In the last Love Story post I told you about events leading up to our first date. In this post, I'll tell you a little about our early dating days.
So, there I was, sitting at Buca Di Beppo, waiting for this blind date I found on the internet. I was very nervous. I spent days agonizing over which outfit to wear, an hour getting ready, and several minutes sitting in my car in front of the restaurant because I had gotten there so early (just in case).
I remember E. being about 10 minutes late, so I was already at the table when he walked in. I recognized him from his picture online but was pleasantly surprised when I saw him in person. I thought his picture was cute, but in person he was really cute. He recognized me, we introduced ourselves formally and sat down. I remember there being a brief second where we looked each other over after sitting down. We both had these goofy grins on our faces.
Now, I don't believe in love at first sight. I do believe that right from the start we were strongly interested in one another. Conversation flowed naturally, we were both laughing and having fun, we found out we had even more in common, and E. was a perfect gentleman. It was a perfect first date, and we arranged a second date before we went home.
Once we had that first date, there was no turning back. I chose the second date and he chose the third date. By that third date, we didn't want to leave each other. We had initially just arranged to go bowling. We were so ridiculous. "Oh, no! I got a gutter ball!" Hug. "Yay! I got a strike!" Hug. "I'm so bad at bowling!!!" Loooong hug. We decided we needed to grab some dinner afterwards. And then see a movie.
I walked him back his car after the movie. We shared our first kiss. I don't think I've ever smiled that hard in my life. My face hurt really badly when I got home and I didn't care. I spent a few minutes squealing with my roommate.
Over the next three or four months, we went out at least two or three times a week. People had told me previously that they knew they had found "the one" after dating them for about three months. I did not believe them.
Until I met E.
I really did start to feel that I was falling in love with him at about the three month mark. Obviously, looking back, I realize now that our love now is much richer and deeper than that initial obsessive and exciting love. However, I still knew then that once I was in, I was in for the long haul. There was no one else I wanted to be with. I blurted out that I loved him at about the four month mark. He told me he was "getting there."
*Crickets*
I really wasn't that upset after he explained that he was falling in love with me, and didn't want to jump the gun. I knew he was right. I was more than willing to wait until he was ready to say the "L" word again. I truly knew in my heart he was waiting for that special moment to say it.
That special moment came three months later around our birthdays. Our birthdays are four days apart and in that first year of dating fell around our six month anniversary. Being dorks, we decided to have a huge anniversary/birthday weekend getaway. E. is such a hopeless romantic and had planned this secret getaway. I had no idea where we were going but I was so excited.
At that point, it was becoming awkward not to say "I love you" at the end of our dates. We both knew that we had fallen in love. The week before the secret getaway, E. and I were over at his parents house. They were having a little birthday thing for us and we were enjoying several glasses of wine.
It was at this point that E. blurted out to me that he had been waiting for that weekend to say a very special phrase. What did I do? I started crying. With joy of course. And probably from all the wine I had been drinking.
Saturday came, and E. came to pick me up for our special weekend. I opened the door to a kiss and a resounding:
"I LOVE YOU!"
We were in love. After not experience anything even close to this feeling for my entire life, I finally had (wait for it) A NEW HOPE (see what I did there). There were actually good guys out there. Amazingly awesome guys. And I found one who was perfect for me. And who I was perfect for.
And so truly begins our love story. In the next installment, I'll talk about our engagement, our engagement drama, the great flood, and perhaps a few other things.
Stay tuned for Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back (not sure how I'm going to tie that in yet)...
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