A Three Year Anniversary

Today is three years since my husband and I met in person. We were introduced on eharmony in September 2002. After 4 months of communicating through the site and personal email,we decided to meet face to face.

I already felt like I knew him, so I wasn't too worried about that. I was, however, concerned that maybe he was not as healthy and independent as he had led me to believe.( My husband was born with spina bifida.) I was also highly concerned that his voice would sound funny. Evidently voices are a big deal to me! :-)

We chose to meet at a Cracker Barrel and I suggested the Cracker Barrel nearest to me. Not only would I not have to drive very far, but I also knew the area well enough if I needed to make a quick escape. (You can never be too sure about these men you meet on the internet.)

My sister and her friend went with me, because they felt the need to protect me. He came alone. I did have a moment of panic when I drove around the front of the restaurant and saw him- only it was a sixty year old man instead and I thought he had lied about his age.

Anyways, he brought me daisies, which he remembered were my favorite flower. My bodyguards were impressed. He had a very nice deep voice, was very conversational and was very much like I thought he would be. I was impressed. He paid for our meals. We all were impressed. Especially him, who used a gift card he had gotten from his boss for Christmas that year.

He passed the test and we soon found ourselves sitting alone in rockers on the front porch of the restaurant, while the bodyguards went shopping next door. We meditated in silence for several minutes and then discussed the weather. Eventually the topic changed to other things. We exchanged phone numbers. I told him that he could call me.

I could hardly wait to check my email that night to see if he was still interested. He was. He said he would call me the next Saturday around 9:30. He did, on the minute.

We laugh now, because he was obviously very interested in me right away and showed it. I still felt I needed to check him out. It takes me a while to get to know someone and feel comfortable. So the first several dates were spent with him talking and me listening. I learned so much about him in that first month or two. ( Good thing too, because now I talk and he listens!!)

After a previous rough dating experience, I said I would not date someone again if we were not friends first. Funny, I hadn't met him, but I felt that through the eharmony process we were already friends.

Somehow, in many ways it seems as though we have known each other much longer than three years. Maybe we should go sit on the rockers at Cracker Barrel and celebrate- by talking about the weather.