There is a lot about the beginnings of mine and Bruce's relationship that is fuzzy. For example, neither of us can recall the exact date it was the night that we first met. We aren't even in agreement over where or not it was a Thursday night or a Saturday night. (We've since agreed that it was the end of March, and adopted March 30th as our official dating anniversary.) I blame a lot of this on the fact that I'm so completely caught up in Bruce that most of my brain refuses to function normally.
But there are a few things that are crystal clear in my memory. The weather was warm enough to be comfortable sitting around outside but still cool enough to make having a fire a nice addition. My best friend Shantin and her daughter were staying with Shantin's dad's for a few days, who happened to live about a mile down the road from my own parents' house, where I was living. It was fairly late, and I had gotten Allie asleep and into bed when Shantin called and said her own daughter was in bed, and to please come over to sit by the fire pit and visit. I checked in with my mother (who is the best mother ever, by the way) to keep an eye on sleeping Allie, pulled on jeans, a long-sleeve black tee, and my worn black low-top Chucks.
I'm texting Shantin throughout this process, who at one point tells me that her dad and
(about our age, muscled) stepbrother are also hanging by the firepit. Until this point, I am completely unaware that she even has a (about our age, muscled) stepbrother, although, even though she's my best friend, isn't is as weird as you'd think. She has A LOT of stepbrothers and sisters. Plus, this one in particular had recently spent several years in Italy and one in Afghanistan. I didn't think much of this. I knew this wasn't a matchmaking attempt by Shantin. (Although she still apologizes that she never actually did think to hook us up!) Besides, I was not looking to date someone. I was just going to hang out by the fire and chat with my best friend.
I'll never forget the image of Bruce opening the front door to their house and coming down the stairs to join Shantin and I by the fire a few minutes after I arrived. He was wearing jeans, a fitted maroon t-shirt (which made the muscles in his sizable biceps and triceps look awesome...) , these kinda nerdy/incredibly sexy Ray-ban glasses, and worn black Chucks, identical to the ones on my own feet.
He sat down across the fire from me, and Shantin's dad joined us outside. We all talked for hours, about what I can't exactly recall. I'm telling you, the man fries my brain. I remember talking about my job, his military career, my daughter-and later that night we all watched the movie Act of Valor. We would laugh as we took our shoes off to sit on the couch downstairs and both our pairs of worn black Chucks were sitting there against the wall beside each other.
It would be another two weeks before we hung out again, and a couple of months before things actually became fairly serious between us, but even now, 10 months later, we joke that we initially were attracted to each other over our shared fashion choices. =)
