After the Beach

So I've been thinking about what to blog about today and one thing keeps coming to the front of my mind, my wife Meghan.  I'm sure there are a lot of people that wonder if they're ever going to meet "the one" in their lifetime.  I waited 25 years to meet mine, but it wasn't until over 28 years went by that I realized this person was the one I was meant to spend my life with.  Let me try to explain...

Space, the final frontier...no that's not right.  25 years old, okay, I was attending college (I was a late bloomer to college) and after my first year, I decided to take a trip to the beach with one of my roommates.  We went to Wilmington Beach (NC) and were going to be staying with his girlfriend, his girlfriend's sister, and his girlfriend's best friend, Meghan.

This was a very fun trip to the beach with the usual type of mid-twenties' activities; laying out in the sun, tossing the football or frisbee, and playing cards in the hotel room when we weren't at the beach.  Everyone got along very well and there were no sparks whatsoever.  Meghan and I got along very well and we were very comfortable just being ourselves and didn't feel any pressure to act weird or feel like we had to impress anyone.  And after that weekend, I didn't see her or talk to her again for over three years.

Until my former roommate and his girlfriend got married.  Meghan and I talked a little bit during the rehearsal dinner and I walked her back down the aisle once the ceremony was completed.  We didn't sit at the same table for the wedding lunch and the majority of everyone went back to their rooms to take a nap or rest after the wedding since it was a late morning wedding.  Well, almost everyone.  Meghan and I decided to hang out in her room with the bride's sister.  We played cards and had The Sound of Music on in the background.  I know, you're wondering what kind of story am I telling.  Well, I'd never seen that movie, and quite frankly, I didn't want to see it at that point either.

But I wanted to spend more time with Meghan.  I don't know what changed in three years, but I really liked seeing her and wanted to spend more time with her.  We talked about our lives over the past three years and did so until everyone was ready to go out and celebrate the newly wed couple.  We went to a sports bar at the resort and everyone was talking, and laughing, and taking pictures, which I admit, I am prone to making weird and obviously stupid faces when the camera is about to flash.  Of course, there were darts at this place so people teamed up.  Meghan and I joined forces and I'm not sure during what game we stopped playing halfway through.

Now don't get confused, we stopped halfway through one of our dart games because there was an incident.  A dart dropped into Meghan's big toe.  That pretty much sidelined any further dart throwing and fortunately there were bandaids at the bar.  In a moment like that, if it would've happened to me, I probably would've laughed.  And what did Meghan do, she laughed at her own injury.  We ended up talking some more, walking outside briefly, and sitting and watching stars before bringing her back to her room.  What was nice about the whole evening, it was knowing that I was going to have breakfast with her the following morning.  We had such a relaxed and fun evening spending time together that we made a plan to have breakfast together.

Toward the end of breakfast, we exchanged phone numbers.  We first started with exchanging text, facebook, or myspace messages for the first couple of days after the wedding.  And very soon thereafter, we were talking on the phone everyday.  After talking for a little while, we decided to meet for a weekend in Baltimore where we would go to an Orioles game.  So here's the catch so far, I lived in Radford, VA and she in Baltimore, MD.  We were five hours apart, without traffic.  I guess there came a point during the wedding or after the wedding that made me realize that I wanted to take a chance, and I wanted to take a chance with Meghan.  After a couple of months of talking, we decided to become a couple.

I guess I'm explaining how we met and the distance between those encounters because sometimes it takes special circumstances to meet that special someone.  I was 25 years old when I met Meghan, but I was 28 when something clicked and we both wanted to take a chance.  It's not your everyday, love at first sight type of story, but I'll gladly repeat my life in the same fashion if it means getting to 28 to meet the one person I thought I'd never meet.

Perhaps I'll talk about the three and a half years since that point where we met again.  For now, I'm so happy to have married my best friend and to know one thing.  If all else fails, I'll be happy for the rest of my life going to sleep with her at my side.  It's because no matter what happens, I know she'll be there when I wake up the next day.