She Said Yes!

I realize that I kind of give away the outcome when I talk about Sylvia being my wife. Not too much mystery there, but there are still some things that I haven't mentioned about our meeting.  If you'll bear with me, I will tell you about them now. It started with hello...

I'm sure if anyone beside Sylvia answered I would have passed out, hit my head on the desk, and slipped quietly into obscurity...as opposed to the world renowned blogger you have before you. Sylvia answered with "hello."

"Umm, hello. You don't know me but I'm Jeff Garrett. My mom is Jeane Garrett. She told me you were looking for something to do on New Years. I don't know if this is something you'd like to do but I was going to a friend's house and you are welcome to come if you like."

"Umm..."

"Its low key, just hanging out, there will be food. Music too.  We'll watch the ball drop from Dick Clark's Rockin Eve."

"Which brother are you? Do you drive the red and white car?"

"YES!" (She knew who I was...and she was secretly waiting for me to call....not really but I hoped)

"Where is their house?"

"In Fremont near the lake."

"Well..."

(I'm losing it! Talk more! ...yeah that'll help) "It's not a big thing. It isn't even important to
me that we stay til midnight. I'm easy.  If you're ready to leave at ten, we go. No big deal."

"I think I could go."

"Ok!  Well I can pick you up or you could drive so you don't feel stuck if you hate it."

"No that's ok, you can drive."

"All right, . just tell me ... " (the usual info portion goes here) I hang up, exhale, and bump my head on the ceiling... from floating!


Then the panic set in. What would I wear? How will she like riding in the "Zebra" (my name for my car)? Is she sure I'm the guy she thought she was talking to? Is she allergic to country music?  Will I be able to not shout..."I've got a date!" when my coworkers come back from lunch...and give away the fact that I am not as cool, calm, and collected as I think they think I am?  No time for this...I've got to get ready...mentally!

Let's jump ahead to that night when I pick her up.  I had found a penny that day.  While I don't believe in "luck," I am terribly cheap.  I picked it up.  (and then I said the 'luck' rhyme just in case)  When I knocked at the door to her parents' house I thought, "Holy cow!  I am meeting her parents on our first date!  This is like I'm a teenager!"  When the fact of the matter is, I was a twenty-ager.  I was nervous, scared, worried, excited, hopeful, worried again, and then thought, "I set this up to be a place she could hang out with people...maybe she doesn't think this is a date and just wants to be friends."  (the story of my life) 

The door opened and there was Sylvia.  Wearing her European outfit that was off-white, stylish, and had buckles going down either side.  (I do realize that a large portion of my readers just said, "Awwwww, he remembers."  That's nice.  Sylvia, on the other hand...doesn't remember.  That's ok Hon, I remember enough for the both of us.  I met her mom, nice.  German accent (but don't try to tell her she has one) and her dad...the gruffest man I had met to date.  I have no idea if he had an accent...I think his part of the conversation was, "Hmmph."

We scooted over to my friends' house and walked in.  As we turn the corner to join the majority of the people, John says, (I swear!) "Jeez Jeff, Another girl?!  Do you bring a different one every time you come here?" 

Allow me to explain...I had a car.  I had a lot of friends from church, who were girls, who did not have a car.  I also had (I suspected) "JUST FRIENDS" permanently branded somewhere on my hide, that I couldn't see but was obvious to every female on the planet.  I was mortified.  Sylvia was intrigued.  I didn't find out until much later that this actually helped me!  She thought I was hot property!  (She would have gotten that wrong on final Jeopardy) 

After the usual intros and snack foods, Sandy (my friend) says, "Sylvia, did you bring your suit?  We're going in the hot tub."  This was the first time Sylvia was upset with me. (sort of)  I hadn't told her they had a hot tub.  I told her I didn't think she would want to go in a hot tub, at a stranger's house, on a first date.  Wrong. 

So here we are on our first date, in the hot tub, in borrowed suits.  I thought, this girl is kind of exciting!  I had never assumed that anyone could be so self assured and confident.  I wish to know her better.  And by the way, Hubba Hubba! (Sorry to get so graphic...I know I should have warned the younger readers)

We are out of the hot tub, dry, and we have moved way past my mythical escape time of ten o'clock.  In fact we are counting down with about a million people in Times Square 10...9... I moved closer to Sylvia because, wasn't there something that happened around midnight on New Years?  3...2...1!  I leaned closer, we were face to face, and I whispered "Happy New Year."  What?  It was our first date...in reality it was my first real date.  I wasn't going to kiss her!  Later in life she told me that she would have kissed me...I blew it!

When I brought her home we sat in my car in the driveway for hours talking, laughing, getting to know each other.  Then we made plans to go to a movie tomorrow.  As she got out of the car I said, "You know...technically it is tomorrow."  She said, "OK, call me later today."

And I floated home.
Love You Sylvia, Happy Anniversary!