get to know me (yeah, you could say I've had pretty lousy taste in men - a couple of good ones, but mostly not so much). I was at the point that if anyone told me I would meet someone, I wanted to punch them in the face. Paul, in many ways, was the opposite. He'd had a series of nice girlfriends, then met and married his now ex-wife. Sadly, she was a manipulator of the highest order, subtly controlling and making his world so small by driving people away that the only ones he had was her and their son. She convinced him to move to the U.S. (not too hard, since he'd always wanted to come here), then left him, and has done everything possible to separate him from his son - she's thrown out everything of Paul's that he didn't take with him when he moved out (she sent him back to Australia when they separated by telling him they were moving back to work things out and she was sending him on ahead to get everything ready, so he would go. Then as soon as he got there, she told him their marriage was over), including his baby book and letter from his now-deceased mother. When he gave the (court-ordered) cell phone to his son so that Z could call him anytime, she threw that in the trash. She won't let Z talk to his dad if he calls, and currently will not allow any form of communication between them, has made Z de-friend anyone on the X-Box she thinks might be connected to his father, limits the time Z can speak with his half-brother because she knows he talks to Paul, sits next to Z anytime he is on the X-Box to make sure he isn't talking to his dad, and throws away anything that is given to Z by Paul, me, or my mother. So needless to say, when I met him, Paul was working overnights at a convenience store, part-time as the fish guy at the grocery (both minimum wage jobs), and trying to stay awake to spend time with his son. He wasn't interested in meeting anyone after what he'd been through - until we met. He was drawn to my "sparkle", and I got lost in those big brown eyes. We went through a lot in those first 5 months - he was denied custody of his son at the end of his long court battle, he tried to leave when he got scared of being hurt, but somehow we found the strength to connect and commit. Leaving him for 8 months to work on the cruise ship was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I loved what I was doing, but always felt hollow, because my other half was missing. While I was on ship, we decided we didn't want to waste any more time, and started planning our wedding for 5 weeks after I returned home, and we wed exactly 14 months to the day after we met. I have to say, I have never seen a more perfect day. I literally watched a room full of people fall in love with this sweet, gentle, amazing man. Also while on board ship, we realized that if we stayed in the U.S., we'd likely never be able to make anything above survival wages, and Paul was really homesick - so we made the choice to build our life together in his hometown of Adelaide, Australia. We have been so humbled to have so many people supportive of our love, and to want to see us succeed. The dancing, the food, the sheer joy of the day - it was literally a day overflowing with love. 10 days after we wed, Paul left for Australia. We have no idea when we will see each other in person again. At the encouragement of friends, we started the indiegogo campaign to help offset the phenomenal costs involved to relocate our lives to Australia. It is $6,000 just for me to immigrate there. We pretty much cleaned ourselves out paying for the wedding and Paul's airfare. I'm still paying off debt that was incurred when I was out of work for more than 6 months (and being a freelancer, I didn't qualify for unemployment). So now we're saving to bring me over and to get a home and life in Australia. Some quotes from folks who have already contributed on why they chose to support our campaign: "In our world there is so much hurt and struggle and disease, and with social media there are waves of support daily, through prayer, donations and words of comfort and encouragement. I felt moved by the opportunity to contribute to a positive outcome, Kat & Paul, so clearly committed & in love. Circumstances of life have created the opportunity for their community to rally support to bring them together. $10, $20, $50 does make a difference, it is inspired action. An opportunity to support Love & LOVE WINS! Blessing <3" "For Love, With Love." "Kat and Paul have renewed my faith in finding love. I thought the fairy tale ending happened only in the movies. Who wouldn't want to be part of a real life fairy tale ending?" Please consider joining us - only 7 days left in the campaign (it ends March 3rd). Thank you.