Memories

One of my favorite things to reminisce about is how Joel and I first met and the very first days/weeks/months of our relationship. It's kind of humorous. I reminisce about this alot while I'm driving home from work and it amazes me how I knew from the very beginning that there was something special about Joel and how each of us pursued each other at various times and we never gave up on each other.

How did we meet? Well, we lived on the same floor in the dorms and we had seen each other around. I didn't know his name...all I knew was that there was this cute guy who seemed to have a really cool energy about him (and I saw him many times playing Frisbee in the halls...I thought that was super hot). He had cool hair, exotic looking eyes, and a unique, casual, confident style. He certainly wasn't like any other guy I had ever seen. He also worked at the front desk of the dorm and did the mail. Little did I know that he thought I was cute (he remembers me walking by often in a specific pair of lounge pants and a "side pony". Apparently my ponytail was catywompus quite often?). He says he always hoped that I would come get my mail and packages when he was working. Again...this is all before we met and knew each others names! Days before I officially met him, I saw him at a party and asked him if his name was Thomas...that didn't make Joel feel too great (Turns out Thomas was the other guy that played frisbee with Joel in our dorm halls).

On January 7th, there was a party at the "soccer house" (a house where lots of soccer players lived). I happened to be friends with some of Joel's friends. Joel's friend, Mark, somehow was trying to get Joel a birthday kiss. My memory tells me that Mark asked Joel who he wanted a kiss from and Joel pointed me out in the crowd....Joel's memory tells him that Mark told all the girls in the house to kiss Joel...so who knows. Regardless, Joel didn't get any kisses out of the night, but somehow it got us talking. The memory is a bit fuzzy from here, but when it was time to go home, Joel asked if he could get a ride with me and my friends. I remember one of the sober friends drove us back to the dorms in my gold corolla....and I remember Alicia complimenting me on my petite ankles in the car. That's about all I remember from the car ride.

When we got back to the dorms, my friends were headed to their dorm building and Joel and I were supposed to head back to our dorm. I was too shy to walk back to the dorm with him, so I went back to my friends' building for a few minutes. When I went back to my dorm, I coincidentally ran into Joel in the stairwell (I found out years later that Joel had been watching for me out his window and when he saw me walking back to the dorm, he conveniently went to the communal kitchen to make some easy mac).

The next night was another party (the life of college) and Joel and I hung out together most of the night. We don't talk about this part of the memories as much, but I had been "hanging out" with another guy at the time I met Joel. AS SOON as I met Joel, I completely dropped that other guy. I remember trying to hang out with Joel at the party and this other guy was constantly trying to be by my side. Awkward. He got the hint a few days later...

Again, memories are fuzzy...but somehow we got each other's AIM screen names and started chatting on AIM (that was the big mode of communication back in the day). The first weeks of hanging out consisted of playing cards and Joel showing me card tricks. He also played the guitar a bit for me. In February, Joel and I went on a ski trip with some of our friends (that's worth a whole blog post of it's own).

The following months weren't exactly ideal as far as relationships go. Joel had never had a girlfriend before and he was increeeeedibly resistant to the idea. I don't know if he was shy or if he was afraid of commitment or WHAT! I remember going to parties with him and we would hang out together most of the night, but he would hardly say a single WORD! I got crazy mixed signals from that boy, but I just KNEW there was something super special about Joel that I was extremely drawn to!

A few months after we started dating, he started hanging out with a coworker from the YMCA. Technically, we weren't officially together...but it made me soooo upset that he was hanging out with this girl. I still don't know the full story about that...but she was Mormon so I'm not worried about it :) So, I went to California with some of my friends for Spring Break (Joel was invited and he declined). He wouldnt' answer my phone calls all week, so I met up with Taylor who happened to be in CA with his family...I decided I was going to give up on Joel.



Anyways, there are plenty of other ups and downs that aren't as humorous....I am just particularly fond of our first couple of months and have always wanted to write it down :) I don't want the memories to fade anymore than they already have. Things sure have changed since we first met, but I sure am thankful for our relationships and all we have been through together!