Beginnings
A year ago today JJ asked me to marry him. It's been a busy year come to think of it. And although I blogged about him asking me to marry him, I don't think I ever blogged about how we started dating in the first place. There were a number of reasons for that, first and foremost being we didn't know if it would last (it did) or whether our friends would think it was weird (they didn't - or in the words of one Steve Australie "It's about time!") and plus, for awhile it was fun to just tell the story. The thing was, every time we told it we left some details out here or there and it was never quite complete. Well, now that we're married I suppose it's time to let the cat out of the bag huh? The night JJ and I started dating involved policemen, milkshakes, and a fight that broke out at my apartment complex. JJ had offered to give me a ride home after small group (which was held at his house and I was the leader of at the time) which, if I had thought about it, sort of indicated he was interested in me. By that time I had figured that JJ was that nice to everyone so I didn't think twice. As we pull up to the intersection outside my apartment complex 4 police cars come zooming, complete with siren, from the other direction, take the corner and turn onto the street where my apartment was. I was hoping it wasn't my complex that was under siege. We take the corner, another police car pulls up behind us and follows us. It IS my complex! It gets better - it's my building! As we pull into the complex I'm a little (understandably I think) nervous. JJ reached over and held my hand. Oh the beginnings of hand holding. :-) We notice that the policemen, numbering 7 cars total, have surrounded my building. From a little distance away, there's a cop standing in the parking lot. JJ rolled down his window and asked the cop "I was going to drop her off, is this not a good time to do that?" the cop responds with "No, I don't think you should be around here right now." So JJ and I drove off to McDonald's and got milkshakes, drove around for awhile and then he took me home. When we arrived back at my apartment it looked like whatever it was that was causing chaos had calmed down somewhat. We later suspected it was a fight as there were two groups of people that had been separated and the cops were talking to them both. JJ offered to either "stick around down in the car until the cops leave or I'll walk you up and stay with you until the police leave." Well, given that I had a pretty good sized crush on the guy I opted for choice (b). So JJ walked me upstairs. I went to put my stuff down and went into the living room and found JJ sitting on the loveseat. We had an armchair and a couch. So I sat with him on the loveseat, he put his arm around me and as again, one Steve Australie put it, "Action first or talk first?" JJ leaned in ... and ... action first. Definitely action first. JJ asked me out for that Friday night. The next day, we helped the Mulders move into their house, not knowing that when we left Steve and Sabrina were telling Curtis and Rachel that "those two should totally date." Little did THEY know! We went out on our first date that Friday night to Macaroni Grill and then we went over to JJ's house to watch the last episode of Friends. And we've been together ever since. JJ was the first guy to ever ask me on a proper date. And, apparently, the last. And I'm okay with that. Every girl should be so lucky. So there you have it. The beginnings. Except since then we've had a ton of other new beginnings. And I'm sure there are tons more for us to share. Happy 1 year engagement day!