Thursday, June 12, 2014

From the archives: June 12, 2008

My five year wedding anniversary is coming up in a couple months, so I've been all sorts of nostalgic lately.  Plus, this year, the dates and days of the week line up exactly with the year we met;  for example, we met on Sunday, May 11th -- Mother's Day --and this year May 11th and Mother's Day also fell on a Sunday.  (You may or may not know that I have a thing with dates and symmetry, so this is all very exciting for me.) 

Our second date was Sunday, May 25th (which was also the day I met Joe's entire family), and this year we were in the exact same place on that exact same Sunday with the exact same people.  We became "official" (boyfriend/girlfriend) on Father's Day, June 15th.  And Joe told me he loved me the first time on Thursday, June 19th, the night before I would hop on a plane to spend three weeks in Romania.

A few people have asked me recently about the early days of my relationship with Joe.  When did I first see a possibility of a future with him?  How did it blossom so quickly?  And since I don't have the best memory, I couldn't really say exactly when or how things became so clear.

So today, I was thinking, "I wonder what kind of Gchat conversations I was having with Joe at this time six years ago."  (Because the first 2 1/2 months of our relationship were almost entirely comprised of chatting all day online and talking on the phone at night, since I lived in LA and he lived in Santa Barbara, which means I have a record of most of our conversations those first weeks of getting to know each other.) 

And lo and behold, I found a gem from exactly six years ago today!  It was a few days before we would become official, and a week before Joe would say those three special words for the first time. 

Hopefully these snippets from that conversation will give you just a glimpse into how and why we were ready to say "I love you" after just a few weeks of knowing each other.  (Although, for the record, I didn't say it back to Joe until AFTER I got back from Romania.  But that's a story for another blog post...)

Enjoy!

(FYI, Sarah is my cousin who is essentially the reason we met, since she's known Joe since they were teenagers.)



me: sarah just asked me if i'm gonna miss you while i'm in romania
Joseph: you said, "no, not really", right?
me: lol
  no
  i said i'll miss you a lot
  :(
Joseph: I'll miss you too
  but maybe you'll come back after having fallen in love with some scruffy romanian herding boy
  :-D
me: haha
  nope, not a chance
  no one falls THAT fast for people, right? ;)
Joseph: of course not
  you need 2 months at least before you can even say you are interested in someone :)
me: haha
  well...anyway, rest assured. i like YOU. i'm not falling for any romanians while i'm gone.
Joseph: well, women do tend to go for the losers....an unemployed bouncer gets all the chicks... ;)
me: lol...wait, are you calling yourself a loser? or the romanian boys?
Joseph: no, I'm a winner
  but the losers get all the girls :)
me: lol
  you are one winner that this girl is definitely going for. boo on losers.
Joseph: awww

(later in convo)

Joseph: so...walk me through how you got interested in me :)
  I'm curious to hear your thought process
me: lol
  ok
  well, the day i met you i thought you were interesting, and i had a slight sense that you were intrigued by me when you asked if i was married and then backpedaled with, "ring by spring, right?" :-P
  but i was seriously telling myself the last like week or so before meeting you, "okay...romania is coming soon, life is totally crazy right now...not gonna meet any boys until at least after i get back."
Joseph: lol
  hmm
  should we call it off until you get back from romania? that means you could totally go for the romanian herding boy if you wanted...
me: lol
  no
  so when sarah said you wanted to get to know me, i was like, "gah!" but also like, "hmm..." because i always like to meet new people, make new friends, etc., and it IS very flattering to know that someone is interested in you.
  so i told her i'd be happy to talk to you but that i wouldn't promise ANYTHING happening and i wanted you to know that
Joseph: I see
me: but as soon as i started talking to you, i kept thinking "this guy seems really great. WHY, God, are you making this happen now?" lol...but i've been around enough to know that God really knows what he's doing and that if i kept liking the things i was learning about you, maybe he put you in my life at the perfect time.
  and honestly...ever since that first date, i can't think of a single thing that i DON'T like about you. (not that there was anything before that, but that was the first time i really let myself think, hey, something could happen here.)
Joseph: really? nothing?
me: nope. i like you for exactly the person you are, for everything i know about you, and with excitement to keep learning more. :)
Joseph: wow...I'm humbled...honestly...
me: ...why, cuz you have a list of things you don't like about me? :-P
Joseph: well...since you asked...
me: lol
  fire away
Joseph: I find it really annoying how you know the perfect thing to say...and you accept me, faults and all 
  you need to be more judgmental
me: lol
  umm...i'll work on it?
Joseph: please do....such perfection just makes me look really bad
me: oh no no, i am SO not perfect. don't get that thought in your head cuz you will be severely disappointed
Joseph: perfect for me silly
me: ah
  *blush*