Life is full of surprises. Usually the best surprises come when you are least expecting them, making them even more special than if you had the expectation. The same goes for falling in love. It can happen when you least expect – but when it does you will do everything you can to never let it go.
Luck was clearly not exactly on my side at this point when it came to men. I was meeting cute, nice guys but they just weren’t what I was looking for. What was I looking for? To be honest, I didn’t’ really know but I just figured when it came my way then I would. My match.com-ing was proving to be somewhat unsuccessful. I wasn’t ready to give up but I started to doubt any possibility of finding someone I could actually go on more than one date with – (not including my drunken stupor of a second date with Mike). While doing some casual perusing of the men on Match I came a across a picture that stood out as if there were a light shining down on it. When I clicked on the profile to see the rest of his pictures I was actually in awe of how good looking I found him. Who is this guy?? As I started reading through his profile I learned that he was from the East Coast, was very intellectual and was a pilot – hot! I didn’t even know pilots came that scrumptious. When I think of a pilot I think of old man, possibly has a giant belly and definitely has a mustache. Never would I think blonde hair, light eyes, and a smile that can make anyone melt like butter. Of course I decided to wink at him…never really thinking I would get a response. In my eyes this guy was way out of my league.
Over the next couple days I felt like a total creep master as I constantly looked at his pictures. I couldn’t get him out of my mind but, like I said, this guy was so out of my league I better just move on.
But then I got a wink back!!!
I couldn’t believe it! Right away I started drafting an email to him. With each word I typed my smile just grew and grew. Over the next few weeks we wrote not just emails, but full on essays to each other. We would write to each other at least once a day and sometimes more, asking and answering questions about our families, our dreams and ourselves. He wrote with such poise and I felt like I actually knew him beyond just through the screen of my computer. Everyday I looked forward opening my inbox and seeing a new message from “AArrDee” (I’ll explain that name later).
After a couple weeks of being pen pals it was time to take it to the next level – which is meeting each other in match.com world. When you have this type of “relationship” of writing back an forth for a length of time the act of meeting is almost more nerve wracking then if you emailed once and decided to meet. There is more pressure considering we had already built this foundation layer and each of us has our own set of expectations. What if he doesn’t meet my expectation? What if I don’t meet his? Then was all of that emotion and energy put out there for what seems like nothing?
I took a trip up to Chico, CA for a weekend to go visit some of my best friends who went to school there. I had a big weekend ahead of me – 90’s themed party, 80’s themed party, a milestone celebration at a local bar and catching some baseball games. Before I left I had emailed AarrDee telling him about all my festivities and how much fun it was all going to be ( which for those who were in Chico during my visit know EXACTLY how much fun I had…a story I will share later and will be a MAJOR earmuffs for children!!). If you have never partied in Chico then you won’t understand but since I was only there for a few days I was definitely going to make the most it. I was so wrapped up in everything going on around me that I had forgot to email AarrDee back. So when I got home and checked my email this is what I saw:
“Hey, was it something I said? Just kidding, I understand how this whole thing can go I and wish you the best of luck.”
Robert
OH SHIT, OH SHIT, OH SHIT!!!!!!!!! Am I about to lose something before I ever really got a chance to hold on to it?? Hell no!
Immediately I emailed back how sorry I was that I got side tracked in Chico and how much I still really wanted to meet him…plus a few more sorry’s were thrown in as well.
Luckily he was really cool about it all and still really wanted to meet me. I gave him my phone number and that night he called me! While waiting for his call I was so nervous about what his voice would sound like and whether or not our conversation would feel awkward. The second I answered the phone all my worries went away. We began talking as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Our first conversation lasted about 45 minutes and ended with us decided to meet that weekend.
Neither of us really wanted to do the whole dinner thing. We wanted something a little more active and fun with as least amount of potential stress. After a few minutes of brainstorming we came up with our date. He was still fairly new to California, lived in Berkeley and had never really explored the East Bay. So, I invited him to come over my way and I would take him into downtown Danville for lunch. Because he knew how much I liked sports, especially baseball, he thought it would be fun to find some batting cages and hit a few balls where I could show him a thing or two. This sounded so fun to me and I found a sports complex not too far away. This was definitely not a conventional date (which is pretty much a preface to the next six months of my life) but I had never looked forward to something more.
First date itinerary
- He would pick me up at 1pm
- Lunch in Danville at Pete’s Brass Rail
- Batting Cages
Since our first date allotted for about 4 hours or so I wasn’t ready or expecting what was about to come my way but it was one of the best days of my life!!!
