The story of us: amended

I didn't get into a lot of detail in the original "story of us" about those early days, but thought it'd be fun to go back and document pieces of it. 

Do you want to know what the neatest part of meeting your future husband online? I have a lot of sweet documentation of our "early days" via email. We're such a modern couple. ;-) 

The other neat thing? I was a TOTAL spaz and recapped in excruciatingly painful detail every single email and my thoughts and analysis to my girlfriends. That transitioned into recapping all of our early dates and moments. I'm not sure how much I'll share, and I'd like to keep some of that to myself, but I wanted to put some of this here, should anything happen to my email, and whatnot. AND I figured it'd be fun for ya'll to see :)  

So, as I mentioned, M and I met on Match.com. I had created the free profile and emailed a few people... but good ol' M took his time emailing me back. Finally, I opened my inbox after a very long final exam my 1L year of law school to the following message:

I was FLOORED. We exchanged a lot of early "getting to know you" emails. I would usually reply within HOURS, and he'd wait a day or 2. He later admitted he would wait so he wouldn't look like a crazy person.. clearly I did not have the same hangups..haha. It was the holiday season and he was planning a trip back up north to where he grew up for Christmas, so we just did a lot of introductory stuff. Not to mention, I was waiting for HIM to make the first move as to a real life meet-n-greet. 

Meanwhile, I had a simultaneous email chain going with several of my girlfriends. I'd never been a "dating junkie".. I usually focused in on one guy, and went for it full throttle. BUT, something strange happened at this time, and I somehow wound up with 2 other dates between the time M sent his first email and we actually met. I couldn't put all my imaginary eggs in one basket! What if he wasn't as great as he sounded, or photogenic but a weirdo in real life?! My girlfriends (and I) were not-so-secretly always "team M" though, as you can see below:

 1. "Tom" was one of those aforementioned random dates I went on. It was a fine date,...we went to the Wild game, but he wasn't Matt. (bear in mind I had never met M and I was comparing people to him already. Totally normal, no?)

2. Let's address the fact that my friends were planning my wedding to a man I had never met. God bless those 2. I look back at this particular email and REALLY cherish it, because while it was a joke (and a dream) back then, I think it's SO special that now it's REAL. 

3. Leah's timeline may have been a BIT off, but HOLY WOAH- girl you are a fortune teller! Let's compare! :

"offical by date #8" --> It was right around this time that Leah herself made a comment to M about "his girlfriend" while we were hanging out, which prompted the question..."well, IS she your girlfriend?"He said yes, and it was easy as that. 

"He'll propose next year" --> Oh Leah, quite the optimist. While it wasn't exactly December 2010 (it was April 2012).. I'm glad we waited until I was done with school and had a chance to live with each other. I really feel like marriage will be less of a "shock" to the system and more of a smooth transition (for US, at least)

"We'll all be in the wedding"--> This was accurate! I was Meagan's MOH (she would get engaged 11 months after this email) and she's my bridesmaid, Leah is my personal attendant. Girl is organized, and a PRO at this. I have the utmost faith in her. 

"They'll move into their house somewhere between mpls and stp, probs south mpls."--> Well, we DID look at houses in South Mpls, but we found it was too "hit or miss" by neighborhood and block. We're not far from there now, though! AND we did this backwards, from engagement. 

Overall, a very accurate (albeit mayyybee a tad creepy at the time) assessment of my future! haha

OH and as far as Meagan's reply? I'm leaning towards black bridesmaids dresses as well. Eerie. 

SO after a bunch of emails that looked a LOT like the one above (to save face as only a partial creeper, I'll spare you), and we finally set a time and date to meet: New Years Eve, 2009-2010, 1:30 at The Depot in downtown minneapolis for an ice skate: 

We skated for 3 hours that day, and each left for our respective New Years Eve parties. What followed was a dinner date at Loring Pasta Bar (the same place we went to eat after he proposed), mini golf, home cooked dinners, movie-watching, and on and on and on. :-)

As our 1-year approached, we decided it'd be fun to start a tradition (by that point we'd discussed moving in together, so starting an anniversary tradition wasn't "creepy"). Every year on our anniversary, before we went out for NYE, we'd spend the afternoon ice skating at the place we first met. Here are our first two years' photos:

So there's a little bit more detail about the story of us. :) 

OH, and do you recall the mention I made in the "story of us" of some of the creepers that caused me to stop emailing the rest of the guys all together? (This was before M finally responded to my email).. WELL, here is the gem that prompted it: 

You just can't make this stuff up. I had been emailing with him, and he's the 2nd closest I came to a "real" match date- we spoke on the phone, but never met. After our phone chat there were several HUGE red flags that he was NOT dating material, and overall the idea of meeting someone (besides the guy that had prompted the whole ordeal- M) was overwhelming me. SO I sent him the text you see recapped above for 2 of my girlfriends. His reply is below. I die. May I reiterate how Lucky I am to have only met one guy, and gone on one date from match? oofta. 

-Kelly