Fast forward about 13 years. Megan and Jace went to the same middle school and were pretty good friends in 6th grade. They went through middle school together, and then to High School. I heard her name and knew your family was in the area, but never ran in to you.
When Megan was a sophomore she was helping at cheer camp and I was there as Ava's assistant coach. I remember sitting on the mat with her, telling her I used to babysit Austin. She already knew that and was laughing with me about it. I'm grateful for the chance I had to get to know Megan a little as a friend, or as a friends Mom, before I became your girlfriend.
About a year later, Jace told me he was going to a party, and when I asked how he was getting there he said Megan's Dad was giving him a ride. I remember thinking how funny life is, I helped take care of your boy 18 years earlier, and now you're giving mine a ride. I was outside getting ready to go on a run, getting Ava's bike out of the garage when you pulled up. You got out of your truck and came over to me and I gave you a big hug. I don't think you expected that. I asked how you are and your response was "I'm getting a divorce." Said with such a deadpanned look. I remember thinking "Wow. What do I say to that?" I said I was sorry and then you looked me up and down and said "you turned out good." Hilarious. What a weird reintroduction!! As funny as it was, I don't remember giving it much thought.
A few months later Megan's friend was asking Jace to Morp with balloons. You helped Megan and her friend by bringing them over to my house in your truck. We all went back and forth, taking balloons from your truck and bringing them into Jace's room. It wasn't awkward, but it wasn't memorable. Again, I really didn't think anything about it.
Again, a few months later, Jace and I were at a health careers meeting at Westview. We were sitting on the left side of the auditorium with a woman I knew. Jace spotted youguys and asked if we could go sit next to you. I felt bad getting up and moving but you seemed like you would be more fun to sit next to. Somehow we ended up sitting next to each other, with Megan on my left and Jace next to her. We talked quite a bit, but the only part of the conversation I remember is when you were asking me what dating is like after divorce. I'm sure I told you it was interesting, and involved dealing with a lot of baggage. You said I was flirting and was touching your leg. I was not!! You were flirting with me! You said we should go out after you were divorced for shits and giggles, and to tick our former spouses off. I was dating someone at the time but knew you were talking about getting a drink as friends, so I said that would be fun.
A few weeks later I got a text from you asking for a phone number of a doctor we had talked about. Teisha was visiting me and I told her I got a text from you, and that I'm going to flirt with you for fun. I responded "Hi! I was just thinking about you! Don't you owe me a drink?" I didn't expect your response..."I think I said after my divorce was final." OUCH! I text you back with the number you asked for and said "here you go!" You text back and told me not to pout, ew! I told you not to flatter yourself. Great first text exchange, right?!
I think it was only about a month after that when I heard from you again. It was around one o'clock in the morning on the 25th of May. Megan was at my house along with a bunch of other Westview kids. You text me and told me I should kick her out. I text back and asked you why you were still up. You said "because my daughter is at your house. Why are you up?" I said "because your daughter is at my house!!" It was funny. I didn't expect to hear much more from you..but...our conversation continued until 5:30am. I really didn't know what to expect from you because even when I knew you years before, I didn't know you well, only that you were a nice guy. We got along well the few times we bumped into each other, and I knew you were funny based off our conversation at the meeting at Westview. But I really didn't know anything about you. Well that text exchange changed that. Our conversation really flowed. We talked about divorce, how it effects us and our kids, dating after divorce, what we were looking for in a companion, etc. For the record, you wanted this: a brunette, non-smoker, occasional drinker, a team player, and someone who is active. You originally said athletic, but I wanted you to clarify if you meant athletic or active. I knew I was active enough, but I would have never called myself athletic. After you gave me this list I asked if you were kidding or not. I happened to be all of the things you listed. And, I wanted most of those as well. Didn't care about the brunette desire, but wanted someone active, non smoker, occasional drinker, a great dad, and most importantly, a team player. That want/need has been a huge part of why our relationship has worked. We both wanted and needed to feel part of a team, something we had really missed out on during our marriages.
But back to our all night/morning text conversation. I told you I like to drink lemon drops and you said we should go out for some. You asked me several times how much notice I would need if you wanted to go out. We are both pretty spontaneous people, I just said to text/call me whenever you want or have time to go out.
