A love story.

Once upon a time....

I was a desperate fool, dating an even bigger fool. Let's call him "Gardenburger" in honor of the T-shirt he was so fond of wearing. Gardenburger and I had a very tumultuous relationship and I was basically filling up some lonesome void with his presence: I wasn't that into him, I just had some issues with co-dependency.

One winter's day in 2000, while leaving Rocky Mountain Bagel Works in Fort Collins, Gardenburger in tow, we run into this guy in a green North Face jacket. Gardenburger knows him from AmeriCorps. He is cute, I think. But then again, everyone is cute next to Gardenburger. Gardenburger = ehhhh and rather chunky. (I know, what was I thinking?! To his credit, Gardenburger was extremely intelligent and quite the hippie....there were some good qualities, though far and few between.)

Flash forward 5 months to May of 2001. Gardenburger has been kicked to the curb, I'm just about done with my first year of grad school, I just started Paxil, I have a fun job at an outdoor store, I've made a bunch of awesome new friends, my new roomies are super cool....in short, I'm feeling SO GOOD. Life is terrific. I am thin, riding my bike everywhere, partying all the time, digging the Fort Collins scene. And I have a secret crush! Eeeeeee!

The last night of the semester a girl--Meg--from my program has a party. After multiple BBQs, this party is where I end up. I remember exactly what I was wearing too: cropped yellow corduroys, a white linen tank top, and brown flip-flops.

It's a Thursday night. I am being sassy and drunk. I'm totally ON. There, standing next to the kitchen door is green North Face jacket guy from outside the bagel place. I prance up to him and demand where I know him from. First we think it is through Mel, Gardenbuger's friend. But we realize it is actually Gardenburger. I tell him Gardenburger is no longer. I think he seems kind of interested/ing?

We pile into Jeanine's room (Meg's roomie who I am still friends with today but also met on this very night!)and get high. Green North Face jacket guy is named Kevin and he sits right next to me on the bed. He is interested, for sure. I can tell. He keeps looking at me. His eyes are so twinkly!

Many cocktails later we are in the living room debating about something, but of course, I can't remember what. I march out to the porch for a cigarette. Kevin follows. I ask him if he dances. He says yes. I tell him we are having a cocktail party at my house the next night for my roommates' graduation and that then we are going dancing to Cabaret Diosa. Does he want to be my date? But only if he dances, because that is the requirement.

(I had actually asked my "secret crush," or SC as I called him, to go but he was going back to VT for his sister's graduation. I'm now so glad he couldn't go!)

Before I leave Kevin hugs me and asks for my number. I give it to him. I am expecting nothing! I don't even feel those excited butterflies...I just think he seems like a nice guy. No attraction.

So he calls! The very next afternoon. He comes to our cocktail party with his friend Jim. Turns out, Kevin lives right down the street! We all ride bikes downtown-- the whole party. The night turns out so great. Kev and I dance and I am so lit I am falling all over the place, but he thinks I am fun. Kevin spends the night at our house.

The next night, Saturday, is another graduation party and I am now SMITTEN. I have met someone, I tell all my friends. I am so excited. I drunk dial him and leave a message. He doesn't mind, and actually tells me the next morning that he's glad I did. He invites me to go to a cook-out with him that afternoon, which I do. At this point I have some serious butterflies! We know so many of the same people. He comes to another cook-out with me after.

He spends the night again and this time.....well, that's between us you nosy people! I wake up sick with a cold and we go out to breakfast at Lucille's. I ask him his last name: McDermott. I write all about him in my journal.

The following weeks we are inseparable. I am into him like I have never, ever been into anyone before. He is sooooo cute, and so nice, and he listens to good music and loves the outdoors. He's athletic and fun and likes to party and is from the same part of the US that I'm from. I am so in love.

Kevin is still all of this. Five years later, I am still so in love! Our relationship is so different than it was back when we first met, yet still the same. I know we've both grown significantly. I am not so dependent, he is not so commitment-phobic. We compliment each other.

I get such warm fuzzies thinking about when we met. I was in such a good state of mind at that point in time and I know that's how and why I attracted someone like Kev. I am so lucky it's lasted so long and that he puts up with my shenanigans.

And that, my friends, is your love story for this Valentine's Day.