Monday, June 28, 2010

Girl Meets Boy

Friday night is pizza night.  Always has been.  Always will be.  Since the beginning of time, until the end, Friday night is pizza night.

This one simple fact is to "blame" for my meeting Dan.

I can't remember how I ever got introduced to OKCupid.  A friend, most likely.  I primarily used the account as a generic time suck for when I was bored.  I'd do the silly quizzes and questions and would peruse profiles to see what interesting people are out there in this world.  I never really thought I could or would actually meet someone worthwhile off the site.

In early January of this year, I found myself killing time on OKC.  I clicked on "Global Matches" as my travelphile self always loves seeing what far off places may pop up on the list.  One of the top matches was a gentleman by the name "drupalista" from Manchester, UK (turned out he's actually from a small town about an hour's train ride from Manchester).  I clicked on the profile and close to the bottom of the profile, I saw it…. the plain and simple truth…

Friday night is pizza night.

Well, needless to say, I could not leave this profile without sending a message to this stranger.  So, I did.  A very simple message consisting of only a sentence or two, just to concur that Friday night is, indeed, pizza night.

I can’t say I really expected a reply.  But, to my surprise and pleasure, I got one.  And so began our online friendship.

Initially, neither Dan nor I thought anything romantic would come out of our chatting.  I mean really?!  We live some 3,000 plus miles apart with a whole big ocean in between.  So we were friends.  We got into the habit of chatting every day as, even with a five hour time difference, our schedules lent itself to daily chats.

Over time it became obvious that there was definitely potential for more then just a friendship (minus that whole pesky Atlantic Ocean thing).  Dan and I discovered so many similarities in one another.  While on the surface we may seem different, him being the left-brained engineering type and I being the right-brained creative type, but when it came to the big stuff we were, more often then not, on the exact same page.  What we want out of life.  How we see things.  How we treat others.  We were very in sync.    

And since I wasn’t working a “real” job, my schedule was flexible and the prospect of a trip across the pond seemed too hard to resist.  Not to mention, I had begun the process of applying for graduate school in the UK and thought it best to visit at least a few of the schools.  So in April of this year, I flew to the UK for the first time in my life (somehow, despite having lived in Europe before, I had never made it to the UK). 

I would be lying if I said that Dan and I instantly clicked that first night when I got off the plane at Heathrow.  At that point I was so jetlagged, I don’t think I would have clicked with my own dog, had she been there to greet me.  But in the following days I got to know Dan even more.  I got to see, first hand, all the wonderful things I’d already known about him.  Within that first week, it became apparent that we were more then just friends.  While the distance was on our minds, we both knew we had to give this a shot.  In the end, the entire three-week trip left me even more excited for what the future holds for us. 

And yes, we had pizza on Friday night.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing your story. I will keep following your blog because I'm excited (and jealous) to see where things are headed for you!

    - Mandy

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  2. No problem Mandy.

    Glad you enjoy and thanks for following!

    AM

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  3. Hi A-M: Very cute love story, and yes, let me say it: awwwww. :) Thanks for sharing.

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