An Introvert Prepares to be Social
It was January 19, 2006, and I had finally worked up the nerve to go to a weekly game night at a church near me. I had been once before, but it was pretty awkward and a couple months had passed since then. (And also during that time, I totaled my car and my grandma died - not in the car accident - so a lot had been going on)
I decided that this time, I would bring my knitting, so I would feel less weird and I would have something to do even if no one talked to me.
Meet Cute
I walked in and saw an empty couch so I quickly sat down and started knitting. As a single girl, I was always aware of guys in the room. I noticed one that was kinda cute. I avoided eye contact of course! The cute guy walked toward me and I realized I was sitting next to his coat and he was just getting something out of the pocket.
But he said hi, asked what I was knitting. And you know one way to get me to come out of my shell? Ask me about knitting! So I lifted my needles up to show him the project and his mind was instantly blown. It was an illusion scarf with an alien head design in it. I don’t have any pictures of it because this was before Instagram, and I didn’t even have Facebook or Ravelry yet. Crazy!
Another Guy?
There’s also the fact that it was for another guy… I was a hairstylist back then and one of my young (high school student) clients showed up one day with a knitting book and a Snickers bar and showed me the scarf pattern in the book and said I needed to make it for him. Was that a flirt? We’ll never know for sure, but no sparks flew on my end, although I happily obliged with the knitting request.
My Guy Filter
I just so happened to be wearing my favorite Beatles tee shirt that day, which I liked to use as a filter for the guys my friends were always introducing me to. If they said anything about hating the Beatles: OUT. But this guy (the one whose coat I sat next to) noticed it and started talking about how he loved the Beatles! Cue some real excitement that I tried to keep under wraps.
He went back to playing the game of Rook with his friends, but soon one of them left to go to the bathroom or something and the guys said I should come take his place. I’d never played before, but one of them sat behind me and explained how it worked, and we won! The cute guy with the coat was my teammate in that game so he was very happy too.
I thought the flip phone was pretentious.
Before I left, he asked for my phone number and I tried to keep my cool as I recited it and he programmed it into his Razr flip phone.
From Sushi to Forever
The next day he left me a voicemail while I was at work, inviting me to a movie “with a bunch of friends” and ended up taking me to a sushi restaurant just the 2 of us. Fast forward 16 years and we’ve lived in 3 states, 2 countries, had 3 kids, and so many ups and downs. But he still makes me laugh.
