The year + some months that Tess and I lived together was a great time for us to be housemates. While she was going through the long and arduous process of waiting for Hannes to get his green card, I was trying to occupy her time well enough with bourbon, English television and of course my tales of single life and dating in San Francisco. I remember Tess asking me about a date one night and me shrugging and saying it was just ok. It was then that she said one day I'll go on a date and come home and be blown away. That's what she was waiting for, she said. That is essentially what happened to her when she met Hannes.
April 29th, 2012 was a beautiful, warm day. I had recently returned from the last leg of my Sabbatical travels which included a lovely stay with my Mom at the Wawona Hotel. I was also getting ready another first date which would entail riding bikes through Golden Gate Park with a certain furniture maker named Jared. The park was only a few blocks away from my place but a few miles away from his. The good news was that it was not too hard to avoid all hills getting to my neighborhood, the bad news was that poor Jared took some real wrong turns and ended up riding his bike up all possible hills so arrived to our date a half hour late and super sweaty! But, hills happen in this city so I wasn't too worried and didn't blame him at all for the delay. Concern however, did begin to grow when he started talking about all his food allergies, including avocado! I was wondering if this date was over before it began. I can't exactly remember when, but it was somewhere between him breaking out two airplane bottles of whiskey and us talking about our lofty Summer plans that something began to happen. I started to feel some sense of euphoria that had never really occurred before. We had our first kiss mid-date which isn't something I was used to...I had been pushing for him to try this apple juice I brought along which he refused to try (citing more food allergy concerns, of course). Finally I told him that it was the secret to life! and took a big sip for myself. It was only then that he conceded to try it by tasting the juice that was still on my lips. I thought that was a pretty good move.
As the cool wind picked up late in the afternoon it was time for us to head back to our own homes. We rode slowly back towards my place, we gave each other the second kiss of the date and went our separate ways. I carried my bike up four flights of stairs to the apartment where Tess was waiting for me. She asked how the date went and I told her...I was blown away. I spent the rest of afternoon in complete shock, lying in my bed, retelling the details of the date. Tess of course, was happy to say she told me so.
Skip to April 29th, 2013 and I'm still being blown away by this amazing guy. A few highlights of this past year have been quitting my job, getting an awesome new job, moving into Jared's place, traveling a bit and finally getting ready for another Summer to begin with the man I love.
It seems that both Tess and I used this blog as a way to chronicle a certain life journey. For me, this blog was a way for me to be held accountable by putting into words the ways in which that time in my life was rather transformative. For a while, this blog helped me to be content to simply be on my own. I think that was a lesson I needed to learn before I could be ready to be with someone else. That first date with Jared occurred a few days after my very last post. I was able to summarize my journey as well as end it on a positive note because I knew the best stuff of life had just begun. Because of this, I thought it only fair to update this blog, to say thanks to Tess for the guest writer idea and also to say Happy Anniversary to Jared...I've never been so happy and so in love. Also, if anyone is single and interested in meeting an awesome guy, I would highly recommend guest writing on this blog too.
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| At the Wawona Hotel, this time with Mom and Jared |
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| At the premiere of the Disposable Film Fest, where I'm now Head of Marketing and Events |
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| City Snuggling |
