It was the evening of Saturday, December 27, 2003. I had just spent that day and the previous day moving into my new apartment from my parents’ house. I hadn’t spent a night there yet, but I was about to for the first time. Phil called and said that he and his girlfriend Katie were on their way through St. Cloud on their way back to Fargo. They didn’t have much time to stop, but they’d like to say “Hi” and see my new place.
They didn’t stay long, maybe 10 minutes. Before they left, Phil asked if I’d like a date the following Friday night. I found the question a little odd, and uncomfortable, since I hadn’t had a date in almost seven years, but I knew that Phil was just being a good friend. Before I could answer, he started telling me about Katie’s sister, who lives in Golden Valley. While I felt uncomfortable about the prospect of a blind date, I figured it wouldn’t kill me. Phil whipped out his cell phone and started calling Jessica. She didn’t answer. He tried a few more times. No luck. They told me a little about Jessica, that she’s good looking (Katie threw in “better looking than me”), a practicing lawyer, and fun. Katie mentioned to me that she didn’t think it would go anywhere though. When they left, I figured that was the end of that, the subject wouldn’t come up again.
Three weeks later I was in the Twin Cities for the weekend. My best friend Dale and I had made plans a few days before to hang out for the day and go to the comedy club that night. We didn’t/don’t get together often, so we looked forward to the day together. Sometime in the afternoon, I got a call from Phil saying that he was at Jessica’s house and that I should stop by. Feeling a little awkward about it all, I told him I was at Dale’s and that we had plans together, thinking he’d take it as an excuse to not show up. Being a little more persistent than that, Phil simply invited Dale and his wife, Emily, to come too. After all, it wouldn’t be that far out of the way to stop on the way to the Comedy Club. I asked Dale, and he agreed. We’d stop by in a few hours. Shortly after our plans were made, Dale’s parents called, saying they were in the area and wanted to stop by for a while. Dale insisted that it wouldn’t cause a problem with our schedule, since his parents rarely stopped by for more than about 10 minutes. Well, as the time approached that we planned to go to Jessica’s, his parents hadn’t left yet. Time kept ticking and they kept hanging around. I started getting a little annoyed, since I had committed us to stopping by. While I did feel awkward being set up, I had hoped that something might come of it. I didn’t know Katie well at the time, but I thought she was pretty cool, and Phil had nothing but good things to say about Jess, so I wanted to see what might happen.
Well, Dale’s parents finally left when we were approaching the time that it would be too late to go to Jessica’s. We called and said we were on our way.
Upon arriving, we entered an empty house. I asked if she was in the process of moving in. Turns out she had lived there for about two months, and just didn’t have furniture. Phil, Katie, and Jessica were in the process of peeling wallpaper off the walls. When I first walked in, Jess popped her head around the corner and said “hi”. The light was a little dim, so I couldn’t tell if she was Katie, or the never-before-seen sister. She shook our hands, took our jackets, and gave us a tour of the house. We couldn’t stay too long, we needed to get to the comedy club for the late show. After the tour, we had home-made ice cream (which wasn’t quite frozen yet) and home-made fudge (which, upon hitting the cold – but not yet frozen – ice cream, cooled to a solid chunk.) I thought Jessica was a beautiful woman (and definitely still do). She was a little quiet that night, not knowing how to handle meeting three new people (one of which would potentially be asking for a date). I had fun, and figured if she could handle my personality and still go out with me when I called a few days later, she was a keeper!
The time came for us to get going to catch the late show at the comedy club. Phil & Katie needed to get back to Phil’s mom’s place for the night, and turned down our invitation to come with us. Jess also turned down our invitation. I was a little disappointed, but wasn’t bothered. We had met not more than a few hours before.
The ride to the comedy club kept the conversation on the new girl. How did things go? Did I make a fool of myself? What was good, what was bad? Would she accept an invitation for a date?
That was Saturday. Sunday night, again on their way back to Fargo, Phil and Katie stopped by my apartment. Again, it was only for about 10 minutes. While my impression of Jessica was a good one, and I had a good time when we met, I still felt a little uneasy about asking her for a date. I felt an obligation to Phil though, and knew I had to pursue it. I didn’t want to just call her though. I asked Phil to talk to Jessica, and make sure it was ok. Phil said if it wasn’t ok, he’d let me know. I never heard back, so on Monday evening, I called. We talked for a while, at least an hour. I asked if she’d like to get together on Saturday. She agreed. I was very happy! I told her I’d call again later in the week to decide when to pick her up.
I began to wonder rather quickly if this might turn into something. I had been praying fervently for three big things in my life. First, I wanted a job. I had been unemployed for about a year. I got my job in November. Second, I had been praying for a place of my own. I was 25-26 and living with my parents. I longed for the independence that a place of my own would bring. I got my apartment in December. That was two of my three prayers, each answered in consecutive months. The final big prayer was for a girlfriend, hopefully one that would eventually become my wife. I knew that if Jessica was the answer to that prayer, and since we met in January, that would make all three prayers answered in three consecutive months.
Posted: Monday, June 14, 2004