...MY LOVE STORY...

...PART 1: GIRL MEETS BOY...

I grew up in a medium sized town (totally a thing) in Tennessee.  Sometime during my high school years, I came up with a plan for my life.  Graduate.  Go to BYU (like my mom did). Become an interior designer.  Or a teacher.  Or a social worker. Get married.  Have babies.  Live happily ever after.

It was a decent plan!  Until one day, I woke up and decided I did NOT want to go to BYU.  I swear it was that sudden.  And I still have no idea why I abruptly decided that!  It could have been that my boyfriend at the time had no plans to go to BYU.  But, even then, I never would have admitted that.  I was NOT going to be the girl that followed a boy. So, at some point I decided the real reason I’d changed my mind was because I knew too many people that were going there, and I wanted to go somewhere where I didn’t know a soul.

Enter the parental units.  This part of the story is proof at just how sneaky and wise and RIGHT parents can be.  It’s so annoying.  My dad started asking me all kinds of questions about what I really wanted out of a college – to which I’m sure I had terrible answers – and then proceeded to tell me all the things HE thought were a good idea in a college.  I must have been in a good mood, because I remember agreeing with most of what he said.  Once we established what I wanted, we started brainstorming locations.  And guess what came out of my dad’s mouth? “What about California?” Insert jaw drop emoji (that should really be a thing). Um, YES PLEASE!  That’s an option?!!

My dad’s version of the story is a bit different.  He saw his daughter with a high school boyfriend, who she suddenly decided NOT to move far away from, and he knew he had to bring out the big guns.  And to his credit, as soon as I heard California, I was all in.  But, just to be safe, taking a trip to visit several California colleges was probably a good idea.  It was.  And, by some miracle, I got into my first choice, UC Santa Barbara.  The most BEAUTIFUL college campus you’ve ever seen.

Just like that, I was on my own.  I didn’t know a soul.  And I had a new plan: spend as much time at the beach as possible, and still pass my classes. (Ask my dad how that turned out!)  Communications major.  Graduate.  Get a really cool job, IN CALIFORNIA.  Get married.  Have babies.

My new plan totally kicked my old plan’s butt.

I spent A LOT of time at the beach. And class (haha, who am I kidding).  Got involved.  And one September weekend, ended up at a dance in Huntington Beach, with my best friend.  We had plans to meet up with our good friend, Scott, who had been out of the country all summer.  And also these other cute boys we’d met a few weeks earlier.  Basically, we had options.

Little did we know, Scott wasn’t feeling good, and was seriously considering bailing on us.  Until he got a call from his buddy, Jesse, asking if any of his Santa Barbara friends would want to hang out.  When Scott mentioned that my friend and I would be at this dance, Jesse convinced Scott he wasn’t THAT sick, and they needed to go.  Apparently he’d heard good things about those Santa Barbara girls.

Meanwhile, my friend and I show up to the dance.  Late.  And Jesse offers to pay for us to get in.  Which we take him up on and then disappear to find those cute boys.  Apparently, we had no shame.  Much to our dismay, those cute boys were a bust.  I’m sure Scott and Jesse were feeling the same, but some how we all ended up at Del Taco.  And Del Taco has the best chicken soft tacos.  And this girl loves food.

And that guy, Jesse, bought me a taco.

To be continued…

...MY LOVE STORY ...

...PART 2: THE FIRST DATE...

Have you ever had a Del Taco chicken soft taco?  I never had, until that guy, Jesse, bought me one. He insisted I needed it in my life.  Boy, was he right.  But that’s really beside the point.  We ended up chatting over our tacos, and figured out that my grandparents, and his parents lived in the same town.  In Missouri!  I mean, what are the odds, that a girl from Tennessee, would meet a boy from Missouri, in California??  It was just crazy enough, that we couldn’t stop talking!  Which must have consisted of me bragging about my basketball skills, because he asked me on a date.  To play basketball.  It was really more of a challenge, then an actual date.  But I didn’t say no.

So, if you remember, my friend, Jen, and I had driven to Huntington Beach for this dance.  And it was far enough from Santa Barbara, that we had planned on staying with Jen’s parents for the night.  Which happened to work out perfectly for this date I’d just been challenged to.

The next morning, Jen and I walked down the street from her parents house, to a very conveniently located basketball court.  Yup, my best friend chaperoned my first date with this guy, Jesse.  I mean, as far as she knew, all he was good for was buying tacos.  Plus, it’s a lot easier to get your best friend’s opinion on a guy, when she’s there.  On the date.

