Two Years Ago from Today....

Two years ago today, I met my husband, but I didn't know it at the time. See, two years ago, T and I met for the very first time and had our first date. How did we meet, may you ask? For while, I wouldn't tell people because of the stigma associated with it, but we met online.  Back in 2007, I went through a really tough breakup, and a coworker of mine told me that I needed to get back on the wagon and "moveon.org!" She said that all I needed was to find a good Catholic boy who would treat me right, so she sent me a link to the dating site Catholicmatch.com. This was back in November 2007, and I held onto it for a really long time until May 2008 when I decided to sign up. I didn't want to just jump back on the dating scene until I was fully over my previous boyfriend. I wanted time to heal. I wanted to give the next guy I met all of my heart and not what was left of it after so many broken relationships.

So I signed up, and within a few days, I got an email from an interesting guy in the Indy area...we'll call him T. He seemed really fun, smart and educated and liked to go out and do things, be active. (That was big with me because my previous boyfriend was basically a lazy guy.  We spent most of our time sitting and watching TV.  Very little wooing.) So T sent me a message, and I took a good day or two to respond. (Didn't want to seem desperate, you know!) We had been emailing back and forth and talking on the phone quite often, so we decided to go for it and set a date to meet and see if this was going to go somewhere. Believe me, I had dates where we met, and I knew pretty much within the first 15 minutes whether I liked this guy or not. I am that decisive, folks.

He picked Carrabbas as a place to meet. Instantly, he won my approval because I've had a lot of guys pick places like B-dubs or worse for a first date...this showed he had good taste and wasn't against doing something nicer. Points for T! So I met him closer to his apartment since he commutes a long way for work, and I got there about 15 minutes early. So rather than park in the Carrabbas parking lot, I drove around and parked at a hotel near by and called my mom for support. I'll never forget what she told me. "Just be yourself and if you need to loosen up, have a glass of wine." To which I responded, "I'm already loose!" Ha, I didn't realize what I was saying at the moment, but I still find that funny. So it got to 7:00, and I waited until exactly then to get there. I parked my car, and immediately T approaches. (He must have gotten there early.) He looked just like his picture (whew) and was dressed pretty nice from work and all (won some more points). I, on the other hand, had taken forever to pick my outfit. I went to the mall with my best friend Erika the night before and picked out the perfect outfit that would highlight my eyes and be cute and dressy but still casual. A LOT of thought went into it. So we shook hands and went into the restaurant.

If my memory serves me correctly, the boy even got reservations. So we sat down, and I admit, I wanted a glass of wine. (It's an Italian restaurant...you have to have wine!) However, I didn't want to seem like the alcoholic in the group so I wanted to see if he ordered anything. Little did I know, he was waiting to see if I ordered a beverage. So we didn't. I was disappointed but sucked it up. Dinner was delicious and the conversation went really well. We talked about our jobs, where we came from, our families...we kept talking so much I think our waitress was getting irritated that we were holding up her table.

It got to dessert time, and as a girl, I'm a big fan of dessert. But, again, didn't want to seem like a pig so I waited to see if he wanted anything. T, bless his heart and his ignorance of dating, says "well, I had ice cream earlier today, so I'm good!" Doh! So we kept talking a little bit more until the waitress basically came to the table and told us to leave because her shift was over. I remember T suggesting we get coffee, but I said no, because it was a weeknight, and we both had work the next morning. He walked to me to my car, and I gave him a hug. I totally surprised him, too, because I'm not sure he was expecting it. We said we'd do this again and headed our separate ways. And you know what, we did!

Last year this time we went back to Carrabbas and had another date.  We did get wine and dessert this time, too. :-)  Tonight we will be doing the same, and I can't wait.  Saying yes to meeting him was the second best decision I have ever made, the first being saying yes to marrying him. It's amazing where two years has taken us, and I've enjoyed the journey. I can't wait to see where the road will take us! Love you, T!