How I met your father
I am a witch who conjured him up
1. 1998: The night I met him, I had decided earlier that day, that I was DONE dating. My friend asked if I could play this game with her which was: if I COULD meet the ideal person who would he be?🔮 I said: He didn't grow pot in his house, he didn't work at Starbucks, he would think me taking a bunch of dance classes was cool not weird, he wouldn't be married nor have a girlfriend, would appreciate going down Haleakala on bikes, but the cherry on top would be…
2. ...if he could play guitar and sing. So fast forward to the evening. I used to throw bonfire 🔥 parties at the beach in San Francisco with some work friends. The same group would show up each time. But this night, after verbalizing 'the wish list' created earlier that day, I walked up to the fire and saw this guy (who had NEVER come to parties), PLAYING GUITAR AND SINGING. I was staring and freaking out inside.
3. I ended up talking with some of his friends that night and how weird is this? I had almost lived with one of his friends, M, as roommates! 🏠 Like I had answered his ad for a roommate a few weeks prior but decided to just live on my own. Turns out this friend M, came to the bonfire with my now husband J and another friend JF. J and JF came to the party because they were friends with one of the other hosts* of the party (*we all worked at the same software company).
4. J & JF had lived in DC in the early 90s. My co-host, A had also lived in DC at that time & her roommate B had dated J back then. So that is how those 4 met & became friends. 🛫 A & B moved from DC to SF. JF & J then moved to SF to have new adventures. At J's work he met this friend C and she was from England. She introduced M (also from England) to J because all the guys liked and played soccer and M was new to town. C and M's families somehow new each other in England & that's that connection. 🛬
5. I need to create a timeline for this nuttiness! Oh, and I forgot that a few weeks before this night I had gone on a trip to Yosemite 🏞 with the work friends like A, and other friends of friends. We all got along EXCEPT I really didn't dig this one girl...B! Yep the same B that had dated my now husband J back in DC! But I had NO IDEA of their history till AFTER my bonfire party. I thinks it's fascinating that I wasn't liking the ex-B's vibes from the get go... just weird. So back to the bonfire:
6. Later that night I found myself sitting next to J & it turns out that girl sitting next to him earlier wasn't his girlfriend. We only chatted for a small time but it was very easy & not awkward & he mentioned he had lived in DC. The only other thing I remember is playing with the sand. After a bit my friend, D came over & is like, "we're leaving now & getting ice cream."🍦I was so confused but it turned out he was worried I was meeting another flakey dude so he was giving me an escape hatch.
7. So I left. No numbers exchanged. Just said goodbye...the next weekend I was at a family wedding & told my uncle the story of meeting this kid, J & he said if I was still thinking about him a week later, that I needed to find him, because life is short... 📧 so that Monday I emailed my co-worker A & asked her if J & JF were single & were they nice people & she said 'yes' they were both VERY single and nice. So I said, can I get J's email? I was not going to call in fear of a pregnant pause if he didn't remember me.
8. I emailed him and said, Hi! I am the girl from the bonfire party, with the Dorothy braids, and I was wondering if he wanted to meet up that Friday night to have drinks🍸with my college friends and co-workers? He said yes and we've been together ever since that night. So 27 years later we're still together and we've been married 💍 about 23 years, have two kids and moved 3K miles away from SF to DC.
9. And one other cute fact about our story. So the same weekend I was talking to my uncle about HIM, it turns out HE was looking for ME 👀 at a get together hosted by my same co-workers and he was hoping I'd be there...fin