By Scott Reddoch
Emily and I have different versions of our first meeting. Neither of us agree with the other story, although mine is probably the most accurate. The version you get depends on who you hear it from.
Luckily, you’re getting it from me.
It was a Saturday afternoon in 2015, maybe. This really laid-back neighborhood bar in New Orleans. Not a dive, but not fancy either. Nice afternoon, but we were sitting inside. I was talking with my friend and his mom.
Emily walked up.
She never meets a stranger. She kind of knew my friend, but she didn’t wait for an introduction. She just started talking. I never believed in love at first sight. But that’s what it was.
She has the most beautiful blue eyes you’ve ever seen. She’s good-looking and has a heart of gold. I just remember being floored that she was interested in talking to me. She was so much fun to talk with.
She had a scheduling issue. I told her how adjusting the hours worked on a specific task could solve her problem.
That’s when she said it.
“Did you just math me?”
I laughed and said that I had certainly just “mathed” her. That’s all Emily right there.
She mentioned she was in a relationship at the time. I was going on a date later with someone I don’t remember. We didn’t exchange numbers or anything, but I sure liked that girl.
We wouldn’t have a date for several months. We’d just run into each other when I was running errands. I would always stop and talk to her. We would talk about the weather or events in the city. The chats would just go from one topic to another. We could have easily burned an entire afternoon talking. We never ran out of things to talk about.
Several months later, I asked her to dinner after she’d been single for a few weeks. We went to a sports bar in the neighborhood after. We were pretty much inseparable after that first date.
Emily is the first person to love me for me. Relationships I’d had in the past weren’t that way. She doesn’t want to change me. I don’t want to change her. She loves me just the way that I am. We enjoy each other’s company so much. Emily never told me what she was thinking that day we met. She did say she liked my beard. If I had to guess, I’d imagine she was attracted to my handsome ruggedness and sharp wit.
Her version of our first meeting has different details. She has the place and the guy right, but that’s about it. Her details are all wrong.
Looking back, I would say our meeting was fate. We didn’t know that misfortune was coming or that we would have 100 miles between us. This is the biggest fight of our lives. Distance, paralysis, and being non-verbal are each heavy contenders against a relationship. We’re fighting all three, plus a few more I won’t mention.
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