I went to church on May 29, 2011 - a Sunday morning, which at the time was not a common occurrence. Usually, I would go Saturday evening instead. For whatever reason, I was there and happened to see a friend from our singles group who also didn't usually attend Sunday mornings. I went over to say hi and she had a couple of girlfriends with her. We only talked for a couple of minutes and I found out one of them was only in town for the week and was heading back to Vancouver that day. Too bad I thought, she was kind of cute...
I was in Calgary for a week to take my first course of my masters at Ambrose. The class was over and I was spending time with my friend Laurie for the weekend. We went to the early service at church that day so that we had time to head to the Lilac festival - a springtime street festival in Calgary - that afternoon before my flight home. She introduced me to one of her friends from her singles group who had come over to say hello. I said hello, we chatted for a bit, and that was that.
Or so we thought!
Fast forward to December 2012. I had joined an online dating site and saw this one profile. There was something about her that just caught my eye. Reading through her profile, I saw that she had been to Kenya and had a real heart for the people there. She also liked hiking, snowshoeing and camping. Cool! I decided to send her a message and 'introduce' myself.
In September of 2012, I had moved to Calgary for full time school. I was home in Vancouver for Christmas, and had received an email about some free days on a long-neglected dating site I used to use. I was curious to see if I had any messages, so I gave in and opened up my profile. There was one message from someone who lived in Calgary. And it was a real message, too, not just a wink or a "hey." He had obviously put a lot of effort into reading my profile and sending a personalized message, and had even suggested that maybe he could take me snowshoeing sometime - bold move, internet man! Bold move! :) I clicked through to his profile and took a look. His picture seemed somewhat familiar, but I knew it wasn't from seeing him from the site. Looking further, I saw that he went to an Alliance church and was involved in singles ministries, and I had an "I-don't-know-where-that-came-from" light bulb moment. Was this the guy I met when I was at church in Calgary with my friend Laurie? At first, he didn't seem like the type of guy I'd be interested in, but I was curious as to whether or not I was right, so I decided to write him back.
There were actually a couple of things that caught my eye. One of them was that I thought she seemed really familiar, but I didn't know where I would have met her. It took her about a week to get back to me and in that time I like to think I played it cool, saying to myself, it's Christmas time, she's probably busy with family. I was able to see that she hadn't read the message yet so I knew that I hadn't been rejected yet... There was still hope!! :) Finally, I heard back from her and thought it was so cool that she thought I looked familiar too. But, the initial email address she gave me bounced back. Then when I got the correct one, the first message she got from my account was spam! Kind of a rough start for us. :)
Since I now had her name, I decided to creep a little on facebook... Don't judge me! ;) In her email, she had said we may have met that day but I didn't remember for sure, so I was hoping to find who our mutual friend may have been. I discovered it was Laurie, which was confirmed when she wrote me back.
A few emails in, he invited me to go snowshoeing with him and a friend on New Years Day. Alas, I was still in Vancouver! We emailed back and forth almost every day while I was home. I was impressed with the good conversation and Kevin's humour, and found myself looking forward to his emails each day. (I MAY have even accidentally drained the battery in a friend's car one night at 2 am because of my eagerness to hear back from him! That story is here.)
Kevin asked me on a date for after I got back to Calgary. I was headed to Kenya for two years at least, so I wasn't really looking for a relationship (who would want to date a girl who was moving to Africa?!), but I figured, hey, it's just a date, it'll be fun, so I agreed, and we made arrangements for a Friday night. Almost a week before our first date, I started getting nervous! It was Wednesday, however, sitting around the table at school with about a dozen friends and a few of my profs, when, entering my school schedule into my calendar, I realized I had double booked myself! I had a class that Friday night!!! I let out a huge, involuntary gasp and an "OH NO!" that I'm sure made the people around me think I had discovered that some tragic calamity had befallen me. Of course, they all asked what was up, and I had to admit that I had double booked myself for a first date. The highly respected, wise, and distinguished prof sitting beside me remarked, in all sincerity, "Huh... that's unfortunate!" I was so embarrassed! I quickly emailed Kevin, horrified, to admit my mistake and see if he was free to reschedule.
I was looking forward to our date as well and I thought our emails were a good indication of how we would get along. In my mind, it was not just a date but I did think it would be fun. Even before we had our first date, I was sure there would be more... We had arranged to go skating at Carburn Park, the first year they had an outdoor rink there. It was a good thing actually, that we didn't go Friday. After work, I stopped by to check it out and the City crew was flooding the rink. We wouldn't have been able to skate anyway. Our first date ended up being Saturday, January 12, 2013.
While arranging our "meet'n deets," I wanted to be a gentleman and pick her up but I also wanted to respect her privacy (which meant me not knowing her exact latitude/longitude). She figured I wasn't an axe murderer and agreed to let me pick her up at her building. I waited in the lobby and walked her to my vehicle, and we were off to dinner before skating.
The day of our date I was so nervous I couldn't even eat (not because I thought he was an axe murderer!). And, I had a dilemma. What to wear, what to wear? We were heading out for dinner first, so I wanted to be cute. But then we were going skating outside. In Calgary. In the winter. I also wanted to be warm! I think I pulled off an ok outfit for both. hehehe! Kevin picked me up and was a total gentleman. He even worked in a line from my first email to him, written on a cue card. It was a sweet gesture, the first of many that evening.
We talked so long over dinner that we realized we were in danger of running short of skating time, so - presto-change-o, I changed from cute to warm and we headed to the rink. As we turned the corner to the park, the view took my breath away - a large cluster of trees beside the rink were all strung up with lights, brightening the dark night and creating a beautiful scene for our skate.
She managed to pull off not only warm, but cute and warm simultaneously. :) The conversation came easy and for most of the evening, we had the whole rink to ourselves. We skated for quite a while and finally stopped to enjoy some hot chocolate I had brought along (to try to impress her, shh!). After warming our fingers and toes (not in the hot chocolate, that would be sticky and gross), we skated a while longer until the wind picked up and the snow started to fall.
It was a perfect end to the evening. We had been out so long, in fact, that my roommate was starting to worry about me. She called me as Kevin was driving home and I had to convince him that - really! - I didn't ask her to check up on me! :) We had the awkward first date goodbye, and I went inside. On one hand, I was wondering what would come of all of this, while on the other, I was happy to just have had a lovely evening with such a sweet, open, and fun guy.
I had a wonderful evening too. In fact, I couldn't wait to call her again... which I did the very next day. Score! Date number 2 :)
He called the very next day?! Wow - SO nice to not have games to play. I think this guy is into me... "I'd love to see you again, too!"
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We had been dating for about six weeks, and I was developing a fun hobby - teasing Kevin about having met him a year and a half previous. "Aurgh! I don't remember!" he'd say. One particular evening, we were out for dessert and I was practicing my new hobby once again. Poor guy, it was a two minute meeting after the Sunday morning service, if that. Of course he wouldn't remember...
"Wait, after the morning service? I was thinking we had met Sunday evening at the singles group." All of a sudden, the context changed and pieces started to fall into place for me. A light bulb came on - "I remember!"
And remember he did! He told me not only that there was a third person with us (my friend Marivic) and exactly where we were in the lobby. He was flabbergasted: "I met you!"
We both believe that that "chance" two minute encounter was no coincidence. It was a pivotal point to the beginning of our relationship, and another example of God's perfect timing. And boy, did He get things right!
