My kids have asked how I met Dad. I tell them we met through friends but really I picked him up in a bar.
Back in the '90's before AOL, they had chat rooms called BBS's - Bulletin Board Systems. Back when we had mono chrome monitors.... ok, it was a long time ago. This was a dial up connection and was normally local. I belonged to such a BBS called Hello Central. We would chat online but also plan BBS Meets or Get Togethers. One such outing was at a bar/restaurant called Spensers. I went as I didn't have my kids and I wanted a night out with friends and dancing. We met in our usual corner of the bar and I had the usual group of losers, unemployed geeks ...er, men, trying to hit on me. I noticed a guy sitting by himself just observing us and thought he looked employed, normal, nice. So I decided to chat him up. Turns out he was employed, normal and nice. He started following me around and joined the group of losers, unemployed geeks,...er, men and I felt like the most desired woman in the place. I got the nice guys user name (we used our online names for security reasons – mine was Chris, okay, I wasn't trying to be clever, shesh!).
When I got home I emailed Case, as that was his userid, that I had enjoyed meeting him. This started an email relationship that went on for a few weeks. We were both leery of starting anything as we had both been thru dating hell and didn't want to invest too much too soon. I finally emailed him my phone number and we started a phone relationship for a couple more weeks.
One night I mentioned that I had gone to a local bar with friends for karaoke. He said that was in the town he worked and to let me know when we were going again and he would stop by after work. I of course said we would be there that weekend. I immediately called my friends to set this up. They all claimed poverty so I said I'd pay. You have to understand I was a poor single mom without much disposable income.
So the weekend comes, we head out. My friends picked me up with the understanding that if things worked out well with Robert, then he could take me home. Was this dangerous? I thought not as he was a COP! My friends turned out to be very hungry and thirsty that night and I had dropped about $60 before Rob even showed up. But he did show up and we sat very close as we poured over the song book decided what to sing. Now I am a horrible singer…. Truly awful. This night I was even worse as I was hoarse from a long lasting cough so my voice was sexy...er, raspy. Rob has a great voice and sang wonderfully. I sang the song, “hey big spender” badly. He took me home anyway. We stayed up talking until about 4am. I finally sent him home and he shook my hand at the door. I was disheartened that he didn't at least try to steal a kiss after keeping me up so late. I was afraid he would never call me again. Obviously I was wrong.
Happy 14th Anniversary and Happy 50th Birthday Robert. This has been a great week because this had been a great life.
What a great story! Congratulations on the big milestone. Wondering about why you told your kids you met through friends?
ReplyDeleteI didn't want them to know that I'd been a bar fly, picking up guys in bars. Seemed kind of cheap. Brianne was 11 and impressionable.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, you were there with a social group, not just out slumming the bar scene. But I understand what you're saying. Anyhow, I don't know the blog ettiquite AT ALL. There must be something out there I could google. There's all this lingo I'm not familiar with, like "lurking", which I didn't even know I was doing until a bit ago. I guess lurking is rude. Will have to research this topic!
ReplyDeleteHi there- I came over from Cat's blog. What a great story! Awww.. the 90's. So long ago..
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