Last week I
shared the first part of Andrew and my love story. So today, I thought we'd get
to the good stuff! So get comfy, it's a long one folks...
Following
graduation from Sonoma, I moved back home and started looking for a
"real" job. Meanwhile, Andrew moved to Danville to live with our good
friend Rich since he had bought a house there after graduation. And their third roommate
would be Laura (remember, MY roommate for three years in college?). As time went on,
I kept in touch with my close friends from college. Including Laura and Rich,
so I would hear updates here and there about Andrew, but that was the extent of
it.
After a couple years, Andrew ended up moving back home to San Diego where
he grew up. Even though he moved back down south, he and Rich also remained
very close.
Rich would often
travel to Sacramento for work, and since I worked downtown, we would often get
lunch together. During one of our lunches, he mentioned that Andrew would be
flying up soon, for a snowboarding trip. One of Andrew's childhood friends lived
in Sacramento as well, so they were planning on staying Thursday night at his place,
then driving to Tahoe early Friday morning. So we
decided that we should all get together and go out downtown Thursday night.
At this point, Rich was clearly already in matchmaker mode. Which brought up that old attraction
that I felt at Sonoma. One day, Andrew sent me a message on Facebook,
saying he was looking forward to seeing me. Which began the conversation.
The weeks
leading up to our night out in Sacramento, Andrew and I had a few conversations
on Facebook, but nothing really. Even though it was supposed to be just a "casual night out
with friends," I was super nervous to see him. So I enlisted my best
friends Emilee and Jen to come along. Plus,
Rich and I were really close and our other friend Danny would be there, so having a group setting settled my nerves, slightly.
When the night
finally arrived, Andrew's flight was delayed (little did we know this would
become a theme in our relationship). We met in Midtown, and ended up having a great night. The conversation was really easy between us, and I
definitely felt a spark. Surprisingly, I felt really comfortable around him and not my
usual, awkward ball of nerves. It was so fun being back together with our old
group of friends, reminiscing on college days.
When we finally
left the bar, the boys walked us back to my friend's apartment. Since they had
to be up early for Tahoe, they were eager to get back to where they
were staying. So we said goodbye, but not before a goodnight kiss.
The next day at
work was beyond brutal, but I couldn't help but smile. I had
zero expectations. I mean, Andrew lived in San Diego, so I chalked it up to a
really fun night with old friends. Later that afternoon I was driving to San
Francisco for a friend's birthday party, when I received a text message from
Andrew. I was very surprised, since I hadn't given him my number, matchmaker
Rich took care of that one. Andrew told me how much fun he had, and that he hoped
to see me again the next time he was in town.
Still, I didn't
have any expectations and assumed I wouldn't see or talk to him again for quite
some time. But, little did I know that was just the beginning.
As weeks passed,
Andrew would text me regularly and also called, which I loved. This was all taking place just before I was leaving for my sister's wedding in Hawaii. I'll always
remember a cute message he left me about waiting until the last minute to start
packing (which he still gives me a hard time for). While in Hawaii we
exchanged text messages constantly. My family teased me to no end about this
new guy that I was always talking about. It was really fun.
Upon returning
from Hawaii, Andrew send me a message that he would like to see me again. He
wanted to plan another snowboarding trip with Rich, and hoped I
could come, and also wanted to plan an official date while he was in town. At this
point, I started to feel like this could actually turn into something. I knew
he eventually wanted to be back in Northern California, so I figured why not.
I took a Friday
off, and drove down to meet him at Rich's house. I think it was the first time
I ever really had that feeling of butterflies in my stomach before seeing
someone. Both nervous and excited, in the best way possible.
Our first date
was a beautiful day in January, we went wine tasting in the East Bay. The
first stop was Concannon Winery in Livermore. It was such a fun day, I felt completely
comfortable with him, like I'd know him forever. I am perpetually nervous, and surprisingly,
I didn't feel that way around him. He made me smile and laugh more than
anyone had in a long time. Next we headed for a different winery that had bocce
ball, and played a couple games. I was terrible, but it was still such a fun
day. I'd say a perfect first date, possibly the best date I'd ever been on.
That
night, I headed home for a friends birthday party. I remember feeling so
excited about the possibilities ahead, I knew I definitely liked Andrew. A lot.
The boys were
heading up to Tahoe to snowboard that Monday. All weekend I would get texts
from Andrew and Rich trying to convince me to call in sick Monday, and join
them. Of course, I couldn't say no to them. They picked me up on Sunday
evening on their way to Reno, then we would go to North Star at Tahoe on Monday.
Reno was so fun. We ended up going bowling, gambled a little, it was a great night.
The next morning we were up early to go to the snow. I was actually really
nervous because I hadn't been skiing in at least four years, and obviously,
wanted to make a good impression. Unfortunately, things didn't go quite as
planned...
We were having a
great day, and I was doing surprisingly well for how long it had been since a pair
of skis were on my feet. Then after lunch, Rich convinced me to go down the
back side of the mountain. I went against my gut, and followed along. As we
started down the mountain, I noticed a black diamond sign. WHAT?! I was not
pleased, I tried to make them stop but there was really no way around it. They promised
to go slow with me, and that I had done harder routes earlier in the day. Okay fine, I thought, but I was still mad and slightly terrified. Thankfully, I made it down
the steepest part no problem. With my confidence renewed, I started down the
small slope towards the ski lift. And that's when I caught an edge. I went
tumbling down the mountain, and came to a stop sitting up with my legs twisted
behind me. I knew immediately it wasn't good.
Andrew and Rich
came rushing over. I was mortified. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt. I figured
it was just my ego that was bruised, and tried to click back into my skis.
That's when I felt it. My knee was messed UP. I'll save the gory details for
another post, but it ended with a ride down the mountain with a paramedic towing me in a sled. Not my finest moment. Andrew followed me down the mountain, and sat
with me while I iced my knee and the other guys got a few more runs in. I
remember feeling awful, not only did I embarrass myself beyond belief, but I ruined
his afternoon of snowboarding. I thought for sure that would be the end of any
possibility that something might happen between us.
Thankfully, I
was wrong. Because of my knee injury, Andrew drove up to stay with me the
following weekend. Even though I was barely mobile, we had an
amazing time. There was never a shortage of conversation and things felt
completely natural between us. Even with my messed up knee, I hadn't been this
happy in a long, long time.
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| flowers Andrew sent |
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| ignore how awful I look in this photo |
After that
weekend, I think we both knew we wanted to see where this could go. We
continued phone and skype dates, as well as texting throughout the day. The
more I got to know him, the more I cared for him. So I decided to book a flight to
San Diego so I could see him again a few weeks later. It was on that trip, that we
both decided this was something we wanted to continue. And our long distance love
officially began...
xoxo,
Theresa
