First Sight
One Sunday, I was sitting in the gym at church attending a teacher-prep class that I wasn't supposed to attend. I saw a handsome guy sitting across the row of chairs. I thought "I wonder if he's single... no ring." Then the teacher asked me what class I taught and I said something along the lines of "I'm not really a teacher, my mom just told me to come." I kind of threw her under the bus in a rude tone. Then I thought, "if he is single I just blew it by sounding like such a brat. Oh well." I then left the class because Hannah was being crabby and I was crabby. I never saw him again after that. So much for first impressions.
Cornered
After dropping Addi off to primary, I was cornered by a guy who came out of nowhere. Great! Some random guy asking me out. Except for he wasn't. He said he wanted to set me up with a single guy in the ward. He and his wife wanted to go on a double date with me and some guy named Bryan. The guy then went on-and-on about this Bryan guy and how great he was and blah-blah-blah. (I figured if you had to tell me how great the guy was repeatedly that he probably wasn't that great). He then told me to peek into priesthood and he'd be sitting next to Bryan. I agreed to peek, but really didn't want to. I didn't really care about this Bryan guy or what this Bryan guy looked like, but was also in no position to turn down dates. Once priesthood settled in I peeked through the crack in the door. He's cute. OK, back to relief society.
Scheduled
Time passed and it seemed as though the double date was not going to happen because I had heard nothing again about the matter. It was totally fine with me though, because I had begun going on dates with two guys from SanAntonio. Finally the guy who wanted to set us up on the double date called me and scheduled the double date. We scheduled it... except it'd have to be two weeks from when he called because my life was beyond booked. We scheduled the date for April 28th. Oh goody. I really didn't want to go. I figured it'd be awkward and also figured if the guy didn't have the guts to ask me out himself he really must be a wuss.
Double Date - April 28, 2012
First date. Double date. Blind date. I knew going in to this that the date would be rough. I kept having to remind myself that if the date was bad, it wasn't his fault and I'd at least need to give him one one-on-one date. The date met and exceeded all of my terrible expectations. In a nutshell... We sat in the back of a car, being chaperoned by "mommy and daddy". I could not understand much of what Bryan said because his voice was so low and he had an accent. During dinner, every time Bryan asked me a question, the other couple would stop talking, lean in, and get really expectant looks on their faces like Bryan and I were going to fall in love right then and there. The date was 3 hours long. Finally, we got back to the house. Bryan said he'd get my number the next day at church and that was it. The end. I survived. Barely.
I Lost My Number, Can I Have Yours? - April 29, 2012
He didn't ask that. But the day after our date Bryan found me in the lobby where I was sitting on the floor playing with Hannah. He squatted down and asked for my number. Ugh... I did not want to give it to him. I was going on dates with other guys frequently and didn't have the time/energy to add another to the list. Regardless, I gave him my number. Then, he just kept squatting there. Saying nothing. Buckets of awkward. So I asked him a few questions. He answered. And after a painful few minutes he left to go teach priesthood. Poor guy. He has no game. (Or so I thought).
The Texting Begins - April 29, 2012
He texted me later Sunday night asking if I could go on a date the next day. I was conviently busy for the entire week. He also texted "You looked beautiful today." Poor sucker. He was SO sweet, but he didn't have a chance. Obviously no one told HIM that though, because he was patiently persistent.
Single's Ward - May 6, 2012
I took him to the single's ward the next Sunday. I wanted him to meet some other girls and hopefully take his attention off me and going on a one-on-one date with me. I even told the bishop "I'm not dating this guy, he's in my family ward and I just want him to start coming to the single's ward." I apparently really stunk at trying to convince him to go to the single's ward. He told me he came and left with the prettiest girl there, so he really didn't need to go to the single's ward. Great. Back-fired.
Date Number 1 - May 9, 2012
The day arrived and it was time for me to go on my first one-on-one date with Bryan. I was terrified. I thought maybe he was crazy, or maybe he would kill me or something. The date was a "surprise" which didn't help my nerves much. I was SO nervous that I had a GPS tracker on my phone, an entire texting code set up with my mom and was ready to run at the first sign of craziness. I almost backed out of the date at the last minute. We met in a parking lot (I didn't let guys pick me up at my house) and I became even more nervous when he had a large red cooler in his backseat. I even texted my mom that if I didn't come home to look for my body in a large red cooler. When we arrived at the destination of the date it was his TaeKwonDo school. We went inside and he brought the cooler in. Great! This is where I will die. He went into the dressing room to change. I peeked in the cooler. It was full of ice cream and toppings. And at that moment everything changed. I texted my mom to tell her I would be fine and I let myself enjoy the evening. While we did TaeKwonDo I made him stand in front of me so he couldn't stare at my butt. Then we ate ice cream and just sat and talked. For hours. It was so simple and lovely and perfect. I was still going on dates with a couple of other guys, and wasn't ready to let myself really like Bryan. But I was impressed. It was the best, most thoughtful date I had ever been on. And I knew whichever girl ended up with him would be treated like that all of time.
Making the Move
Within the next week it became clear that things were not going anywhere with the other guys I had been going on dates with. I even remember going on a date with one of the guys (who I kind of liked) and just thinking... "I wish he were more like Bryan". It was at that time that Bryan began to make his move. I don't know how he timed it just right, but he did. We started going on dates frequently. Simple things. All of which were fun. He laughed at ALL of my jokes. And his sense of humor was perfect. I remember one specific joke he made while we were bowling that made me realize how perfect our senses of humor worked together. It was about a cheeto ball. And it's a such a complicated joke that I can't even begin to explain it. But I got it, and it made me like him even more.
First Kiss
The first kiss came after a night of dancing. Bryan was my first kiss since my divorce, and it was definitely a good kiss. I only write this post in defense that the kiss was no longer than 30 minutes. My proof is that the ice cream that was sitting on the porch when we kissed was only 30 minutes melted. Not 1 hour melted like Bryan may claim. That is all.
What's the Problem? - June 3, 2012
He was absolutely wonderful. He treated me so well. I never knew that a guy could treat a girl the way he treated me. He made me want to be a better person. One night we were talking about dating exclusively. But I wasn't ready to make that jump yet. Then I told him that I could date only him and not feel like I was missing out on anyone else. He said "Well then, what's the problem?" I didn't answer right then, but later that night I realized that there was no point in not moving our relationship forward. So, I told him that I was ready to be exclusive. And that was all it took.