I had not done much dating after my divorce, but I was pretty sure you weren't going to text me the next day. That's the game, right? Well I found out quickly that you're not a game player! You text me the next afternoon. I think you must have told me how tired you were. We text here and there for the rest of the day, and the day after, and the day after. As we were texting, we kept talking about getting together for lemon drops. We finally agreed we were going to go out to Juan's at the end of that week. Well the day came and you weren't up to meeting anymore. Something had happened in your family that shook you up and the offer you had put on the table wasn't accepted like you were sure it would be. You text around 3 and said if I wanted to meet up then, great. But if not, we weren't going to be meeting that evening around 6. You needed to get out right then and not later. Our conversation was a little all over the place, but you did mention you weren't ready to date and questioned what you were doing talking to me. I would have loved to have dropped what I was doing (working on vinyl) to meet you at Juan's, but I had just gotten home from a run and knew I couldn't shower and get ready fast enough to meet you there. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. I had really been looking forward to meeting up with you. I got all ready anyway because our conversation was so confusing and I wasn't 100% sure we weren't going to get together, and when I was, I was already dressed and ready to go out. I didn't want to tell my kids that you canceled because I knew they would feel bad for me. I had only told them I was going out with a friend, but because I never went out they were excited I was going to go do something. So I decided to run some errands. I didn't want to stay home and let my kids see me upset. I went to Target, and after I shopped there I sat in the parking lot and cried a little. I was surprised by my reaction, surprised that I was so upset over a canceled date with a guy I had only been talking to for a week. But, I knew you were a good guy, I knew we got along great and had a lot in common, and I knew I liked you right away. There was something about you.
After leaving Target and getting gas, I decided I was just going to go to Juan's on my own to get my lemon drop anyway, with or without you. I figured it is close enough to my house, if I have one too many I could walk home. I parked on the opposite side as you did, but later you asked me if I had seen your truck there. I am so unobservant about those types of things! I didn't even remember what your truck looked like at that point.
I got into Juan's and sat at the bar. I ordered a taco salad and a margarita (settled on that instead of a lemon drop) and started watching the game they had on. I noticed that a man who was in my line of vision kept looking at me, and I realized he must have thought I was staring at him since the TV was right above his head. Oops! I focused on my plate and out of the corner of my eye saw you getting out of the booth you were sharing with your friend Chuck, the same guy who thought I was staring at him! We were both surprised to see each other, I thought you were going to Juan's around 3, and it was around 6:30-7 at this time. You didn't think I was going at all. You stopped by the bar and asked if I'd be willing to stick around for awhile, you were going to say goodbye to Chuck and you wanted to talk to me. I was so tempted to say nope! Because our text interaction was so confusing and really let me down. But you asked me to hear what you had to say. So I stayed, and joined you at your booth after Chuck left. You explained what had gone on that day that upset you so much. It was a situation I understood. I understood why you were so shook up and why you started rethinking everything.
After we got past why you canceled on me earlier in the day, we just started talking. You said your birthday was coming up and I asked when it was. June 12th? Are you kidding me? I asked if you saw my license when I went to the bathroom, and when you said no I asked to see yours. Sure enough, we share a birthday. We got a good kick out of that. We talked some more and you finally ordered me my dang lemon drop! When you got up to go to the bathroom I must have made a joke about going through your phone because you handed it to me and said go ahead! There's nothing interesting in there, I'm not hiding anything! Well...I barely glanced and saw that you and Sean were talking about me. You told him that you canceled on me, and he said that's good because I might be just looking for a sugar daddy and a helper for my kids. I almost died! I got out my wallet and asked for the check, I wanted to get out of there! But you came back, saw my face and knew something went wrong. When I explained you just kept reiterating that it was "locker room talk" and neither you and Sean meant anything by it. I asked you if I could respond to Sean and was so surprised you said yes! So I told Sean that I can take care of my own kids thank you very much, and that if I was looking for a sugar daddy I would be looking for one in a different financial league you were in-ha! I can't remember if he responded, if he did he didn't say much.
