Ah, Friday nights! Once upon a time we would get all fancied up and head out for a Girls Night Out. That’s not always possible so in today’s technological world of wonders we have Virtual Girls Night Out of VGNO for short. This is my first night attending a VGNO and at the moment all is quiet here on the home front so this is a perfect time to enjoy some girl time.
Ann {who is celebrating a Anniversary today {Congrats} asked if we had met the Love of our Lives yet? And if so, how did you meet. Well the story of how Chris and I met is definitely an interesting one. It all started back in the summer of 2000…
Forget about dating services and bar hopping, its the beginning of the Internet age so I place a personal ad on Excite.com {remember that website}. That’s how Chris and I first connected with one another. Two lonely young widows looking for love outside the boundaries of their ordinary lives. I in the steam hot desert of Southern California, him, the cooler climate of the forests in Northern California. Immediately there was a connection, mainly because we had both been widowed before the age of 30. We spent many hours chatting with one another and passing emails back and forth. After a month of so we progressed to talking on the phone.
Then in October of 2000, he traveled south to Hesperia to visit family and a chance to meet face to face. Even though we had gotten to know each other pretty well in the previous months, I was still a little weary of a face to face meeting. So I arranged for us to meet one day on my hour lunch break at a nice little eatery near work. I made a point of telling my boss at the time where I was going and whom I was meeting, just in case I didn’t return from lunch. BTW, I worked for the Sheriff’s Dept so I had plenty of reliable back up. I snuck in the back door and surprised Chris who ws nervously witing by the front door for me.
The lunch date went well. Funny I was rather calm during the whole time while he was so nervous he barely touched his lunch. We easily picked up where our online chatting had ended. After lunch we walked to his car where he had a bouquet of flowers waiting for me. Then he walked me back to my car. Our first date eneded with a simple kiss. The next night I drove to Hesperia for our second date. We met at his brother’s house. Which was awkward because most of the night I kept looking at his brother’s girlfriend like I knew her from some place but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
Flsh forward to a few months later and Chris decided to leave what was left of his life up north and moved back to Southern California. He joined one afternoon for a family gathering to celebrate my cousin turning 30. We were in the back room watching football when in walks this older lady with 2 children. They see Chris and immediately come running up to him for hugs. Remember his brothers girlfriend, turns out she was my cousin via my step-dad’s side of the family. We had only seen each other a few times over the years so we didn’t really remember each other all that well. Obviously!
The pictures below are from his brother’s and my cousin’s wedding in 2003. I was actually about 5 months pregnant and miserable when this photo was taken. Chris and I have been together for 9 years come October. And the funny thing is we will probably finally get married in October and when we do, his mother and I will share the same name. Patricia Knight. Its been a strange journey from the beginning and expect it to continue to be a strange and interesting adventure for the rest of our lives.
Thank you to all the VGNO for stopping by my blog and reading my stroy. I hope you will look around and see what else I have been up to. Wishing you all a scent-sational VGNO! And now I will go read all of your blogs.
