You've Got Mail

To: Moose
From: Whit
Sent: Sunday, July 04, 1999 3:02 PM
Subject: Happy 4th!!



Hiya Moose...

Hope you are having a wonderful holiday! It's started raining here...but the thunder and lightening is quite spectacular!! :o)

Have a good wk!
Ciao,
Whit (aka Frek)


And that is how it started. Of course, we didn't have the nicknames we use now, however apparently he did give me the nickname Frek after the first encounter we had. Hmmm.

So on it went over the next few weeks, exchanging emails, meeting up for online chats, and exchanging pictures of our travels. It took a full two weeks before he called me for the first time. After that lengthy phone call, i think my ear fell off. :)

And so it went, anxiously awaiting emails and phone calls from each other over the course of almost two months.

It was mid August of '99, my friend from Portland and i planned on meeting up in Seattle to check out the Impressionist exhibit there. I shared with her that i had met a gent from Seattle and we were interested in meeting up with each other and asked if he could accompany us to the museum. Thankfully she didn't object. Thanks, MacD!! Closer to leaving for the trip, Moose and i had decided that the best thing would be to meet up the day before for a dinner date. Get the nervous nelly's over with, you know?

Of course, this meant that after i had gotten off work at 6am the morning i was to leave, it was time to go home, pack, and hit the road for a 6 hour car ride. Sheesh...the things we do when we young and smitten, eh?

As soon as i pulled into Kent, i found the nearest payphone and called Moose. We were both a little nervous, but excited. I'd head over to the hotel, check-in and freshen up and he'd be over in a few minutes to pick me up.

We were both a little nervous. When i heard the knock on the door, i am certain i was in the middle of about the 101,000th stage of primping. :) I opened the door, there was this adorably red headed, big grin wearing, bright blue eyed man standing in front of me. He was old school: he showed up in a tie and dress attire. I liked that! He was 100x better than a picture! And he was holding a beautiful rose. So thoughty!! I was so overcome with nervousness and emotion that i grabbed him, hugged him, and picked him up off the floor. Later he shared with me that he thinks i bruised one or two of his ribs with that hug. Huh?


He had the sweetest first date planned; really low key. He drove us up to Seattle, we had dinner at Tir Na Nog, a now defunct Irish restaurant, and afterward we took a short walk down to the waterfront where he planned a trip on the Ferry to Bremerton.


You see, the beauty of the trip to Bremerton is that it is the longest ride from city of Seattle. In other words, if your blind date takes you on a trip to Vashon Island, you know the date isn't going so well, as it only takes 20 minutes to cross the water. Seattle to Bremerton takes 60 minutes per crossing!! And of course, Bremerton is a Navy town, so there isn't much to do over there...unless you are a barfly. So, we boarded the ferry and settled in for 2 hours of unadultered, face-to-face, old fashioned chit chat. We had such a great time sitting in those easy chairs and laughing our heads off.


On the return trip to Seattle, Moose wanted to take me up to the bow (or maybe it's called the fo'castle) of the ship to show me how it was the least windiest part of the trip. That sly ol' dog even stole a little first kiss while we were up there. He was so cute!!

We returned to Kent, where he dropped me off at my hotel. It was hard to get any sleep that night. MacD had arrived and we were excited to see the art exhibit. The next day, we all headed up to the SAM where i am quite surprised that MacD didn't bail on us. We were so sickening...you couldn't separate us. And frankly, i don't remember much outside of that day expect for holding Moose's hand and being happy surrounded by two great friends.

Sunday came, and MacD returned to Portland and i was readying to depart for home too. I think i might have stayed to attend Mass with Moose.

There may have been a spur of the moment trip to Mount Rainier thrown in there. I remember saying something about how beautiful the mountain was and before i knew it, Moose was trying to find his way out there without a map. Needless to say, there were times we were lost, however, and Moose panicked that i think him crazy and unprepared and never see him again. I remember thinking how generous, spontaneous, and fun he was and hoping he wasn't thinking this was the last time he'd see me because it was too much trouble keeping up with my every whim. We eventually made it up to Paradise, Mt. Rainier just before sunset. And on our way down, it was late and we were starving. At that time of night, in the boonies, there weren't very many restaurants open. We stumbled upon a mexican restaurant that was about to close in 10 minutes. I think Moose floated them a $20 or maybe he pleaded for mercy with the owner, as he was trying to show this girl a good time, but they graciously let us in and fed us at such a late hour in the night.

There was no denying that we had a really great time together and a certain kind of chemistry. The only thing i can remember about the day that i left was that the entire drive home i was thinking to myself, "Did i just meet my future husband?!?"