Juans was closing and we weren't done talking. I told you I'd love to see a view of Portland at night and you were bound and determined to find me one. We drove all over to the city, every time we thought we found a place that would work, it would be closed, or we couldn't see anything, or we weren't at the right place. But that was fine with me, we were listening to music (I was so excited to find out you like country music) and talking. I was also holding your hand and rubbing your arm, hearing for the first time how much you looooove to have your arms rubbed! You finally came up with the idea to go out to the airport to watch planes come in. That idea sounded a lot better than it actually was! You kept asking me if it was alright that I was out so late, and once I told you ten times it was, we headed out there. We sat in the cell phone parking area and saw approximately two planes come in over the course of an hour and a half or so! Major fail. But again, it was more about the conversation we were having.
You were so, so nervous, I could actually feel your nervous energy. I knew you wanted to kiss me but you were scared, you had been in one relationship for over 25 years, I was the first woman you had talked to after your marriage ended. So I tried to make you comfortable by just rambling about a million things and trying to keep things light. At one point I actually asked you what I could do to help ease your nervousness! You said I should "keep being chill." All night I was putting on my chapstick. One side of the stick was apple, and one side was caramel. I kept joking about my caramel apple. Finally, finally, you told me you wanted to taste my caramel apple. Ha! What a line! We kissed and wow. It was awful. Just terrible. Everything about it was wrong and I was dying. Right after that, you said we should try that again. Phew! Next time was much, much better, especially since some of the nervousness was out of the way, I'll always remember that first kiss in your truck at the airport!
I think it was only about a month after that when I heard from you again. It was around one o'clock in the morning on the 25th of May. Megan was at my house along with a bunch of other Westview kids. You text me and told me I should kick her out. I text back and asked you why you were still up. You said "because my daughter is at your house. Why are you up?" I said "because your daughter is at my house!!" It was funny. I didn't expect to hear much more from you..but...our conversation continued until 5:30am. I really didn't know what to expect from you because even when I knew you years before, I didn't know you well, only that you were a nice guy. We got along well the few times we bumped into each other, and I knew you were funny based off our conversation at the meeting at Westview. But I really didn't know anything about you. Well that text exchange changed that. Our conversation really flowed. We talked about divorce, how it effects us and our kids, dating after divorce, what we were looking for in a companion, etc. For the record, you wanted this: a brunette, non-smoker, occasional drinker, a team player, and someone who is active. You originally said athletic, but I wanted you to clarify if you meant athletic or active. I knew I was active enough, but I would have never called myself athletic. After you gave me this list I asked if you were kidding or not. I happened to be all of the things you listed. And, I wanted most of those as well. Didn't care about the brunette desire, but wanted someone active, non smoker, occasional drinker, a great dad, and most importantly, a team player. That want/need has been a huge part of why our relationship has worked. We both wanted and needed to feel part of a team, something we had really missed out on during our marriages.
But back to our all night/morning text conversation. I told you I like to drink lemon drops and you said we should go out for some. You asked me several times how much notice I would need if you wanted to go out. We are both pretty spontaneous people, I just said to text/call me whenever you want or have time to go out.
I had not done much dating after my divorce, but I was pretty sure you weren't going to text me the next day. That's the game, right? Well I found out quickly that you're not a game player! You text me the next afternoon. I think you must have told me how tired you were. We text here and there for the rest of the day, and the day after, and the day after. As we were texting, we kept talking about getting together for lemon drops. We finally agreed we were going to go out to Juan's at the end of that week. Well the day came and you weren't up to meeting anymore. Something had happened in your family that shook you up and the offer you had put on the table wasn't accepted like you were sure it would be. You text around 3 and said if I wanted to meet up then, great. But if not, we weren't going to be meeting that evening around 6. You needed to get out right then and not later. Our conversation was a little all over the place, but you did mention you weren't ready to date and questioned what you were doing talking to me. I would have loved to have dropped what I was doing (working on vinyl) to meet you at Juan's, but I had just gotten home from a run and knew I couldn't shower and get ready fast enough to meet you there. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. I had really been looking forward to meeting up with you. I got all ready anyway because our conversation was so confusing and I wasn't 100% sure we weren't going to get together, and when I was, I was already dressed and ready to go out. I didn't want to tell my kids that you canceled because I knew they would feel bad for me. I had only told them I was going out with a friend, but because I never went out they were excited I was going to go do something. So I decided to run some errands. I didn't want to stay home and let my kids see me upset. I went to Target, and after I shopped there I sat in the parking lot and cried a little. I was surprised by my reaction, surprised that I was so upset over a canceled date with a guy I had only been talking to for a week. But, I knew you were a good guy, I knew we got along great and had a lot in common, and I knew I liked you right away. There was something about you.
