How we met

Kelly's Story
Andy and I met on January 11th, 2003. Our mutual friend Walid (pronounced Wal-leed) introduced us to each other.

The last week of December 2002, Walid had told me he had someone he wanted to introduce me to. Being single at the time, I said "sure". He told me very little about Andy other than he was "A good guy", "Funny", "Has high standards when it comes to women" (so there goes my chances), "Had just broken up with someone" (Usually a red flag in itself) and was much younger than I would usually consider dating (FOUR YEARS YOUNGER!  OH MY!) 

Having dated quite a bit through the internet, with no great results ... (A.K.A. - STILL single without any serious relationship) ... I thought to myself, "So, you'll meet the guy, you probably won't click and then you'll move on with your life. But hey, you never know!" (Optimist in me)  What did I have to lose?  Maybe he would be cool.  The only way to find out was to actually meet him. Little did I know how much that meeting would change my life. 

About a week and 1/2 later (on 1/11/03), Walid invited me over for lunch (one should NEVER miss an opportunity to have Walid's cooking). He told me that that he and Andy were going to get sushi at Sakura in Portsmouth NH that night and we should meet up later to play pool or something.

I said that I was hanging out with Mike (A good friend who is a bit protective of me) that night, but that I would call him later that evening after dinner (and if it was ok with Mike ... since i made plans with him first ... it was the courteous thing to do) we could all meet up at Legends pool hall in Portsmouth.   After catching a meal, I called Walid.  He told me that he and Andy would be over to legends soon.  

Mike and I got to the pool hall first. So here I am waiting for them, expecting Walid to walk in with Quasimodo at his side.  I see Walid walk in, and then I see Andy walking a bit behind him... and think to myself 'Hello!'. The attraction was instant. Damn!  This guy is HOT!  I couldn't stop grinning!  Feeling like a 16 year old girl (instead of a 30 year old woman) and grinning like a fool, the four of us played a few games of pool. Of course, I tried to play it cool to see if there was a mind behind that killer smile of his.  I soon found that there was much more to him than his beautiful appearance.  He was an intelligent gentleman ... able to make interesting and respectful conversation.  He even bought me a drink.

After we finished playing pool, the four of us headed to the "club" at Banana's next door to dance.  I returned the favor of Andy buying me a drink by paying his way into the club.  He was so cute on the dance floor and we danced every dance together.  I knew that I couldn't let this catch get away without giving him my number.   But how was I going to give it to him, while not causing Mike to worry about me.

The time was approaching 11p.m., and Andy suggested that we all go to the Friendly toast to catch a bite to eat and get some coffee.  I thought this may be a good idea, so we all agreed and walk over to the toast.   When we got in there, I slid into a booth to find Andy sliding in to sit next to me.  SO here we are sitting side by side, the sides of our legs touching (I'm not moving over), and my heart beating wildly.  When the bill comes, I seize the opportunity to give Andy my phone number.  Although he offers to pay for my meal, I quickly say that I don't mind paying for myself.   I grab my wallet, grab a few bills AND my business card from it, drop the bills on the table, and nonchalantly slide my card under the table towards him.  He nonchalantly takes it.  I grin, and we all say our goodbyes, and head our separate ways.  

We went out to dinner the next night.  

I will never forget our first kiss. It was really quite memorable. I don't even remember my first kiss with any of the other guys I've ever dated ... not really even my first kiss ever, But I'll never forget the way Andy kissed me the first time. It was so sweet!

Andy of course, is more than just a beautiful man.   He's got a great sense of humor, a strong yet not overbearing personality, and values that match my own! We have so much in common! Our feelings about politics, self reliance, and family values all mesh so perfectly.  We love to spend our time together, not only doing the mundane things, like grocery shopping together, but we love to travel, to entertain guests, and make plans for our future.   He is the sweetest and best man I know.   I'm fortunate to have and love him.

Andy's Story
My friend Walid sent me a link to a website homepage about a woman he knew. I took a look and one of the pictures of his friend reminded me of Sarah Mackenzie on JAG. I decided to take a look at some of the things that she had written about herself on her website. I noticed;

I thought she was pretty but didn’t think that we would have anything at all in common.

Well, it just so happened that I broke up on a Saturday morning with the girl that I was seeing at the time. I called Walid and told him about it and he suggested that we just go out to Portsmouth and have some sushi and play pool. I thought that sounded like a good idea.

As were sitting at the sushi place Walid’s phone rang. I knew something was going to happen. I can’t explain it, but I just plain “knew”. He told me that his friend Kelly “just happened” to be out in Portsmouth that night with one of her guy friends. He was clear in telling me that the friend was a guy friend but not a boyfriend.

We arrived at the pool hall and I saw Kelly. If I had known the phrase then, I would have said “SCHICKA POW!!”. The chemistry was immediate, or should I say the <austin_powers>mojo</austin_powers> was immediate.

Anyway, we played foosball and then moved over to the pool table. We talked a bit and I found out that she started her own web consulting company, just like me. Hmmmmm. Perhaps I was wrong about my initial assessment? I bought her a drink as well.

At one point she had to disappear to the ladies room and I pulled Walid aside and said, “Walid, what is the deal with this girl? I think she likes me”. He replied, “Dude, if I told you what she thought of you, your head would be so big you couldn’t get through the door.”

<mr_burns> excellent </mr_burns>

Well, from there we went to Bananas were we danced together. After Bananas I recommended that we go to the Friendly Toast, making it a point of course to sit next to her. I was wondering how I was going to ask her for her number in a nonchalant way, when she placed her card on the seat next to me as we all were pulling out our wallets to pay for the food.

We went out the next night. I really didn’t want to go out to eat in Portsmouth, as I wanted to keep a low profile because of the very recent breakup I had. What ended up happening? We went to Jumpin’ Jay’s Fish café and sat right by the window (which is about the most high profile place to sit in the entire town as pretty much everyone coming into Portsmouth passes that restaurant).

We sat down and started talking about a variety of things. I wanted to find out more about this remarkable woman. I asked about everything I could think of. I was curious about her and if there was something that wasn’t going to make this work I wanted to know sooner rather than later so that we could just be friends if that was the way things were going to be. We agreed on everything that we talked about, even as far as ordering the same meal! I was stunned. Where I had always found myself before accepting part of a person and really wanting to change some of the other parts, here was a girl that was lock stock and barrel perfect for me.

Right in that first week, I knew. With all the fundamental things we had in common and she being gorgeous to boot, there was no question that I wanted to be with this intelligent, funny, and beautiful woman. When it comes to a relationship that’s what it is all about: fundamentals.

Ok, fundamentals *and* mojo.