How I Met My Honey

Ooh, another carnival! I love a carnival! And this one is about how we all met our husbands/wives/significant others Go see Reba and play along too!

It was October, 1999. I was living in a really cool apartment near downtown Dallas with  my friend Alicia. I was also casually dating two guys, which is something I NEVER did. Not EVER. I was never good at casually dating because it made me feel very uncomfortable. And this situation was definitely outside of my comfort zone, but I was working it ok. The two guys in question were polar opposites. One was a total guy’s guy - sports freak, no fashion sense, fairly clueless when it came to women but a good guy all around. The other was more on the artsy side. He was a musician but not by trade, dressed very fashionably, and knew all about wine and women (which was a stumbling block to any long-term potential we might have had). Both were older than me - Sports Freak was 32 to my 25 and Skirt Chaser was 36. I liked them both ok but there was no real magic there with either of them. I had just finally after two years gotten over a very slow and painful long-distance breakup, so I guess that was the reason I was embracing my new single gal status with such gusto.

One Saturday night, October 23 to be exact, some new neighbors of ours were having a house warming party in the courtyard. Since everyone’s apartments opened out to the courtyard, Alicia and I decided that we’d better just go to the party - we wanted to stay in and watch a movie and eat pizza since we’d both had big nights out the night before, but knew we’d not be able to hear our movie anyway. So down we went, with the plan of having a beer or two and saying hi and then going back up when the noise died down.

I remember that he was standing by the grill talking to my next door neighbor, wearing a Dave Matthews Band t-shirt. I came up to say hi to my neighbor and he introduced me to Jake, whom he had just met himself. For the next hour or so, we kept running back into each other. We’d sit and chat for a moment then we’d go do something else. I was completely not looking to meet anyone new, as I already had more on my plate in the men department than I could handle, so I was not flirting. We were just talking. There was a moment when I was unintentionally bitchy to him, and although he’ll exaggerate exactly how bitchy I was, I realized immediately how it had sounded and tried to make amends. I don’t know why I cared, because as I said, I was not looking for another guy.

The night progressed and we continued to talk and talk and talk. We both liked hockey. He said very casually that we should go to a Stars game sometime. I said out loud “That would be cool!” but in my head I was thinking “What are you doing? You can’t handle dating another guy!” But instinct must have taken over. We ended up being the last ones at the party, Jake and his co-worker and my roommate and me. We sat at a table and talked until the wee hours. Jake asked for my phone number, and I invited him up to the apartment so I could get write it down for him. At that  point in her life, my dog Lucy was very scared of men and wanted no part of them. But for some reason, when Jake came in the apartment, she didn’t freak out, she even let him pet her. It was like she knew before I did.

As the weekend ended, I had convinced myself that if Jake called, which I was sure he wouldn’t, I would just say I couldn’t see him. But he did call on Monday and he had tickets to the Stars game for the upcoming weekend. Again, instinct ruled over the babbling in my head telling me to not throw another ball in the air to juggle. As the week wore on, I told myself that I would give him the talk after the date ended.

But we went on the date. And we had a great time. I wasn’t nervous. We had so much to talk about. We were laughing constantly. After the hockey game, he took me to a Halloween party. In the car on the way there, he held my hand. The instant he took my hand, my stomach dropped like I was on a roller coaster. After the party, on the way to the car, with a very light rain falling, he stopped me in the middle of the street and kissed me. And that was it.

Two weeks later, I had given both the other guys the heave-ho and he had broken it off with a girl he’d been seeing and we were exclusive and serious. By Thanksgiving, we had acknowledged the fact that we were probably going to get married. We dated for a year to make sure we weren’t insane and were engaged on September 20, 2000. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Anyone else want to share? I love to hear about true love stories. C’mon, dish!

Filed under General Sappiness |