It was June of 2014. I was single, looking for an apartment, and preparing for a trip with Steph and Russ to Costa Rica. I was on the Sunrise Highway service road heading east, going to visit my parents. I stopped at the light on Sunrise and Broadway. I honestly can’t remember if he beeped or not, because all I could hear was my heart racing. There he was in my rearview – grinning that perfect little grin. I gave him a little smile and a wave. A million thoughts ran through my head.
I got to Ronald Lane, put on my blinker, and turned left. Then I took a deep breath. It was over. I turned right onto Lumur Drive, approaching Lilac Lane. And guess who decided to come down Lilac? That gorgeous guy in the Tacoma. I pulled over, and so did he.
I can’t remember anything about that conversation, honestly. I was too busy making every effort to keep my composure. The conversation was brief. And it ended with a simple question from him: “Would you like to go get a drink sometime?” You bet. You. fucking. bet.
Turns out, he was seeing someone. My heart sunk. But he reached out anyway. We kept it friendly, and started seeing one another just every now and then – for a drink or a quick bite to eat. Eventually, the frequency picked up. The meetings got longer. We started going to Islander games together. And at some point along the way, Chris became unattached. Still, we took everything very slow, and kept it all very hush-hush.
Later in the year, we both separately agreed to attend Friendsgiving at Mama Lombardi’s with our crew. Each of our respective groups warned us that the other would be there. Little did they know, we were together most of the time the messages were flying around about that night!
We arrived together, but he dropped me off at the door and went to park the car, so it appeared that he arrived just after me. We magically wound up seated next to one another. We kept the conversation light and friendly. We did share a bite of each other’s meal at one point which made a few people suspicious. Then we left separately, meeting at the car.
Chris worked that New Year’s Eve, but on the first day of the year in 2015, we met his mom and Dan at Mannino’s for dinner. This felt like a turning point for me. I was so glad to finally feel like we were breaking barriers into personal space.
Shortly thereafter, we headed up to Vermont with Dave and Bret, Ken and Sue, and all the kids. Everyone was so welcoming. And best of all, I was back with my favorite person in one of our favorite places. We skiied three mountains that year. Went to dinner. Built fires. Drank Prosecco. Had an absolute blast.
Over the next few months, I would post pictures of me and my mystery man on social media. Chris always covered his face. It became a fun little thing for a while. We started spending more and more time together.
Then finally, in July of 2015 on Eric’s birthday, we decided it was time for the big reveal. All of our friends were meeting at JT’s on the Bay to celebrate Eric. We decided to show up together. No one was shocked. But they all were happy to see us reconnecting.
And it only got better from there.
