Six years ago today, Bently & I met in person for the first time. Hard to believe it has been SIX years!
For those of you who don't know the story, here goes...
First, a brief back story - I mean, you have to have a little background information, right?
I had moved from Fargo to the Minneapolis area in February, 2005. Sometime in 2006, a good friend of mine from Fargo (Leslie) talked me into signing up for myspace, this was my first venture into any 'social media' stuff.
Also, sometime in 2006, a good friend of Bently's (Erika) talked him into signing up for myspace as well. Erika lives in California, and it was a way for her to post her art work and Bently could keep up on it.
I swear - neither of us were there as a 'dating site' type thing.
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| Picture of me that was on my myspace profile |
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| Bently |
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| Bently |
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| Bently |
In August of 2006, apparently Bently was profile hopping, you know, going from page to page to page, clicking on a person, then one of their friends, then another friend, and eventually got to my page. I had written a blog there about a motorcycle trip I had taken in July, and he tried to send me a message.... but the site locked up, and he lost the message as well as didn't know how he had gotten there in the first place. A few days later, my blog was still on his mind, so he tried to retrace his steps. He figured that if he did find it, that the moment would be gone, but he was determined to try. Eventually he made it back to my page, reread the blog, and still decided to send me a message.
It was a great message. Wish I still had it. I responded, and we sent messages back and forth for a month or so. Eventually, I had had enough with this 'messaging' stuff, and asked if he wanted to go for a weekend motorcycle ride - and we FINALLY exchanged phone numbers.
Labor Day weekend, 2006, I was back home in Watford, and got back to Minneapolis the following week. Bently & I had been planning the motorcycle afternoon for the weekend following Labor Day - but it was looking like the weather wasn't going to cooperate.
On Friday night, September 8, 2006, I invited a couple friends of mine (Scott & Leslie) over to my townhouse to grill out, have a couple drinks, and hang out. It was a great evening! Then we decided to try to find a band or a bar to head out to for a while. Hairball at Prime Time in Burnsville was our choice, and about 9pm we made the trek from Inver Grove Heights to Burnsville. Scott & Leslie in one vehicle, and me in another.
On the way there, I decided to call Bently. The conversation went something like this:
Me: Hi - this is Nancy. We haven't talked on the phone before, and I don't know if you have plans for tonight, or where you even live in the city, or if you like 80's music.... but me and a couple friends are going to see Hairball in Burnsville, and I was wondering if you wanted to stop out for a drink?
Bently: Well, I'm redoing the wood trim in one of the rooms in my house, so right now I'm just waiting for varnish to dry. I grew up listening to 80's music and I don't live very far from Burnsville.
Me: So.... you wanna meet us out?
Bently: Sure! It will probably an hour, I need to finish up a couple things here and shower.
Me: Okay - sounds good.... I'm wearing a red shirt, and I have short hair.
Bently: ok, see you in a bit.
Leslie, Scott, & I get to Prime Time, and get out of our cars.... the first thing I said was "I HAVE A DATE!"
Their response? "What? You didn't have a date when we left your house? How did you get a date in 20 minutes? Who is this guy?"
Me: I dunno. Never met him. Just talked to him for the first time a few minutes ago.
Conversation continued with some general teasing about whether or not I just called a random number and asked a guy out.....
We go into Prime Time and find an open table - not too far from the door. Visited. And waited. And waited some more.
Started noticing some really "80's" guy walking around the bar and circling our table. Think mullet, and nearly stonewashed jeans type 80's look. We were kind of concerned that this kind of creepy guy might be the guy I had just talked to on the phone.
So I decided to call Bently again.... just to see if creepy guy answered the phone.
Conversation:
Me: Are you here yet?
Bently: just pulling into the parking lot - will be there in just a couple minutes.
Me: Oh GOOD. Because there is this really creepy guy circling the bar like he is looking for someone, and I was really hoping it wasn't you.
(Bently still jokes that paying the creepy guy to circle our table was the best money he ever spent.)
Couple minutes later - Bently walks in the door - I wave to him and he comes over to our table.... we start talking. And talking. And talking. Eventually, Leslie & Scott leave, and Bently & I are still there talking... almost time for bar close, and we finally go out to our cars.... and go to our respective houses.
And so it began. :)
The next day was my cousin's bachelorette party. It was an afternoon and evening of 'girly stuff'. You know, manicures, and games, and wine. I didn't really know any of her friends, but it was awesome to be included. I told the group of girls about this awesome guy I met the night before....
