People often ask how James and I met. I admit, I ask this question to other couples all the time. I think as females we want to hear a fairy tale story, and sometimes we get one. Sometimes we get a comical story and that's fun too. James and my story isn't either of those things, but we often get the wide-eyed "oh really??" look when we respond that we "met online."
It was a little awkward to say that at first, but now we know so many other married couples who met the same way, that we realize we are just part of this generation. There are still lots of skeptics out there though and we know who they are by the look on their face when we tell them we met online. It's okay; it's not for everybody.
So, here is our story.....
I would like to preface the story by saying that one night in college I thought about my "dream guy" and made a list of things about him. Here are just a few of the more quirky items that were on that list:
1. Has a good career that doesn't require him to wear a suit and tie to work, or work at a desk.
2. Handy - be able to fix anything.
3. Drive a big truck - preferably a Chevy Silverado (that's the one I liked at that time)
In a nutshell, I was looking for a rugged guy with a brain and manners. I bet not too many girls cared what kind of vehicle their dream guy had, right? But I figured as long as I was dreaming, I might as well add it to the list.
Okay, back to the story...
So I put my profile on an online dating site and set my preferences to the type of person I was looking for. I checked my account the next day to see if I had any messages. There was one. It was from the site itself telling me it found a match for me. So, I look at the picture...the guy is far away in the picture, but I could tell he was decent looking...and I start reading the profile. Half way into it I think, "sounds like a guy I would date". As I continue reading I see "I grew up in (enter my hometown here)". What?!?!?! I look at the picture a little closer....it is my first boyfriend from 6th grade - HA!!!! How crazy is that?!? Since I already "dated" this guy I figure this website must be pretty good at it's job!
Anyway, I go on a few dates that never make it to date #2...nice guys, just not what I was looking for. I then decide to take a break from the website for a little while.
5 months later I sign back in and update my profile. This time I get a message from James saying he would like to know more about me. Side note: the website we used is free and you could send pre-written messages, like "tell me more about yourself", but once you want to write your own message you had to pay $25. I write him a novel back (I was apparently in a pretty upbeat mood or something -- never wrote that much to anyone else). So he then pays his $25 to write me back. We then exchange messenger names so we can chat somewhere besides the website. After several days of chatting James asks if I want to meet for coffee. Uh.....coffee?? I'm 23 and a) don't drink coffee and b) that's the last thing I ever would have expected someone to ask. (He later admitted he didn't want to pay for supper for me -- coffee was cheaper). We agreed to meet one Thursday night.
Thursday night arrived and I didn't feel up to meeting, so I called and left him a message. He got called out of town for work anyway, so it was okay. We agreed to meet Sunday night for supper instead.
Sunday night arrives and I had an event to attend prior to meeting him at the restaurant. I told him I would call when I left the event and that it would take me 15-20 minutes to get there. Well, I really wanted to get to the restaurant before him, so I waited to call him when I was only 5 minutes away....that gave me 10-15 minutes to beat him there and go inside. I did get there before him and went inside...and waited..and waited...and waited. The hostess kept trying to seat me and said she would watch for my date, but since I wasn't positive what he looked like, I figured I better watch for him myself.
I was beginning to think I got stood up. Finally, I saw a very tall guy walking to the door and I knew it had to be him (he's 6'5). What I hadn't known was that he was only 10 minutes away when I called and he wanted to get there first so he could sit in his truck and see me first (in case he wanted to turn around and leave -- nice guy huh?!?!), but after waiting 20 minutes he decided to check and see if I somehow beat him there and was already inside.
Supper was great and the company was even better. We sat in the booth and talked for nearly 3 hours. I think we were the last ones in the restaurant. He finally told me that he better get home because his parents were at his house visiting (if he would have told me that right away, I wouldn't have kept talking so long...guess that would have been good and bad). He also told me that he sent me a message on the website 5 months ago and I ignored him. I still don't think that's true.....
We walk out to the parking lot and guess what?? Yep, he climbs into a Chevy Silverado!!! (and he didn't have a desk job and he is SUPER handy!).
I could not wait to see him again!! I don't think I made it out of the parking lot before I called my best friend to tell her all about the date. I knew good things were to come with this guy; I could feel it.
A week later we had date #2 where he made me supper and then we went out for a beer. In hindsight I can't believe I went to his house when I barely knew him! He lived in a dumpy basement apartment and says he wanted to have me over to see his place and knew that if I kept seeing him after that, I wasn't a materialistic person. About 2 weeks after that we were seeing each other every single day......and he just couldn't.get.rid.of.me!
We will be celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary this fall, but have been together for 7.5 years. It's safe to say that I'm the Best thing he ever spent $25 on :)
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