My man

** Update **
If you want to learn more about Mark in his own words (400 or less, to be exact), check out his blog.

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I've always been drawn to the tall, dark and handsome types -- and lucky me... I landed one.

Mark and I met at work. We were both pretty new to the company and worked on several projects together. He was in the process of relocating to my town and began (innocently enough) asking me about things to do and places to live here.

Having a very limited social life, I could only give him advice for activities that would entertain small children. (Hey... we have a great Zoo!) And instead of pointing out the hip and trendy clubs, I could only point him to other, cooler people for assistance. (Though, I did tell him which restaurants had the best kids menus and coloring materials.)

I am, however, not totally useless -- I was able to point him toward a great apartment complex (pool, gym, in-unit laundry, huge yard) that would accept his two dogs -- not a small feat in this area.

I was not looking for a boyfriend. As a single mom of about 2 years with 3 young kids, I totally had my hands full. I dated casually a bit, but had made my mind up to just accept being single and focus 100% on me and the kids. So...a romantic connection was the farthest thing from my mind.

Then, he asked me out.

For some reason, he took me totally off guard and despite my stammering and stuttering ("Uh...you know I have kids, right? Like A LOT of them."), we managed to make a very fun first date happen. We hit it off and have been inseparable ever since.

He's amazing with the kids and has a way with Crow Bar that nobody else does (not even me). I liken it to Cesar Millan of The Dog Whisperer. Mark is totally The Kid Whisperer - though thankfully he doesn't do that "PSSHHHTT!" sound all the time.

Another incredible thing about Mark is that he goes out of his way to make me happy. Nobody's ever done that for me before ... EVER. He's quick to ask me about my day, to pull me close for a hug, and to try to make me laugh.

I guess he's also a kind of Jess Whisperer too.