The two of us back in the day
Our love story began like so many have before us - in a video store (remember those?). I was a junior in high school and my best friend worked with Nate at Dollar Video. Teenagers tend to spend a lot of time hanging out where their friends work, and I was no exception. It was during one of those visits that I first met my friend's tall, handsome coworker. His name was Nate. He had great eyes and a smile that made me melt every time I saw it (and it still does).
In a display of teenage overconfidence, I began asking him out. Repeatedly. He eventually either started reciprocating my interest or just got tired of me begging him to take me on a date. We went out a few times, but a relationship never materialized. He went off to college - he's three years older than I am - and we lost touch.
Fast-forward 13 years. Now, instead of hanging out in video stores, people were connecting on Facebook. I saw a humorous post that he had made on a friend's wall and decided to "friend" him myself. He accepted and we started chatting a lot on Facebook. We decided to meet up in our hometown over Thanksgiving weekend.
Our first date was at Zero's Tap in Dixon (doesn't that sound a place where romances bloom?). Meeting for a drink turned into talking for hours and playing a few rounds of darts. His sister and her fiance joined us there that night as well - and I'm still convinced that he asked them to come along because he was afraid I was going to have turned into a weirdo.
That first date led to another one the following week. I was living in Woodridge and he was finishing up his master's degree in University Park, so we started seeing each other frequently. About two months after our first date, he had a friend send me a message on Facebook that said "Do you like Nate? Circle yes or no." Apparently we had aged physically, but we still took our relationship cues from high school. Shortly after that, he asked me to be his girlfriend. Of course I said yes!
We spent the first two and a half years of our relationship putting a lot of miles on our cars. Nate was working in Dixon and one of us was driving 180 miles round-trip every weekend. That's a pretty good indicator of how nuts we are about each other, gas prices being what they are!
We finally took the big step of moving in together in June of 2012. Luckily, the joy of having more time to spend together outweighed the fact that there were two adults and three rabbits living in a one-bedroom apartment in the suburbs.
So there you have it. It took me 13 years, but I finally landed the guy I had a major crush on in high school. Good (amazing!) things really do come to those who wait.
