Jess & Bryan
03.06.2011 - 181 days to go
How We Met
She thought he had blonde tips and a wallet chain. He thought she was too good to be true. It was perfect.
Surprisingly enough (at least for us), Bryan and I met on chemistry.com. His profile picture jumped out at me---he looked like he didn't take himself too seriously. Bryan's said that the eyepatch I wore in my picture made him think the same thing about me (see our pictures below). So you might say we were off to a good start. We started sending messages back and forth and realized we were both into a few of the same things: Rock Band, travel, singing, concerts, etc. After exchanging many long and funny emails (Bryan's were book length) and many phone calls, we finally decided to meet.
Bryan and I had our first date on June 4, 2008. We kept it low-key and went to Lucky Bar, which is right near my office in the Dupont Circle neighborhood in DC. Bryan took the metro into the city, but his lack of DC knowledge outweighed my mediocre directions, so I went to the Dupont metro station to retrieve him. I saw him (he was standing under the awning he mentions in The Proposal section), and my first thought was that he's better looking in person. But my very next thought was, does he have blonde tips? And wait a minute, is that a wallet chain?? I found out much later that he had dyed his hair blonde a while back and it was growing out---the blonde tips were not intentional. And the "wallet chain" was actually the strap from his digital camera, which was in his pocket. But I wasn't aware of this, so all I was thinking in those beginning moments was that this guy was stuck in the 1990s and it was time for a new look! Apparently, Bryan's first impression of me was much more favorable. He said later that he thought that I was so beautiful that he didn't think I could really be going out with him (yeah yeah yeah). :)
So we went to Lucky Bar, and I forgot all about the circa 1995 blonde tips and the wallet chain. We talked for hours, and although Bryan did most of the talking and basically told me his entire life story (he was nervous), I somehow wasn't scared off by it. I was instantly comfortable with him, and as any of my close friends or family members will tell you, that never happens. Before Bryan, I would figure out what was wrong with my dates and then break it off immediately. Of course, after a few dates with Bryan, I went back to my old ways and tried to figure out what was "wrong" with him. But none of it mattered... it was too late. I had already fallen for him. He was the one, and we both knew it.
