After my first date with Suzanne, I simply wasn’t interested in going out with anyone else.
I would love to share the story of how Suzanne and I met...
The first time I saw Suzanne, she was standing with another woman in the bar where the Pre-Dating event was held. As I walked up to them before the event started, I thought, "Hey, may as well talk with these two cute women since that's what we're here for!" So many of the other guys seemed to be standing in a corner together watching a baseball game. Don't get me wrong, it was in important game, but that's not what we were there for!
As I talked with these two women, my attention started to focus more on Suzanne. We were just making small talk when the bell rang and we were supposed to go in for the official Pre-Dating portion of the evening. "Here we go," I said as we walked towards the fifteen tables we'd sit at for the next 90 minutes. "Good luck!"
The entire evening was an exciting blur of rushed conversations. Finally at the end of the evening I came to my last table. I was exhausted. Tired of carrying my jacket around. Tired of carrying an empty beer glass around (leaving it at the table of someone I was trying to impress never seemed like a good option). And to top it all I had to use the bathroom so I had this wonderful sense of urgency layered on top of my best efforts to play it cool and calm.
When I saw who was sitting at my last table, a palpable sense of relief washed over me. I discovered that we had already developed a sense of rapport that made conversation with her so much easier than with anyone else. Her table was in a corner so my back was facing the rest of the room. This made it easy to talk to her without any distractions. It turned out she felt the same way I did and we both said things like, "Oh it's YOU! Phew, glad it's you again."
We continued to sit together even after the last bell rang, making more small talk as we filled out our cards.
"Well," I said, "I should probably move over so that you can have some privacy while you fill out your card."
"No," she responded, "That's okay, I don't mind. I've already filled my card out."
A few moments passed before she looked up and saw me reading over the instructions on my card for the first time (hint to future Pre-Daters: Read the instructions first!! You'll be glad you did!).
"Oh," she said. "Maybe I should give you some privacy, too," and she started to move as if to get up.
"No, no," I put out my hand towards her, "That's alright. I've already made up my mind about YOU." I smiled through squinted eyes that I hoped were screaming "I'M INTERESTED IN YOU!! PLEASE MARK "YES" TO ME ON YOUR CARD!!" We weren't supposed to indicate to each other that we were interested or not interested at that point, so we continued to joke and talk about the experience for a few more minutes.
When I finally looked back at the rest of the bar, I noticed that the bar was quickly emptying and I decided I should probably let her go. If it were up to me I would have stayed talking with her for the rest of the night! But as it were I had to wait until the following Sunday to see each her again.
I felt incredibly lucky that she took an interest in me and said "yes" to me on her card. Even though I had several dates lined up for the next two weeks, I never ended up going out with a single other woman I met that night. After my first date with Suzanne, I simply wasn't interested in going out with anyone else.
Looking back on it, it's not really any surprise that I feel this way. We had phenomenal dates, the kind you only see in movies. Our first date alone we walked around near the Palace of Fine Arts, ate sandwiches, explored the ruins of Sutro Mansion, and I got a chance to reminisce about growing up in the neighborhood we were walking in. We had great views of the ocean, sunshine, then stunning clouds, and then it looked like rain. We saw lightning and heard thunder and then it started to hail. Very rare for San Francisco! It only seems to hail every couple of years in San Francisco, and we watched this hail storm approach us from out over the ocean before engulfing us in a loud display of little white balls of ice pummeling the trail around us.
We huddled under a tree overlooking the ocean and the Golden Gate, and she looked up into my eyes and asked me why I had to be so tall... that's when I knew she really liked me. I won't say anything more about the hailstorm except that it really did feel like we were in the movies. We hung out the rest of the day in our damp clothes, visiting the Exploratorium and realizing that we shared many common interests, including a similar curiosity and appreciation for science. I also discovered that she'd been backpacking before and loves the outdoors just like I do. We've been together now for about four months and we're still going strong. I've never felt this way about anyone before. It's no secret that to me the possibilities with Suzanne seem endless.