Our Story ~ Chapter 2

Click HERE for Chapter 1

Okay, here we are in “Chapter 2” of the story of our meeting. Let’s keep the same format as last time – you in bold italics and me in regular text. In chapter one, I told my story, then you got to write in your interjections and your side. We’ll flip-flop it this time. Go for it, Babe.

This is the part of the story I like to call, “my future wife, the stalker”.

Haaaaahahahahah!!! Oh, this better be good!

Evidently, my macho attitude and suave approach had quite the impact on you. I remember this was about the second year that email existed, but somehow you found a way to email me invitations to an engineering group meeting frequently.

(Note to self, “macho” and “suave” = totally ignoring a girl. Okay.)

You must have been passionate about the group and recruiting new members, because I remember frequent emails from you on this subject. I even remember one of those meetings happening in the pizza shop I worked at on a night I worked. I can only assume it was by chance and not that you bribed the manager who made the schedule to find out when I worked.

It was more like I’d invited you, you said you had to work, and I was (ahem) looking for a good place to hold the meeting. Oh geez – I’m totally pitiful.

As you now know, I was equally infatuated with you. My handicap was that I was engaged to be married at the time. So, I was doing all I could to resist you, without completely stopping the communication. I liked talking (emailing) with you, but always felt a little guilty. I probably should have been more up front with you.

What?! Really? “Resist” me? I didn’t know!

You had no idea I was engaged, until that one fateful email.

You wrote to me with the typical ‘please come to the Idaho Society of Professional Engineers – Student Chapter’ email. (very romantic, by the way) I was on my way out the apartment door to work when I checked the email, so I stopped halfway through, assuming it was the typical stalking email.

I found out a couple days later there was a proposition at the end of the email - when you wrote to me again. You poured your heart out in apology about asking me out on a date and how you were sorry for being so unprofessional about it, since your email excuse was a ‘professional’ society.

I had to look back at the emails at the time to see what you were talking about. As it turns out, you did ask me out. Sorry for not reading the whole email.

That’s okay, you had to concentrate on “resisting” me, remember ;-)

So, my only choice was to tell you the absolute truth; I was engaged and had no time for professional societies between my budding pizza career, my failing coursework and my fiancée.

It was such a shame. In the time you had been stalking me, I had begun to refer to you as ‘dream-girl’ to my buddies. I had never met anyone so smart, beautiful or persistent and determined as you.

So persistent and determined means “stalker” huh?

That reminds me – remember the real stalker – that creepy guy? He seemed so shy and lonely, that I invited him to work on a team project in one of my classes. Yikes, that was a bad idea. Next thing I knew, he was writing me letters once a week, sending me cards, and just showing up in all sorts of strange places. He was full of things to say on paper, but he couldn’t even look me in the eye or speak when we were face to face. After you and I were together for a while, his communications took a scary turn – telling me that I deserved better than you, and asking if he would have a chance with me if you were “out of the picture”. I was terrified!

Anyway – didn’t mean to turn Our Story into that ugly thing. It’s all this remembering – so much happened in those couple short years!

Back on track now…

So after that first “meeting”, I had to fight to keep from turning around to look at you every 5 minutes in class. I didn’t even know your name! But you wore that dark green UI sweatshirt as your jacket all fall, so I started calling you “green sweatshirt guy” to my friends (not nearly as sweet as “dream girl”). I talked to all my friends – who had you in their class? Did anyone see you with a girl? You know – girl talk.

I think you were in Differential Equations with Tara, so we compared notes every few days ;-)

It was the highlight of my day to quickly turn around and watch you prepare to leave ME340 at the end of class. You had that green sweatshirt on, that black ball cap, and then you’d put lift the strap of your bag over your head and cross it over your chest to sort of carry the bag behind you. Oh Lord. Your broad shoulders. You in that hat. Your hands. Seriously…

…I’ll stop now out of respect for my parents who will probably read this.

You know I was fantasizing about kissing THAT spot on your neck during class, too.

In the mean time, one of my friends asked me to join him in starting up ISPE, student chapter. To be perfectly honest, I only did it because I thought it would look good on my resume. Man, I lived way too much of my life for my resume in those days.

It turned out to be the perfect reason to stalk talk to you though. I was very, um…thorough…in making sure you were informed of all our meetings. It was my duty, you know.

Finally, after inviting you to many meetings (you even went to one or two, if I remember right), I worked up the courage to actually ASK YOU OUT.

In fact, I didn’t really “work up courage” at all. It was more like I was inspired. One of the people I’d been hanging out with didn’t return to school after a weekend of going home to visit his folks. He finally called to let us know that he wouldn’t be returning. He’d been to the doctor to have a few things checked out while he was home…and his doctor informed him that he had a very advanced cancer. They only gave him months to live. He pleaded… “live your life like you’re gonna be dead in a few months. Don’t have regrets.”

I immediately thought of you. That friend inspired me to more courage than I thought I had in me.

But still, it was painful. I’d NEVER asked a guy out. EVER. I vividly remember sitting in the computer lab in the basement of the building I lived in, and going over and over and over that dumb email. I even had a friend come down to read it. “Does it sound okay? Too desperate? Too vauge?” I eventually closed my eyes, counted to 3, and pressed the SEND button…oh, the horror.

I must have checked my email 50 times in the next 3 hours, hoping for your response (which was no small thing since I had to dial up to check email back then). But not only did you not respond immediately, but you didn’t respond at ALL. I felt like such a massive loser!

And then I started feeling bad. After all, I’d used a “professional” society as a front to ask you out. Not very professional. In an effort to salvage some pride, I shot off a quick apology email… and heard from you almost immediately.

You should feel bad. I think it was in the bylaws to not ask out other members.

When I read your response, I almost fell off my chair.

You told me that you hadn’t even READ the part where I’d so meekly asked you “out sometime”. And then you explained that the reason you didn’t go to many meetings was because you were busy with school and work and that you were otherwise spending time with your fiancée.

Oi. My face turns red even now as I think of it. I was SO embarrassed!

Was your face as red my ears when Chris poked me in the shoulder and told me to get lost?

I responded with “Oh, oops! Didn’t know you were attached.” And then I got really brave and said something like “she’s a lucky girl.”

The lucky girl comment got me through some tough times, whether you knew it, or not. You inspired me to look for more in a woman.

Then I headed up to my room to pour my broken little heart out to my journal. I used to journal everything (see, I was meant to blog). I remember writing “I thought for sure that there was something different about him”.

I was different, I was engaged.

I get the last word this time, punk.

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Here's that photo again...see my Green Sweatshirt Guy?