It's been three years!
In honor of the third anniversary of the day we met I thought I would put together "The story of us."
In April of 2001, I had been separated from my ex for over year. It was apparent to ME that things were over, but not him. I had been dating people during this time, usually no more then once or twice. I dated one guy more seriously but it was a `mediocre' and `safe' relationship. I knew he wasn't my `soul mate' and I broke it off. I didn't LIKE being alone but I was ok with it. Being alone was better then a relationship that didn't `fit' and I had pretty much stopped looking. Still, when the ad came to the house for a place called "Great Expectations" offering a better quality of dating then the internet or hanging out at clubs, I figured "what the heck?"
I ended up signing up for their program. I took pictures, made a videotape (all the hokey dating service stuff) and then started the `search'. I remember when I came across N's profile and picture. I remember exactly what attracted me to him. First, one of his pictures showed him making a face and hanging himself by his tie. To me, this was a sure sign of an excellent sense of humor, and someone who didn't take himself too seriously. There were several things on his profile that caught my eye. One, he was in the computer industry, just like me. Two, he mentioned his love of British Humor, something I also enjoy, and once again affirming his sense of humor. Third, was the statement he made that his favorite characteristic on a woman was her eyes. He said that a woman's eyes were like a gateway to her soul. Yes folks, I bought it, hook, line and sinker!!
The way Great Expectations works is you put in a request to meet someone, they check your profile, see if they want to meet you and then answer back to the company who then gives each participant the other's number. I can VIVIDLY remember the day I came home and HIS name showed on my caller ID! I was SO excited! He had said YES! After playing phone tag a few times we managed to get each other of the phone and from that we decided that we were compatible enough to meet. Since I lived in `the city' and he a few miles away we decided to meet in the city that very night Thursday, May 3rd at 8:00pm. He let me choose the location and after checking a few sources I choose a place I called "The Groove".
I got there first. I have to tell you there are few things worse then arriving at a location and waiting outside for a blind date. I was excited, annoyed, confident and afraid all at the same time. Worse, was the fact that when I got there I realized that the place was called "The GROVE." Duh! He found it ok despite my faux pas. When he arrived I didn't even recognize him. My sweetie is one of those guys who looks like two different people when shaved or not and while in his pictures he wore a goatee, when I met him he had shaved. It was a little shocking at first but I got over it. We looked at the menu for a bit and realized we did not want to eat at the groove/grove, no matter WHAT it was called. A quick stroll down the street brought us to Burger Joint and we went inside. We got along famously, chatting as if we had known each other our whole lives. Once inside, N ordered a milk shake and we started looking at the menu. In about 30 seconds we were both laughing because even without saying a word somehow we KNEW that we were going to walk out of the place without eating there. N peeked at me over the menu and finally admitted, "I really don't want anything here either." I just nodded, and he drank his shake as quickly as possible so we could try somewhere else. Believe it or not we actually ATE at the next place we stopped.
Later that night we sat in the courtyard of my apartment complex just laughing and talking. In my mind, I had just met a VERY good friend, and I had pretty much convinced myself that he was only ever going to BE a friend because he never made a move. We finally said goodnight at 2:00am. Our first date lasted 7 hours.
We talked on the phone a few days later (Sunday) as I was driving home from visiting my kids. He wanted to see me again, and, of course, I wasn't going to object. The second date was just as GREAT as the first, with an added bonus!
When he pulled up in front of my apartment to drop me off, we started talking, and talking and talking, and the night got later and later. Finally, mid sentence I realized he was staring at me, with this funny look in his eyes. For the first time I got a CLUE. He DID like me in that way! My mouth went instantly DRY and I couldn't look him in the eye. I suddenly felt like I was in high school behind the bleachers. This giggly little school girl who had never been kissed. I kept laughing and covering my mouth. He smiled and pulled my hand away murmuring that I was cute when embarrassed. I laughed, embarrassed and tried to cover my mouth again. He didn't let me, and instead leaned in and gave me THE KISS, the one that stole my heart and changed my life forever. It was as if I had finally plugged into this enormous power source and was suddenly running as I had been intended to, while my life before now I had been trying to function on double A batteries. I froze then started trembling and I swear fireworks went off! When the kiss ended I had to wrap my arms around myself, I was shaking so badly. I felt like I was going to fly to pieces! After I recovered, we kissed again and it was even better then the first time! The date ended at 6:00am and all we did was kiss and talk.
The next Wednesday he invited me over to his place. He cooked dinner, we watched a movie and FINALLY got to the `good parts'. `IT' was just as amazing as that first kiss, and three years later, continues to be so. One month, almost to the day, we moved in together, but at that point it was just a `legality'. We had rarely left each other's side, with him at my place, or me at his nearly every night.
Underscoring all of my happiness is this. I was alone before, I'm not afraid to be alone again. And yet I choose NOT to be and I am SO happy with the choices that I've made.
Posted by parttimemom
at 9:05 PM PDT
Updated: Monday, 28 June 2004 5:11 PM PDT