Our Story
Written by: Jason

Love At First Byte?

I met Diane when she showed up in my Inbox one morning. Unsuspecting me, rolling through my humdrum existance as usual, decided to check my daily dose of junk e-mail. Little did I know that love would start to find its way into my life that day.

I had been a member of Match.com for a good while, with no real belief that anything would really come from it. I had signed up to receive an e-mail from Match.com a couple times each week, showing me who I was supposedly compatible with. Most of the people were ruled out right away, but I remember the day Diane showed up on my compatible list. There was something different about her... something good that I couldn't quite explain, and I got a different hopeful feeling when I sent an "introduction" e-mail along its way.

A couple of days later, I was plowing through the piles of junk e-mail that I always get, when a little message from an unknown sender labelled "Hi Nice to meet you" caught my eye. Among the dozens of "hey" and "hi" and "what's up" advertisement mails in the group, something told me to open that particular message.

As we started to e-mail and chat back and forth, we found so much in common and we just started clicking all over the place, as I always say. We knew that we had to get together and made arrangements to meet...

The First Date: Dinner & A Movie... How Cliché!

Since we both love to sing, our original plan for the first date was to find a karaoke establishment. Somehow, the fact that she was 20 and underage put a damper on things a bit. Thus, eventhough her profile said she didn't care much for "dinner and a movie" dates, we opted for one anyway. J

We met for the first time on Friday, June 13, 2003. They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and my stomach loves Italian food. My favorite Italian eatery? Olive Garden!!! We arranged to meet around 6:30 pm, and being as nervous as I was, I wanted to allow plenty of time. I think my flowers and I strolled in the door around 6:10 pm, I put my name on the list, and waited.

The table was ready around 6:20 pm, and I tried to ask the people to move my name down the list and seat me later, as Diane had not yet arrived. The people out front assured me that I could be seated, and they would lead Diane to me upon her arrival. I gave them a brief description based on the pictures I had seen and headed for the table. I took the liberty of ordering some sweet tea and appetizers from our waiter, Eduard.

The appetizers came and were already growing cold when Diane arrived around 6:40 pm. I gave her a hug and the flowers I had brought. I figured if I was going cliché, let's go all out! We started to talk, and we dug into the cold chicken fingers and solidified fried cheese triangles I had ordered. We then had a wonderful dinner of stuffed chicken parmesan, and nice conversation to go with it.

After dinner, I drove us over to the cinema to see Bruce Almighty. We both enjoyed the movie, and afterwards, spent hours sitting in my truck in the Olive Garden parking lot talking and listening to music. I had just scored a new Weird Al CD and a Richard Cheese CD, so I was rocking in all my nerdy glory. After hours and hours of great conversation, we said good night and parted ways. Right from the start, I knew there was going to be something very special between us. J

The Second Date: Lesson Learned... "Karaoke In A Sports Bar Is Not Conducive To Conversation"

Diane & I decided to see each other again the next day, Saturday, June 14, 2003. I searched high and low, and finally came across a karaoke establishment that would accept people under the age of 21. The Place: A.J. Gator's... a Virginia Beach sports bar.

Diane met me in Chesapeake and I drove us out to Virginia Beach. We got to the place pretty early and ordered some food. There was a lot of time before karaoke for conversation and getting to know each other better. Once the karaoke started, the place got loud and it didn't help matters that our table was basically in the blast zone of one of the speakers. We sang a couple of songs each, but we were both glad when the singing was over.

Back in Chesapeake, we opted to haunt the local IHOP where we came across a couple of unusual waiters and the most dangerous ice cream sundae I've ever experienced. We sat there until the wee hours of the morning talking, and found each other fascinating. I know we could both tell that we wanted to begin seeing each other regularly, and we said goodnight with a couple of nice little kisses. J

Diane Comes To The Beach

On June 21st, after about a week of me driving to Virginia to see her, Diane came down to where I live because I was hosting a baby shower for one of my friends. She got to meet and visit with my mother for a bit, then I drove us to the beach.

The shower was a hit, and afterwards, we rode to a little beach access. We walked down to a deck overlooking the ocean and sat for a long time talking. It started getting dark, then some people magically showed up with fireworks and put on a little show that seemed like it was made just for us. Unfortunately in the summer, along with the dark comes the giant swarms of mosquitoes. We were both under attack, so we headed for the local K-mart for some insect repellant and itch reliever.

From K-mart, we rode up and down the beach before going to Sonic to grab a quick bite to eat. That evening, we hung out and talked forever. Every time we spent time together, it felt like we learned so much about each other and it was so easy to talk about everything. I could already tell at this point that we were both falling head over heels, and we wouldn't have it any other way!

Our Many Travels

In July 2003, we went to the mountains of Maryland for my friend's sister's wedding. On the way back, we stopped through Washington DC, where I mistakenly believed the Treasury Building was "The White House" until we finally found the real thing! J We had all kinds of fun riding around on the Metro trying to find the Planet Hollywood that had closed about two years prior.

August 2003 found us venturing to Atlanta on the urging of our boss (as Diane had now started working at the same place I do) for the purpose of trying out for American Idol. We had fun there riding around the city via taxi, and I even got to add a pin to my Hard Rock Café collection! On the way home, we hit Medieval Times in Myrtle Beach, SC and South Of The Border... perhaps the greatest, tackiest tourist trap in the whole wide world!

With the threat of Hurricane Isabel hitting our coast in September 2003, we opted for a last minute getaway to visit Diane's family in Oklahoma. I finally got to meet her parents, her sister, AND her infamous kitty, Norman. I could finally experience all the excitement and intrigue of El Chico's world famous (according to Diane) Chicken Fajita Chimichanga!!! J

In December 2003, while everyone else froze, we ventured to the sunny beaches of Fort Lauderdale to visit our friend Michelle. Like any big city, everything seemed wonderful and new... palm trees, white sand, tons of stores... We rode the Water Taxi around and saw houses and yachts that no one could ever afford in twenty lifetimes... We hit the huge Swap Shop, complete with indoor circus and late-night drive-in theater. And of course, I got to add yet another pin to my Hard Rock Café collection! All of the excitement and beauty of South Florida led up to...

THE PROPOSAL!