Kiss My Knits!

13 years ago today I married a wonderful man, and I haven’t regretted it once.

This is what he looked like when we met. That’s my blue-eyed Italian man, rockin’ that mustache! I met him indirectly through some online friends. This was back in the days of local bulletin boards and I was so thrilled with the 2400 baud modem I bought with my first paycheck as an intern in the promotion department of WSOC-TV. I had moved back to Charlotte from college and was living with my mom, and didn’t know anybody anymore. I used my Mac Plus to log on and see who was out there. When some people online said they were getting together for a restaurant crawl uptown, I decided to go.

That day, I felt dead tired after work, but told myself that if I didn’t go to this thing, then I’d lost my right to complain about not knowing anyone. So I went. Good choice! I met some people who are friends to this day. Also, I met this tall guy who was wearing giant blue surfer shoes and kept talking during the musical performance. I actually turned around to tell him to hush at one point. He wouldn’t. I found out later that he wouldn’t shut up on the way home either. Apparently he was going on and on about me. Say it together, kids. “Awwww.”

He didn’t make a stellar first impression (although he was really cute) but when I read online that he was leaving town, I sent him an e-mail saying that I was sorry to see him go, and that it had been a pleasure to meet him. To tell the truth, I was just being nice. I didn’t remember whether the guy I was talking to was Annoying And Cute Guy or his buddy, Annoying And Not Cute Guy.

I got back this long, eloquent letter. Holy moly, my first impression was wrong – this guy was smart, charming, and funny! So I wrote back to him, he wrote back to me, and finally he asked me out. At this point, I was glad to find out that it was Cute Guy. I would have said yes either way – I can admit when I’ve made a rush to judgement – but that was icing on the cake.

When I showed up for the date, he had shaved off the moustache and YOWZA he was even better-looking. He made homemade lasagna from his mother’s recipe. From scratch. I didn’t know this at the time, but he apparently spent his last few dollars to buy the pans. We went over to a friend’s house for a double date. I found a bay leaf in my lasagna, which he told me it was good luck to find. Later I found out he’d deliberately hidden it in my portion.

The date went great. We met up the next night. And the next. And the next. 13 years later and we’re still hanging out most nights, it’s just that we’ve formalized the arrangement.

Our wedding night was filled with flashing lights, loud noises, and vertigo. Also, we went to the carnival. Badum *ching!* I think that about sums us up – we’re all about enjoying the little things in life. We spotted the carnival on the way to the chapel, and went out that night with my best friend and his best friend, who were our maid of honor and best man, and who later got married themselves. Yes, we did totally set them up. Chalk up another one for Tvini, Goddess of Weddings.

I’m very glad that I dragged my sorry keister out that first night, even when I just wanted to go home. And I’m grateful for the power of e-mail. I would hate for us to have had just that one encounter. I would never have known what I was missing.

My scanner’s buried under a mound of junk – it’s on my list to clean – so I took a few photos of photos from the pre-digital age.

Steve at the house on Woodland. This was after we’d gotten engaged and moved in together. I never for a moment thought it wouldn’t work out, so this seemed safe. He’s working in our garden and drinking a Coke from a glass bottle. The house we rented was 1930’s-40’s era, and it had a Coke bottle opener on the side of the counter. We thought it was cool, so we went for the glass bottles and turned them back in for deposit. We loved that house, but when the owners wanted to sell it instead of continuing to rent it, we knew it was too small for a family, so we moved on. However, if I recall correctly, we did take the bottle opener with us. I think it’s in the back room.

Our wedding day. The rock god hair is still there. As I recall, it was a little windy outdoors for the pictures. Booooornnnn freeeee…. Of course, I thought he was the handsomest man ever, and I still do. Besides, I have no room to talk about hair: note the waist-length rattail on the side of my head. I put a little white bow on it for the big event.

As for the marriage, so far, so good. We’ve always said we’d renegotiate our contract at 65 years of marriage, but at this point I think we’re doing all right.

The LJ-cut title is a quote that I gave to the Charlotte Observer about 15 years ago when they were working on a story on couples who had met online. I’m a very lucky person, and I know it!