When I graduated, I knew that I had no concrete plans. I knew that I wanted to have a career, and to be with Martin. What happened next exceeded all expectations. I don’t think I even imagined that life could have so many surprises.

The day after graduation, Martin and I packed our bags and flew to New York for the draft. The unexpected happened, and he was drafted in the first round.

He was drafted to the Denver Broncos with a ten million dollar a year contract. We moved in with his mom the next week while we looked for a house.

We found the perfect house with all of the specifications I asked for. It was bigger than I even asked for, but then again, his contract was bigger than we thought it would be.

He also paid off his mom’s mortgage so her paychecks could be spent on better things than bills. She was beyond thrilled to have her son and his girlfriend around.

Unfortunately, not everything was perfect. We had been talking for months about having me meet his dad. Martin hadn’t seen him in years, and thought this would be the perfect time to make amends. After putting it off and making excuses not to go, we finally picked a date when we would visit him. We found the halfway house he had been living in, and Martin even talked to him on the phone to set up a time to meet. Then the accident happened.

Just three days before we were supposed to meet, his dad got into a car accident. He had been drunk, and went the wrong way on the highway. He was speeding, lost control, and hit a semi truck.

The truck driver was okay, but the crash killed his dad. The first time I was in the man’s presence was at his funeral. It was a hard time for Martin, especially because his new team reminded him so much of his dad. It took some time, but he got through it, and even funded a wing of a rehab center in his name.

My mom finally came around to having Martin around more. They’re certainly not close, but she speaks cordially with them. He convinced me to spend a few weeks with her over the summer, and it wasn’t that bad. My dad and Martin are practically best friends, though.

I secretly think my dad wanted a son, but my mom wasn’t going to have any more children. My mom and I get along a lot better these days. Our relationship will still need time to heal, but we talk on the phone every couple of weeks.

The most unexpected thing happened soon after graduation. We moved to Colorado, and I felt sick all of the time. Martin thought I just had altitude sickness from being in the mountains. I didn’t think much of it, but after talking to Sasha, she convinced me to take a pregnancy test. I was pregnant!

We aren’t sure, but we think the condom broke on the night of graduation, when we were too drunk to notice. I blame Martin for that little oversight.

At the time, I was pretty upset. I didn’t think I wanted to have a child so soon. Martin was really great, though. After I went to the doctor to confirm the pregnancy, I told Martin that night, thinking he was going to be angry. In fact, he cried tears of joy.

I had never seen him cry before, so of course I turned into a blubbery mess. He had to run to the store to buy a pint of ice cream to get me to stop.

Since I decided to hold off on getting a job, I took classes to get my teaching license. Now I’ll be able to work whenever I’m ready. I followed Martin around to a lot of his games until I was too pregnant to fly.

Because of my bloated belly, I couldn’t try out to be a cheerleader. I was a little disappointed, but the excitement of the baby made up for it.

We had our daughter, Nikki, at the beginning of the off-season. It was perfect timing, because I couldn’t have imagined giving birth without Martin by my side. He was so great and attentive.

I won’t lie, I was pretty annoyed when I was having contractions and all of the nurses were fawning over him. He gets recognized all the time. For the most part, I’ve gotten used to his fame.

Our daughter is absolutely perfect in every way. I could spend all day looking at her little face. I was so worried that I wouldn’t know what to do with a baby, but between the books I read, Martin’s mom, and motherly instinct, it was a breeze. I mean, it was really hard at first, but I had a ton of help. Luckily Martin was around most of the day, so he spent his time talking to our daughter about football. Martin’s mom moved in with us for a few months and was an absolute angel.

My parents visited as much as possible, and I think having a granddaughter softened my mom a bit. She hates the idea of being old enough to be a grandma, but adores shopping for cute—and crazy expensive—outfits for Nikki. Nikki is just as happy wearing Burberry as she is in a football jersey. I’ve already promised her that when she’s old enough to make her own decisions, I’ll let her participate in any activity she chooses. Martin also agreed that we weren’t going to force her to play sports, no matter how much we wanted her to.

After I found out I was pregnant with Nikki, both Martin and my parents wanted us to get married. Martin got a ring, but I refused to get married, just because there was a baby involved. I wanted both of us to be sure we were ready for the next step.

He kept asking me, once a month at first, and then would check in on a weekly basis. I kept telling him no because I wanted to make sure everything was right. In retrospect, this seemed a little mean of me, but I think it made us really decide what we wanted in a marriage.

In the fall, Martin was asked to come back to Princeton to be recognized as a former athlete, now in the pros. Of course, I went with him, and we brought Nikki along. I wanted her to see where mommy and daddy met. Little did I know, our parents were also in attendance.

At halftime, the announcer gave a short speech about Martin’s college career as our little family walked out on the field to wave to the crowd. All of a sudden, the cheerleaders came out and brought him a little box.

He got down on one knee and proposed to me with our parents, our daughter, and my old squad surrounding us. I couldn’t say no if I wanted to, since there were thousands of cheering fans around.

I knew right then that the moment was perfect. This man constantly surprised me and I wanted to be with him for the rest of my life. We’re planning our perfect wedding for next summer in the mountains, near Aspen. I expected my mom to have a venue already booked, but I think she learned her lesson about making plans for me. I wasn’t really someone whose life followed a plan.

Being the girlfriend of a professional athlete was not what I expected. I thought it was going to be crazy parties every weekend and a hectic schedule. In reality, we stay in and watch movies and play with our daughter.

Martin travels for away games every now and again, but he’s really not gone a lot. He’s a great father and always has enough time for his little girl.

I know it wasn’t a conventional first few years out of college, especially from someone as career-focused as me. While my friends were backpacking through Europe or going to loud concerts, I was at home reading stories about puppies and kitties.

Martin’s mom babysat for us a lot, and we went to our fair share of celebrity-filled bashes, but we always wanted to come home early to kiss Nikki goodnight.

I wouldn’t have traded the way things turned out for anything, though. We got just about everything we ever wanted in life, just all at once. It wasn’t always easy, but it was worth it.

If someone had told me as a youth where my life would have taken me, I would have laughed. For that matter, if someone told me my life would be like this before my last year of college, I wouldn’t have believed it. I learned a while back that there’s no point in trying to control where things are headed.

If I would have stuck to the plan, I would be miserable in the Hamptons, gossiping with other housewives. Now, I’m soon to be married to a professional football player and the love of my life. Our daughter is everything I ever wanted, and we have everything we could possibly want or need at our fingertips.

If I knew anything for certain, it was that rigid plans only led to pain and disappointment. I decided to live my life open and willing to make the best of whatever opportunities popped up.

It was working pretty well for me so far.

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If you liked this, keep reading the rest of the Pass To Win series!