Ladies, Peter, this is your final rose tonight.
I started watching The Bachelor series in 2002. Yes, if you look that up, I watched the very first Bachelor ever! I didn't watch the entire season, but I watched enough to get hooked and fell in love with Trista and Ryan's love story. I remember one week feeling so long as I waited for her final episode! On Trista's season of The Bachelorette, I fell in love with Bob Guiney, a funny musician who was one of Trista's runner ups. I actually have...and listen to... a Bob Guiney station on my Pandora and regularly ask Alexa to "play music like Bob Guiney". I was thrilled to find out he lives close to me and have hopes of one day running into him and acting totally cool, of course.
One of my favorite Bachelor memories was during my senior year of high school, in either 2005 or 2006. Obviously, you couldn't record shows or re-watch them, so making sure my mom and I were at the TV at 8:00 was imperative. So, one night I was swamped with homework on a Bachelor night; 8:00 approached and my mom was hollering for me to come down and watch the show with her. I remember her and I having a brief confrontation and asking her, "Why are you getting upset with me for wanting to do my homework rather than watch The Bachelor?" I laugh at this now because, as a mom, I totally get the importance of watching a show together. The memories, the bonding, the ridiculous comments my dad would interject (quickly followed by one of us saying, "You don't have to watch this!") it was all really special; and even though I stayed up a little later than I wold have otherwise, I'm so thankful that my mom prioritized spending time together with me.
I think it was pretty well known that I enjoyed the show, because for a formal dance my senior year, my boyfriend at the time (now husband), roped my basketball teammates and coaches into staging a Bachelor Final Rose Ceremony to ask me to the school dance. I was shocked when I walked into the room to find him standing in a formal tux with a dozen roses on a stand with my entire (sweaty) team on the baseline awaiting their fate. As it turned out, I made it through 3 rounds of rose ceremonies, with tons of laughter in between, and eventually got my final rose. I think Mark did this so he could remind me that I already won the show and that there was no reason for me to apply for the show in the future.
My husband has watched most seasons since with me but we never thought we'd have a son and dress him as The Bachelor. However, when the idea came to mind, I couldn't resist, and Mark obliged! This summer we were given a kids, metal pedal-plane from our family in Chelan. I knew I wanted it for photos but hadn't done any work to schedule a session. But when Mark was cleaning out the garage recently, he reminded me of how hard this plane was to store. I promised him I'd schedule a session and this "hard-to-store plane" would be a money-maker, making the storage would be worth it! The next day was the first showing of Pilot Pete's season of The Bachelor and the idea was sprouted. I realized, I have a mini plane, and adorable Seahawks-loving boy and this could be so fun! I ordered a suit, borrowed some wings to pin on Noah's coat, my husband picked up a rose and we waited for decent weather. When the time was right we ran outside for less than 10 minutes and I prayed that Noah would cooperate. He nailed it! This is one of my favorite sessions to date, and makes me smile at how much of a charmer he is. While we didn't make a dime off of this session, I get to keep the plane!