After leaving Target and getting gas, I decided I was just going to go to Juan's on my own to get my lemon drop anyway, with or without you. I figured it is close enough to my house, if I have one too many I could walk home. I parked on the opposite side as you did, but later you asked me if I had seen your truck there. I am so unobservant about those types of things! I didn't even remember what your truck looked like at that point.
I got into Juan's and sat at the bar. I ordered a taco salad and a margarita (settled on that instead of a lemon drop) and started watching the game they had on. I noticed that a man who was in my line of vision kept looking at me, and I realized he must have thought I was staring at him since the TV was right above his head. Oops! I focused on my plate and out of the corner of my eye saw you getting out of the booth you were sharing with your friend Chuck, the same guy who thought I was staring at him! We were both surprised to see each other, I thought you were going to Juan's around 3, and it was around 6:30-7 at this time. You didn't think I was going at all. You stopped by the bar and asked if I'd be willing to stick around for awhile, you were going to say goodbye to Chuck and you wanted to talk to me. I was so tempted to say nope! Because our text interaction was so confusing and really let me down. But you asked me to hear what you had to say. So I stayed, and joined you at your booth after Chuck left. You explained what had gone on that day that upset you so much. It was a situation I understood. I understood why you were so shook up and why you started rethinking everything.
After we got past why you canceled on me earlier in the day, we just started talking. You said your birthday was coming up and I asked when it was. June 12th? Are you kidding me? I asked if you saw my license when I went to the bathroom, and when you said no I asked to see yours. Sure enough, we share a birthday. We got a good kick out of that. We talked some more and you finally ordered me my dang lemon drop! When you got up to go to the bathroom I must have made a joke about going through your phone because you handed it to me and said go ahead! There's nothing interesting in there, I'm not hiding anything! Well...I barely glanced and saw that you and Sean were talking about me. You told him that you canceled on me, and he said that's good because I might be just looking for a sugar daddy and a helper for my kids. I almost died! I got out my wallet and asked for the check, I wanted to get out of there! But you came back, saw my face and knew something went wrong. When I explained you just kept reiterating that it was "locker room talk" and neither you and Sean meant anything by it. I asked you if I could respond to Sean and was so surprised you said yes! So I told Sean that I can take care of my own kids thank you very much, and that if I was looking for a sugar daddy I would be looking for one in a different financial league you were in-ha! I can't remember if he responded, if he did he didn't say much.
Juans was closing and we weren't done talking. I told you I'd love to see a view of Portland at night and you were bound and determined to find me one. We drove all over to the city, every time we thought we found a place that would work, it would be closed, or we couldn't see anything, or we weren't at the right place. But that was fine with me, we were listening to music (I was so excited to find out you like country music) and talking. I was also holding your hand and rubbing your arm, hearing for the first time how much you looooove to have your arms rubbed! You finally came up with the idea to go out to the airport to watch planes come in. That idea sounded a lot better than it actually was! You kept asking me if it was alright that I was out so late, and once I told you ten times it was, we headed out there. We sat in the cell phone parking area and saw approximately two planes come in over the course of an hour and a half or so! Major fail. But again, it was more about the conversation we were having.
You were so, so nervous, I could actually feel your nervous energy. I knew you wanted to kiss me but you were scared, you had been in one relationship for over 25 years, I was the first woman you had talked to after your marriage ended. So I tried to make you comfortable by just rambling about a million things and trying to keep things light. At one point I actually asked you what I could do to help ease your nervousness! You said I should "keep being chill." All night I was putting on my chapstick. One side of the stick was apple, and one side was caramel. I kept joking about my caramel apple. Finally, finally, you told me you wanted to taste my caramel apple. Ha! What a line! We kissed and wow. It was awful. Just terrible. Everything about it was wrong and I was dying. Right after that, you said we should try that again. Phew! Next time was much, much better, especially since some of the nervousness was out of the way, I'll always remember that first kiss in your truck at the airport!
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