Fun Monday - Meeting Mr. Right

Janet of Planet Janet is hosting Fun Monday and here is her request:

Your Fun Monday assignment this week:
Describe your meeting with your spouse/significant other. I especially want to hear "meet cute" stories. And it doesn't have to be your actual current sig/other. Perhaps the "meet cute" story is a former boy/girlfriend... or even a best friend.

All it takes is once, this meeting Mr. Right. I met lots of Mr. Wrongs first though. Some I could spot almost immediately. Others I had to spend some time with before I figured it out. And there were some who were Mr. Wrong in hindsight - like my first real boyfriend who is apparently gay. That explains a lot....

But how do you know it IS Mr. Right? Do you just know? Or do you analyze it to death with a list of pros and cons to help you decide? Do you follow your heart or your head? Do you look at the car he drives, the clothes he wears, the balance in his checkbook and whether or not he has a good 401K? Do you have to like the same things or is it okay to have different interests? And if you have different interests... well, what do you have in common?

Meeting Mr. Right and knowing it? Tough duty. How do you know it's not just loneliness that is pushing you together? Or two deprived bodies calling out to each other? Or one too many beers - you know the line - every one is beautiful/handsome at last call.

Sigh. The answer is: You don't always know. But sometimes? You get lucky.

I'm not much into music. I like listening to it and once up on a time I played the guitar and sang but it's been a while (like over 20 years). And somehow, I hooked up with a guy who not only loves music, but has spent time playing in a band - in bars, with groupies and stuff.

But he seemed okay, so I thought maybe... we could be friends.

See, we worked together. We saw each other around, waved, talked on the occasional smoke break. I was dating a director and he was dating a friend's sister. Sometimes we worked together on freelance sports stuff. We could go out for a beer with the guys after an event, then go home to/with our respective partners. But my relationship was extremely stressful. Apparently his was too. Not knowing, he broke up with his girlfriend. I broke up with my boyfriend. We saw each other at work and were friendly but that was it.

I moved to a little mobile home out in the country, a long way out of town. Darling Man lived out that way, but was moving into town to set up a better school situation for his son who was going to move back to live with him. The new house in town that he was renting didn't allow more than two cats - and he had three. He asked if I wanted one to be a companion to my beloved Tux, and I agreed that it was a nice idea. He brought the cat to my house and visited a bit. He loved my space, the land around where I lived - and maybe he was starting to think he might like me.

One day, I was having a frustrating day at work. My office mate and I decided to go get a drink after work and as I walked down the hall, I bumped into Darling Man and asked him if he'd like to meet us there. I might mention at this point that my office mate/boss was a guy - a younger guy. DM thought perhaps he'd be intruding, but that wasn't the case at all. He decided to join us. It was fairly uneventful, but I'd say that that night was the beginning of something more than friendship. Chemistry!

A short time later, DM had left his car at a garage to be fixed and asked me for a ride to pick it up. Sure... it's on my way. So we drove over there, chatting amiably. When we got there, he leaned over and kissed me on the cheek, thanked me for the ride and got out. I thought about that kiss for a long, long time.

Then finally, a mutual friend and co-worker had a party to inaugurate his new firepit in the back yard. Lots of us came over after work and sat around the fire drinking, smoking, talking. Hours we were there. I happened to be sitting on the ground in front of DM's chair and we passed cigarettes back and forth but didn't really look at each other. Finally, I decided it was time to go. I got up, said my goodbyes and headed out the gate. DM rushed after me, catching up and explaining that he would walk me to my car. As we walked we chatted about art and houses and what we wanted in a house. At the car, he offered to show me the house he'd moved into when he gave me his cat. (This was something akin to "come up and see my etchings," I think, but I fell for it - I love houses!). He dashed back, made his farewells, then came out and jumped in his car and called "Follow me!"

I think he did his darndest to lose me. Was this the modern man's version of second thoughts?

I managed to stick with him though, and pulled up right behind him in front of this really charming little house. It was an older house with a gigantic oil heater in the hallway. He started giving me the tour, and about five steps in, he turned me around and kissed me. I think it surprised him nearly as much as it surprised me.

The next morning, he made me a lovely breakfast and I headed out the door to go home and feed my cat, change clothes and go to work. And wonder what the hell I was doing.

And that, my friends, is the very beginning of SayreSmiles and Darling Man. It worked out just fine - because I really think this might be the guy I want to get wrinkly with...