Our First Meeting: 7 Years Ago Yesterday

Wendy at a Chinese garden in Portland, OR

As it turns out, I met Wendy 7 years ago yesterday. We couldn't remember for sure if our first meeting was on March 31 or April 1, but I checked the calendar for 1997 and found out it was 3/30 when we met (we both remembered it was a Sunday morning). Seven years. It seems more like three. We went to dinner last night and were trying to re-enact our first meeting, but neither of us could remember too many details...that's when it seemed like seven years ago.

Here are the facts: After talking on the phone and e-mailing a couple of times, we met on a Sunday morning at a cafe on Third street in L.A. called Who's on Third. I was there first, and she came found my table and sat down. Neither of us can remember what we had to eat, though I think I might have had pancakes and she a waffle. I vaguely remember having a café au late in a big, white bowl of a cup. She was wearing sunglasses and her jean jacket. I think I took a chance with a $10 pair of sunglasses that had cartoonishly blue lenses. We chatted, though I can't remember what we talked about, and after breakfast, I walked her to her car. I definitely remember feeling like I was on some sort of probation, and that she was keeping me at a safe distance. She said I could call her again and I did, the next day. It was Easter Sunday, and as I left the place to go spend the holiday with my parents, I wondered if she would be coming with me the next year.

She did.