December 6, 2013

The nerves I felt on December 6, 2013 are going to stay fresh in my mind for the rest of my life. I had to work that day, my last day before I took a 2 week vacation to hang out with Tim. I checked his flight status all day long - BA 49, refreshing every 15 minutes and tracking his plane getting closer and closer. Since the day we first started texting I don't think we have ever gone longer than 2-3 hours without at least saying hello (other than when one of us is sleeping) so waiting 9+ hours for the flight with no communication was like torture. All day long coworkers were asking me questions; what if you don't like him? do you think you'll recognize him? are you going to kiss him? Every question and every minute that went by the knot in my stomach got bigger and bigger, and I slipped out of work early full of fear.

The picture I sent to Tim so he would know what I was wearing 

The arrivals board letting me know he was in customs! 

I got to the airport and went to our designated meeting place where I had read online international arrivals come out and waited. Sweaty palms, funny stomach, more waiting. Turns out, I was waiting in the wrong place and got a text from Tim asking where I was...oops. If you picture a movie with people making eye contact, smiling, and rushing over in slow motion to greet each other..that is honestly exactly what it felt like. Cheesy and cliche, but very, very real. Backpack wielding Tim gave me a big hug that I struggled to return because of a silly backpack he kept tight on his back. I will remind him of that stupid backpack for the rest of his life and he will never live it down. 

After the backpack is kind of a blur in my head. I can remember kisses on the cheek, watching his bags while he used the restroom and I sent a quick text to a friend, and walking hand in hand to the light rail. On the 40 minute ride downtown I think I stared at him the whole time. We wandered around downtown looking for a place to eat and ended up at a Thai restaurant. I'm not sure what we talked about during dinner but I can remember sitting there with a huge smile on my face. 

I don't think I can ever put in words how happy I was or how amazed I was that he was real and exactly what I had imagined.  We clicked better than I could have hoped for and I initially knew the man I fell head over heels for online was the real deal. And yes, I did get a kiss after the end of the first date :)