Hey, Kate! That's MY Love Story...

While I have been cursed with only 24 hours in a day and 30 hours worth of work (in other words, while I was neglecting my blog), my friends have been on a ROLL! Eventually I hope to respond to all of the posts that have really tugged at me the last couple of weeks. But today I was struck by Kate's Post entitled "When Does The Fairytale Begin". It seems that she and her new Match.com "friend" are stealing a page right out of my own "Courtship Files". It's been such a great story to tell over the past decade. And NOW I'm feeling a bit territorial about it. Here's the lowdown...

On Kate's blog, she writes:

...The latest, unsuspecting victim of my overactive imagination is a guy I met on match.com. Our story is already getting off to a storybook start:

• Guy sees girl on website.
• Guy starts e-mailing girl, and she replies.
• The banter ensues.
• Guy stops e-mailing and she forgets about him.
• Guy emails two months later asking "Where'd you go?"
• Girl shows mercy by replying again.
• Guy says he knew she looked familiar... and then emails her at her work account... explaining they had met in a bar three years ago... and he kept her card... all this time.

Yep. That last part was the kicker for me. I mean, who hangs on to a girl's card for three years, especially when the guy never called her in the first place?

I don't know what to make of it, but if things work out... it could be a real cute story to share with the grandkids, and I guess that would make us Happily Ever After.

Hey Kate! That's MY story! Here is "OUR" eleven year old (and significantly edited) version of this same epic tale:

• Bachelor Guy is bored in a committee hearing.
• Notices Lobbyist Girl in the audience.
• Lobbyist Girl notices aforementioned Guy and his colleagues noticing her.
• She (assuming that all three are married) gets grossed out by their obvious interest in and discussion of her and leaves the hearing in disgust.
• But not before giving her card to a fellow lobbyist seated next to her.
• Who just happens to be the roommate of the Leg. Asst. of one of Bach. Guy's colleagues.
• Leg. Asst. commandeers Lobbyist Girl's business card and gives it to Bach Guy (He owes her one...BIG TIME!)
• Rather than being brave and calling LG, BG puts LG's card in his wallet.
• Every time BG votes for a year, he flips open his card holder and sees LG's business card.
• He still can't muster the nerve to call.
• Then one day he walks into his office and finds LG sitting with his Leg. Director discussing legislation.
• He plays it cool and pretends that he has no idea who she is.
• She pretends she has forgotten that he and his colleagues are cads. (She needs their support).
• The next day she finds out that he's single and the "cad-ish colleagues" were simply egging him on to have the ...um...SPINE, to introduce himself and ask LG out. All is forgiven.
• The next week HE works with LG on the legislation. It passes.
• The week after that, he asks LG out to lunch.
• The next month, he opens his voting card wallet and reveals his long-standing admiration of LG.

The rest, as they say, is history. Eleven years later, is it a "fairytale"? No. Marriage is rarely, if ever, truly fairytale-esque. However, it definitely has it's moments. And when things are really yucky, it definitely helps to remember that "Once Upon A Time... I disliked the person who is now sitting across the breakfast table from me SOOO much that I avoided him for a WHOLE YEAR! Then, he swept me off my feet with romantic gestures and warm fuzzies. We straightened out all of the aforementioned misunderstandings and rashly-drawn conclusions. Then, I decided that HE was the guy for me." So when the chips are down, the really great, romantic stories gain significant importance as they remind you that things HAVE been worse. But then they got MUCH better.

So, Kate, I don't know whether Match.com guy is your Prince Charming or not. I will assure you though, that no matter who comes along and sweeps you off your feet there will always be interesting stories to share and enjoy from your own "Love and Marriage" files. However, just know that if Match.com guy IS the guy, I will (as unbegrudgingly as is feasible) share "MY" story from The Courtship Files with you. We'll discuss how to divvy up the geographical story-telling boundaries later....