Our First Date....

Leading up to the first date, we did the typical college student form of communication: AIM. For those not in the "know", that's AOL Instant Messenger. Yes, we lived about 20 feet away from each other, and yet, for the first couple of weeks before the first "official" date, we chatted and flirted online. I suppose it's because it felt easier and safer because it wasn't in person. Less intimidating perhaps?

Eventually several online conversations later, I received a text message asking if I wanted to go to dinner after work. At that point, I wasn't sure if it was a "date" or a "friend thing". I was hoping it was a date. I'd never been on a real date and the prospect gave me butterflies in my stomach. There was just something about him; I knew he was special.

After work on September 23, 2005, I got ready to go to dinner. He didn't tell me where, but I was prepared for anything. Considering we earned the pitiful minimum wage in the state of Florida, I wasn't expecting a three-course candlelit dinner. From what I remember now, when he came to pick me up across the hall, I couldn't help but smile. He didn't show up with any friends, and it was just us in the car... I thought, well, I guess it's a date. I figured that if he offered to pay, that would seal the deal.

We drove for a little bit and pulled into the parking lot of our destination: TGI Friday's. The one thing I remember vividly while we were ordering off the menu, was that he ordered a "cheeseburger without cheese". I thought that was a weird way of putting it, but I thought it was cute. Personally I would have asked for a hamburger, but whatever. When I asked him why he ordered it that way, he pointed to the menu where it said Cheeseburger, then under it in fine print it said Without Cheese.

I was a little nervous that our conversation would have the dreaded awkward pauses. But my mind was put at ease when it just flowed. We talked about our families and where we lived and where we went to college. It was an ideal first date conversation. And the rest, is history. I met my best friend and now I get to marry him and spend the rest of my life with him. I feel so lucky and blessed!