But That was a Long Time Ago

22 years ago. I met my husband 22 years ago today. Around 2:00 or so to be exact. We were both seniors at different high schools here in town.

Bryan's best friend and my best friend had seen each other in a crowd and worked a mutual friend into getting them together to meet each other. The meeting was to take place at Bryan's best friend's home with an afternoon of horseback riding. (His friend's father owned a carriage company that gave historic tours of our city. They lived a short distance out of town on a wonderful piece of property that also doubled as the "off time" headquarters for the draft horses that pulled the carriages. Other horses lived there too).

This mutual friend of ours, Matthew, had worked it so that the best friends would meet to go horseback riding. My husband was one of the "other couples" that was there, and since Matthew's girlfriend couldn't go that day, I was recruited to go so that he wouldn't be a third in the group.

It was Christmas Eve and unseasonable warm. I was wearing a yellow Coca-Cola shirt and jeans (remember the Coca Cola fashion craze?). It was really a bit warm to have on jeans, but given that we were going to be horseback riding I couldn't get away with wearing shorts. So, I was there with Matthew, Bryan was there with another girl (we'll call her "C", I knew of her and thought she was his girlfriend), and my best friend and his best friend were there together. If there were others I don't remember, but it does seem as if there was one more couple along.

Off we go horseback riding through the woods and riding trails. We each had our own horse except for Bryan and C, they were sharing one. I remember there were lots of cat calls from the peanut gallery when C put her arms around Bryan to hold on. At the time I thought it was odd that they were cat calling people who were dating.

Some time during the ride one of the couples began sharing a horse and C got her own, leaving Bryan on his own horse too. We were at a point on the trail where the horses needed to jump a ditch that was full of fresh rainwater and Bryan and I had the only horses that willingly crossed. This left us on the other side long enough for me to feel the need to try to make small talk. Most of you know that Bryan was not a small talker back then (he's much better now). And the barrage of yes and no answers to my questions that were designed to get him talking left me with a feeling of "this guy thinks he's better than me - what a jerk". Really! And I couldn't wait for the other horses to decide to join us.

Our "conversation" went something like this:

me: Do you and Dan ride these trails a lot?
him: Yea.

me: Are the horses always scared; does this happen a lot?
him: not really

me: you're kind of a big guy, do you play football?
him: yes

me: do you enjoy it?
him: yeah, or I wouldn't play.

Looking back I probably could have asked better questions; ones that required more than a yes or no answer, but I hadn't met anyone who didn't want to talk about themselves before (what does that mean, I wonder?). I was stunned by the shortness of his answers and kind of wondered if he was being this way so as not to get his girlfriend upset with him. Turns out, he was just being this way. He was shy.

So, fast forward to mid January. Our best friends had begun dating and my best friend wanted to set me up with one of his friends. I was up for that; his best friend was fun and I imagined any friend they set me up with would be too. But the first name that came out of her mouth was Bryan's. Of course I remembered the thrilling conversation we had, and the fact the he was dating "C", and quickly reminded my friend that he was a jerk who was dating someone. She insisted that #1, he was not a jerk and #2, he was not dating "C", nor had he been the day we met. They kind of liked each other but definitely were not dating.

After I very hesitantly agreed to go out on a double date with them, she then called Bryan to set it up. Luckily for me, remembered me as the "cute girl in the Coca Cola shirt with the big boobs" and agreed.

After an evening at the $1.oo movie, McDonald's and the marina we actually had several two sided conversations. I hadn't needed to get money from Momma to pay for my half of the date after all (I seriously thought there was a good possibility that he would let me pay my share). All went very well. However, upon dropping me off at my house at the end of the evening, he just pulled into the driveway, said goodbye, and waited for me to get out. No walking me to the door or anything. I had been on many dates and I was expecting him to come open my door and walk me up to the front door. After a few awkward minutes of idle chit chat, I realized I just needed to escort myself out of the car and to the door. And I did.

I had no idea what his thoughts were of our date. We had a nice time and good conversation, but not walking me to the door threw me. I should tell you that it was raining that night, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt in my mind. I guess that's how intrigued I was by him. I normally wouldn't have gone out with anyone else a second time after not walking me to the door at the end of a date. But this time, I anxiously waited for our paths to cross again a week or so later. And now...yadda, yadda, yadda, here we are spending our 23rd Christmas Eve together.

(Yes, 23rd. 22 years ago, but 23 Christmas Eve's. You can figure it out.)