I had a Sincerely FRO Me To You post all planned out, but I realized on Wednesday morning, when I went to The Glamorous Life Association to link up my FRO that Marcy didn’t have her FRO up yet.  Because FRO is on Thursdays, duh!  And when I realized FRO was going to fall on this particular Thursday, I immediately knew that I couldn’t use the original FRO I had planned.  I’ll save it for another week.  This week is special.

May 7, 1999 was the day I met John for the first time.  We had been speaking on the phone for several weeks and exchanging emails.  As the early stages of courtship go, we were in that exploratory state when each tries to impress the other without giving away that each is a total dork/nerd/geek/whatever.  Our conversations went very well, and we frequently found ourselves talking for an hour or more.  We had a really good connection over the phone.  And we seemed to hit it off personality wise, too.  So, one night we were talking on the phone and he said that he thought it was about time we met in person.  Now, here’s where I do a little back tracking, mostly for the benefit of my family.

We told everyone that we had been introduced by a mutual friend.  We even had a scapegoat, this woman named Tracy I knew from Renaissance Faire.  The story would go that she knew me from Renaissance Faire and she knew John through computers, and thought we would make a great couple, set us up with each other’s email addresses and let the rest follow the course of nature.  Except that isn’t what happened AT ALL.  I don’t think Tracy ever met John, and after that year of Faire, I never saw her again.  See, at the time we met, things like personal ads and online dating was considered a little kooky.  I never wanted to admit to my family that I met my date on Yahoo! Personals.  But, that is in fact where we met.  I answered John’s ad because the title was “Ignore Me, Please!”  I figured he was a guy with a sense of humor who didn’t take the whole thing too seriously.  

So, fast forward about a month, and we decided we would finally meet in person.  John invited me to dinner at Houston’s, a steak house in Irvine.  I was very excited and nervous and chose what to wear very carefully.  I wore a long black wrap skirt, dark blue pinstriped blouse, black tights and black pumps.  As I was walking through the parking lot, there was an area that was under construction and very uneven.  I tripped, didn’t fall, but was very worried because there was a single man walking near by.  I prayed that it was not John.  (Years later, John admitted that yes of course that had been him and that he had considered turning around and leaving when he saw me stumble.  Thank goodness he didn’t!)

Somehow I managed to get to the front of the restaurant and there he was.  He was tall, with a black blazer, tan dress shirt and dark slacks.  I approached him and said “are you John?”  When I looked into his eyes, I still remember this moment as clearly as if it had just happened, I thought “this is a very special man.”  We had dinner and neither of us wanted to go home so we went to see a movie – The Matrix.  I’d already seen it but I didn’t care, I didn’t want the date to end.  John gave me his coat in the theater so I wouldn’t get cold.  :::sigh:::  

This picture was taken about a month later and I’m wearing the same outfit I wore the night we met.  This was the first trip we went on together.  It was a day trip to Santa Clara and we drove with another friend who took the picture.  I have carried this picture with me in my car ever since I got it developed (back in the day before digital pictures!).  You can tell from the scratches and wear that this photo has been a lot of places with me.  I used to keep it on the flip side of my visor and every time I would pull it down to block the sun I’d smile because there was that very happy moment in time looking right back at me.  These days I keep it in the center console and whenever I reach in for my ipod, there it is.  Even when we were broken up for a time, I kept it there, as a token of luck in hopes we would get back together.  Obviously we did.

Ten years together.  The love of my life, the father of my daughter, my best friend and constant champion.  I love you!  Sincerely, FRO me to you.