But Jen didn’t play basketball, so she was my cheering section.  She’s a good friend.

So there we were.  Jesse and I warming up (this was serious), and Jen in her lawn chair.  We started with a game of horse.  And I totally kicked Jesse’s butt.  Phew, I still had it.  You know, from my glory days of playing high school girls basketball.  At a very small school.  In a medium sized town.  In Tennessee.  Shooting was pretty much all I could do.  And even then, I was having a good day.

Jesse didn’t like losing to this girl he’d just met, so he convinced me to play one on one.  It’s probably worth mentioning, that, at the time, Jesse was 26, and is 6’3″.  I mean it was over when he dunked on me.  I don’t remember what we played to, but it was a short game.

And then, all of the sudden I did NOT feel good.  We’d been playing out in the sun, and it was hot.  And we’d eaten tacos at midnight.  It was time to GO.  I literally took off running back to Jen’s house, leaving Jesse and Jen in the dust.  I have NO idea why Jesse stuck around, OR how I explained that one away, but we finished up our first date, hanging with Jen and her parents!  Who, by the way, I had also just met for the first time that weekend!

Miraculously, I somehow left Jesse wanting more, and he convinced me to go on a second date with him.  That night!  Thankfully, I was feeling much better, and over the embarrassment.  And he had obviously done a very good job impressing me with his mad basketball skills.  So, I said yes.

And to this day, we technically consider our second date, our first date.

To be continued…

...MY LOVE STORY ...

...PART 3: THE FIRST KISS...

I had only packed an overnight bag when Jen and I had decided to head down the coast.  And suddenly I was about to go on a second date with the guy who bought me tacos, and could dunk a basketball.  I had nothing to wear.  The ONE time I didn’t over pack!

I laugh every time I think about what I wore on this date!  I didn’t have time to dry my hair, so I threw it up in, not one, but two messy buns. We’re talking messy pig tail buns.  To go with the denim mini skirt we found in Jen’s closet. As in, it didn’t make the cut to actually bring to college.  And I topped it all off with a zip up hoodie.  I barely passed as a high schooler, let alone a college student. I’m really glad there is no photographic evidence of that night.  Pre-social media has it’s perks.

Somehow, it took me way too long to put this look together, and Jesse was early picking me up.  He was left waiting.  Kind of like that Brad Paisley song, “Waitin’ on a Woman”.  But, un-phased, Jesse just made himself at home.  And the next thing you know, I’m hearing a guy singing and playing the guitar in the living room, of my best friend’s parent’s house.  I didn’t know it at the time, but that guitar lived in his truck.  Apparently for moments like this.

I finally got my messy pig tails just right, and we were on our way!  And I’m secretly freaking out that this guy can dunk a basketball, play the guitar, AND sing!  It was like the perfect trifecta.  I was all in, and I didn’t even know it yet.

So we made our way to Dave and Busters, stopping for a brief minute so Jesse could buy a new pair of designer jeans.  I STILL tell him this was a really weird thing to do on our second date.  And he won’t admit it, but he was probably just trying to impress me.  Dropping the big bucks on a pair of jeans.  When, in reality, I didn’t have a clue about designer anything.  I was so totally NOT a California girl.  I was more shocked that anyone would pay that kind of money for a pair of jeans, than I was impressed.  Eventually, Jesse would convert me to the amazingness of designer jeans, but we had a date to get to.

We spent the rest of the night having a blast, playing arcade games.  Jesse showed off is mad arcade skills, and I showed off just how terrible I was.  We had dinner, and spent the meal asking all the regular get to know you questions.  It’s safe to say, we were both feeling like this date was going really well.

And then, Jesse asked me a question.

He looked me straight in the eyes.  I looked back into his.  Which are just the bluest blue I’ve ever seen.

And he says, “So, are you on any medications?  I’ve dated some crazy girls, and just want to make sure before this goes any further.”

Yep.  He said THAT!  And it didn’t even phase me!  I just laughed and told him I was medication free!

We talked and laughed a lot that night.  I was blown away by this guy, and didn’t want the night to end.  But then, there we were, standing outside the front door (of my best friend’s parent’s house!), smiling at each other.

I went in for a hug, and he went in for a kiss…that landed on my cheek.  He eventually found my lips, just as the door opened.

I don’t remember much after that.  Except that I couldn’t wait to see this guy again.  And chances are good, Jen and I stayed up late talking all about it.

To be continued…