It was January 22nd, 2000. I had no idea where we were going for dinner and what we were doing after that. Maybe I did and was just too nervous to remember what the agenda was! On to the story...
I was waiting somewhat patiently by the front door, waiting for headlights to shine in the windows to announce his arrival. When it did happen, I quickly rushed to a mirror to check my hair -- bouncy? Check. Soft? Check. I waited and waited. Mind you, there was 22 inches of snow on the ground. Was he coming to the door? I finally looked out and no one was coming up the front stairs, so I bundled up to walk out to the car alone. This was getting off to a great start! I got to the car and no one got out. Unbelievable! I walked to the passenger side and the window automatically rolled down and the gentleman inside asked if I was Martha. Martha? Who the hell is Martha? "No," I said, "you must have the wrong address." The man drove away and I continued to wait...inside. The whole while, I'm thinking about poor unknowing Martha. About ten minutes later another car pulled into the driveway...it was him! He got out and made his way to the front door. I greeted him and let him inside to meet my mother and little sister. My little sister immediately gave me this look that said, "this guy is a dork!" But then again she was 15 and just about every boy is a dork at her age. I bundled up again and he opened the car door for me and I thought, "poor Martha, she should have used Yahoo!"
To make a long story short, we had dinner at Tuscany's near Wrigleyville and although the conversation was dry and mottled by periods of awkward silence, it was still enjoyable. After dinner Matt informed me that we had about two hours to kill before we went to "the show". We decided to go to Navy Pier. Obviously there weren't many people there, but we strolled down as if it were a balmy summer evening. Eventually our noses grew cold and runny so we turned back and made a bee-line for the car. I should probably point out that during that stroll we started holding hands (insert "aawwww"'s here).
"The Show" turned out to be 'Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind' performed by the Neo-Futurists. It was great! I laughed all night! It was good to know that this wonderful guy shared the sometimes dark, twisted humor that I enjoyed.
The rest is history... |
