Yesterday, I was scrolling Facebook and a memory popped up. It was from 10 years ago, and it was the very first picture Nick and I took together as a couple. It got me thinking… I haven’t ever shared here how Nick and I met. So let me change that.
[In my best Sophia voice…]
OK, not quite that far back.
Picture it. Broomfield. 2013.
I was living with a couple of roommates in a cute house in Broomfield, Colorado, when one of my roommate’s friends came to stay for a weekend. She was frustrated by her boyfriend’s lack of willingness to commit, so she issued an ultimatum. And in the meantime, she opted to create new dating profiles to show him she was serious.
In solidarity with her, we all decided to create new profiles. I’d tried online dating before without much luck. A few dates here and there where the guy would be interested and I wouldn’t be, or vice versa. I’d always done the paid subscriptions before, so I thought why not try one of the freebie profiles?
I created a profile on OKCupid and, at first, not much came of it (one or two dates; got stood up once)–until August.
I was at a kung fu class on a Saturday morning when I got a message from a user named shakeandbake25. It read something like this:
“Hey! I have an extra ticket to the Rockies game tonight. Wanna go?”
I was intrigued. A quick look through shakeandbake25’s profile, and I noticed a few things:
- He was quite handsome, and he had a nice beard in all his pictures.
- He had a few pictures with dogs, so he either had dogs or loved dogs (a HUGE plus).
- He had some super sexy arms. (I know it’s number three in this list, but I should be honest. This is absolutely the first thing I noticed.)
- He had a good job at Ball Aerospace.
At first, I was on board. Yeah, I’ll go to the game. (My after-kung-fu-class high had me feeling like I could take on the world and handle myself if he turned out to be a creep.) And then doubt started settling in. I started imagining hanging out with a bunch of guys I didn’t know.
I’ve never been a shy person, but, usually, when meeting new people, I know at least one person I can converse with and get conversations started with other folks with, and I wouldn’t have that.
And then I texted my sister.
“So this guy asked me to go to a Rockies game, but he didn’t tell me his name or who he was going to the game with. I don’t know. Should I go?”
In true, protective older sister mode, Em was like, “Yeah, I don’t know. Sounds weird he didn’t tell you his name. Maybe don’t go and see if he’ll meet you another time.”
That was sound advice.
While all this was going on, shakeandbake25 and I did exchange phone numbers, so we’d been texting throughout the day. He did finally tell me his name, but I still opted to not go to the game and asked if he wanted to meet for coffee instead.
To which he promptly responded, “How about tomorrow morning?”
(I have to admit, my first thought was, whoah, desperate much? But that was just 25-year-old Julie being too judgy, and I later learned he was working on third shift and playing in a golf tournament that next day – so if we didn’t want to wait until the following weekend, that was the only time he could meet.)
We planned to meet at Caribou Coffee (for those unfamiliar, it’s the Northwest equivalent, or as the Norwesterners would argue, superior, to Starbucks).
I arrived at the coffee shop just a minute or two before Nick did, and when he walked in, I was a little surprised. That lovely beard in all of his profile photos was gone. For those who aren’t familiar with Nick, he is still very handsome without his beard, but he’s also much more baby-faced without one.
I was a little bummed the beard was gone (I love a good beard), but he seemed like a nice guy and we had a good conversation. (Nick likes to say I made it easy and did all the talking, to which I counter that he obviously had to do some talking or I wouldn’t have seen him again.)
We decided to set up a first date (coffee was just to make sure he wasn’t a serial killer, but don’t ask me how I would’ve known if he actually was a serial killer).
And that first date is where we’ll pick up next week.
And in case you’re curious, here’s that photo that popped up in my Facebook memories. We were literally just babies…
IVF That 