Lieutenant Brown, Chapter 1...

"Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life,

love gives us a fairy tale."

~Gieselle C. Viera

Alright, alright, things are going well enough that I'm no longer too worried about messing this relationship up (he assures me there's nothing I CAN do to mess it up), so let me tell you about my wonderful new(ish) boyfriend.

Let me just get it out of the way right now that we met online. I think you guys know how I feel about that fact, but like my dad said, what difference does it make HOW we met, so long as we did? True enough. You guys also know that I was largely unsuccessful (hilariously, ridiculously unsuccessful, in fact) at the whole online dating thing. I went through some awful dates, met some crazy people, and basically decided to give up on the whole thing. I was largely unimpressed with all the guys I was meeting or talking with, and since I wasn't thrilled with the idea of online dating anyway, I planned on letting the two short memberships I'd purchased expire with no plans to renew them. And yet...

Almost all along, there was this one guy. He was much better-looking than any of the other guys I'd seen on either of the websites. I knew we had a lot in common--the few people I told about him were told he was pretty much me, but male. :) In fact, we were "matched" on both of the sites I'd signed up on (one a faith-based one, the other not), which I thought was kind of interesting. And one day he emailed me. So I emailed him back. And he just kept writing me. His emails were short and sweet, mostly talking about what we did that day or our plans for the weekend, etc. Rarely more than a paragraph or two at the most. Never pushy or presumptive. I had no idea if he was interested in me or not, but because my mom taught me that if someone writes you, it is polite to write them back, I kept returning his emails.

Let me rewind a little. I had decided that I wanted to do the whole dating thing the old-fashioned way (inasmuch as that's possible with online dating), and I was going to let the guy take the lead. So I wouldn't give anyone my number unless he gave me his first, he would have to call me first, ask me out, etc. And I held true to that.

Over the course of a couple months, we exchanged frequent emails (almost daily), and he always ended his emails with "Talk to you later." I just kept writing back, and I was interested that he wasn't jumping the gun or in a hurry. After about 2 1/2 months or so, he told me his subscription was expiring on one site and he wasn't renewing it, so he wrote me on the other site. I wrote him back and told him that my subscriptions were also expiring, so I gave him my personal email. He wrote me at my email (so I knew his last name before he knew mine). After a few more emails, he sent me his phone number and told me he would like to talk to me sometime. I sent him my phone number and told him he was welcome to call anytime. A couple more weeks of emailing, and finally an email said, "I'll give you a call this weekend." :)

I tried not to be anxious about his call, and when he finally did call, I was walking in the door from church with my arms full and I missed it!! (Which actually turned out for the best...he was really nervous about calling, and he says me calling him back let him know that I was interested, too.) So I called him back a few minutes later and we talked for 2 1/2 hours. :) It was really easy and nice and not really awkward at all. We laughed a lot (probably, in part, due to nerves), and it was a really good conversation. So he ended the call saying, "I'll give you a call later this week." :)

When we talked again, it was similar--he was funny and easy to talk to, and at the end of the conversation, he asked what I was doing the next couple weekends. I was really excited, and I told him I didn't really have plans, so he asked if he could come down to Portland and take me out for lunch.

Now, we all know what happened the last time a guy came to meet me in Portland; it was miserable, the worst weekend ever, and pretty much a phenomenal disaster.

So I told him no.

To be continued...

(To continue to Chapter 2, click HERE.)