Till We Meet Again

When i left Seattle, we weren't certain when we'd see each other again. Turns out, Moose would give up a trip with his family over Labour Day weekend to come visit me for a couple days when he heard my family from Germany was going to be in town. I was floored.

It is this occasion when we discovered the differences in perception between the sexes. I mentioned to him that i couldn't believe he was offering to come meet my family only after one date. "What?!? Are you crazy?" he replied. "We've had three dates: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday." I reasoned that since we didn't have the luxury of just poppin' in to see one another and with the 300 mile drive required to go out on "date" together, that maybe the whole weekend was one date. We still don't agree on this issue. You know what they say, Men are on Martian time... :)

He picked a really great time to come over and visit. Coeur d'Alene in the late summer is beautiful. My family took everyone on a boat ride at the lake and we tootled around town. My families enjoyed meeting him and i think he got a real kick out of visiting with my German family. We spent a little time hiking around Tubbs Hill and headed back to Spokane. When it was time to get him to his hotel, we stayed up talking and watching Scooby Doo a little bit too far past bedtime. Around 11pm or so we heard his neighbour's, who obviously must have just started their honeymoon, if you get my drift, and that is when we decided it was time to call it a night. :) He headed back home to Seattle in the morning.

And again, after another whirlwind date, we didn't have any clue when we'd be getting together again. But this time, we parted with the keen observation that we really did like one another.

* * *

You can be sure the emails were flying back and forth in the mean time. He'd call me every few weeks. One day, upon arriving home, he surprised me with a bouquet of flowers, a teddy bear, and a sweet note delivered on my doorstep.

It was October before we were able to get together again. We had planned to meet up at Grand Coulee Dam for a little sightseeing. Have a picnic. All that romantic stuff you do when you're first getting to know each other. Well, i think his cat was jealous of me. He picked the day we were supposed to meet up to run away. Moose was a mess...he was hoping his cat wasn't dead and wanted to locate him before meeting up with me. Finally, in the afternoon, the feline was located, however it was too late to meet up for sightseeing. Instead, we decided to head out to a spot where I-90 intersects the Columbia River: Vantage, WA. Now, there is nothing really in Vantage except for a run down, drive thru burger joint and a gas station. And at 8 at night, surely they wouldn't be open. So i packed the picnic and a bottle of sparkling apple cider and hit the road. It was October, so it was too cold to go walking anywhere. Did i mention it was 8pm and pitch black? :)

We sat in the back of Moose's Rodeo and talked and talked. He was exhausted from looking for the stinkin' feline all day. We cuddled for a few minutes before we needed to call it a night and drive back to our respective homes. In that time, watching the moon light glistening on the river, he whispered in my ear "I love you."

Holy Cow! I didn't know whether to bolt or hitch my Sundance to the back of his truck. :) We talked a little more and then went our separate ways again. I bet you can guess by now...we had no idea when we'd see each other again. But i do remember stopping in Moses Lake (the next town up the road from Vantage), calling my parents--waking them up actually, to tell them that Moose said he loved me!! Yippee! :)

* * *

In November, i was talking with one of my pharmacists i worked with about wanting to move to Seattle. Now i had a real reason to want to be there: to date my boyfriend like a normal girl would. :) She offered to travel with me to Seattle for a couple of job interviews if i wanted. We checked the Seattle paper online and there was a help wanted ad for Harborview. After doing a little research, we discovered that Harborview was a teaching hospital linked with UW...it would be very interesting to work at, especially because it was a trauma center for the region.

I applied and was offered a job that month. Starting date: 12/20/99! Oh boy, what had i gotten myself into?!? I'd find out soon enough....