My friend Angie met her husband on eHarmony two years ago and literally got married Labor day weekend. I signed up right around that time. I initiated conversations with a few people when a bearded law student caught my eye. He was just my type! Beyond being a law student, he already had a master's degree, was just as dedicated to traveling and adventuring as I was, wanted a family, liked animals, and dreamed of settling down. It seemed perfect. He hailed from the east coast but was pretty committed to Northern California. As I have said many times before- I don't really care where I settle, I'm happy to follow someone, but as I just got into a rental and dating takes time, I'd like to date someone who isn't going to immediately move after they take the bar exam, and then present distance issues in our relationship unless we have already committed by then. So this was all fantastic. On paper, all looked good and he really came off strongly that his "cab light was on," and he was seriously looking for THAT relationship- you know, THE ONE.
It took about ten days to get through the whole "audition" process eHarmony puts you through, and then we got to exchange lengthy emails with each other. Even from our short answers to each other though, it felt very promising. The right answers were coming through. This serious tone kept coming off on both ends, but I think that's just how eHarmony primes you. They mean business, and they want you to take things seriously and to give thoughtful answers. By the time we got to be able to write free-flowing emails, it was like a relief! Daniel did write in his first message to me, that I was able to make him laugh, despite the serious tone though on those essay answers! :)
We exchanges letters for a few days, and then Daniel gave me his number and asked me out. He initially tried to ask me to dinner, but I requested we keep it casual, just in case one of us turned out to be a serial killer. He said he was pretty sure he could trust me, but we could keep it to just coffee or drinks if that was better. He sent me his phone number, and I texted him. And that started days and days of non-stop texting. from early in the morning to late at night we were texting each other all day.
We texted each other about everything under the sun, from our backgrounds and childhoods to our hopes and dreams and life plans. Daniel told me right off the bat he wanted to be married in the next couple of years and laid out a sort of rough plan, assuming he met the right person. Before we even met, I could feel the momentum building and burning. We had a LOT of chemistry and that was apparent even just texting. I said many times, we should probably stop texting because we are going to run out of things to talk about on this date! And Daniel said more than once, no... we aren't.
Our first date was Tuesday, September 29th at 4:30pm at Pangea, a little restaurant/bar in south Sacramento across the street from an ice cream shop my dad used to bike to as a kid.
Here I am in the car, hyperventilating, right before the date. I was freaked out because I was so nervous it wouldn't live up to my expectations- or maybe that it actually would.
When I walked into Pangea, Daniel was already there, facing away from the door, but I knew him right away because the bar was pretty empty, and he is very tall. Also, I could just tell it was him. My body could tell it was him. It felt magnetic. He had on a leather jacket and was wearing his glasses, a long sleeved button down shirt and a tie. The first thing I noticed was probably him, himself, and then the jacket (which looked nice), as a means of recognizing him and when he turned, his eyes caught me immediately. They were stunning and caught the light. The brightest, happiest shade of blue I've ever seen in my life. They made me immediately smile at the time and they make me smile thinking about it now. As soon as he said "Hello," I knew this wasn't going to be a repeat of the bad date from the week before. You know when you can just tell things?
We walked up to the counter together and talked about the beers on tap. We have very similar tastes in beer so it was easy to converse about it, and it was comfortable right away. He offered to treat and I let him. I knew that HE knew this was a good sign right away because I had already told him about my bad date the week before and that I wouldn't let a bad date pay for my drinks- I didn't think it was fair. He was pleased right off the bat that I let him pay and we walked together to a cute little table outside with great street atmosphere.
This is where we stayed. For the next... I don't know how many hours. This date was supposed to be for A beer after he got off work. We sipped on that first beer for it must have been 3-4 hours. It was an extremely long time. When it became clear that we really weren't anywhere close to being done talking yet and were still having SO much fun talking with each other, he asked if we should get another round and I went and got the second round of beer, which we slowly sipped on because we were too busy talking to really care what we were doing. Then all of a sudden, it was dark. This was in September. So it didn't get dark until like 8pm. We sat on that patio forever. It was like no time had passed at all. It was effortless. When I spent time with Luke back in July and I connected with him, it felt special... but that was nothing in comparison to this. Afterwards Daniel called it like a lightning bolt and I can see what he means by that. I've never had an experience like it in all my years of dating. Not with anybody. Not even with my ex partners. It was... Magic.
This was the photo I sent my friend on the off chance he murdered me during the date. (Kidding.) But I sent it of the two of us... because we looked so cute together.
When we looked up and realized it was dark, Daniel asked me to dinner. I said yes. So we walked up the street, side by side but not holding hands to a little divebar he loves called the Hideaway. It was like walking into a time machine. People wore retro clothing and music played from a jut box (I think) and I felt like I had walked into the 50's. It was so awesome. We ordered at the bar- and Daniel paid again, and I had the most amazing Philly Cheese Steak sandwich with blue cheese crumbles and an aioli sauce. It was AMAZING. We loiter another hour or so before Daniel said, I better hurry- if this date went bad, I had been saying I was going to console myself with ice cream afterwards at Gunther's, and they might be closing soon. I giggled and said he could join me. So At 10:45pm we hustled out of the Hideaway and dashed down the street to Gunther's. The employee inside the locked building gave us the most empathic look when she saw us rush up to the closed store. At that point, we had been hanging out, for literally SIX AND A HALF HOURS. But now, everything was closed. It was a Tuesday. A work night. A school night. It was late. Daniel rather reluctantly walked me to my car. we giggled about how long the date had gone on. I think he hugged me. At that point I got pretty scared he was going to kiss me and was pretty relieved he didn't. We said goodbye and I went home SO PUMPED and excited about the whole thing. Best first date of my life. Hands down. All we did on that date was talk and connect with each other. We told stories and got to know each other and seriously could not get enough. He was cuter than his pictures, so handsome and just, adorable really. I was so excited.
How could you ever top that?!
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