So we continued on dating long distance. I had some friends tell me that I was smart to date long distance. If anything were to go wrong it would be fine because I would never have to see him again. Lol.
We spoke on the phone every night before bed. Usually for an hour. It was all the quality time I've ever dreamed of! He was a great listener and listened to all my pointless stories. Hahah. Apparently.... I didn't find this out until later... but he was often playing GAMES while he was talking to me. On his phone. and just saying... mhmm.... mhm... yeah. Can you believe it? My stories are great! That's why you're reading them!
So we had been dating for like 3 weeks... and Eric calls me in the middle of the day one day and he's like... "So.... I have a question for you!"
This sounds exciting
"My friend is getting married on August 24th and for their dinner is casual and he said it would be totally great if you wanted to come.. so do you wanna go to a wedding with me?"
#BOOM #WEDDINGDATE #THINGSAREGETTINGSERIOUS #WHATWILLIWEAR?
He let me think about it. Which was so nice! There was never a point where he rushed me into anything. He was so great.
So I went shopping. And Eric was like..... let me help! So we did what long distance peeps do and I sent him photos of dresses and he told me yay or nay. So. He picked out a pretty short little navy blue dress.
When I went to Victoria that time I ended up staying with my old roommate Bonnie who is one of the greatest humans ever. Bonnie and I use to compete against each other in dance competitions since the beginning of time. She was the age in between my sister and me so every second year I was against Bonnie. And when my sister Marcy & I moved to Vancouver our moms set us up to live together. And it was great. Bonnie was like our third sister. So when Bonnie moved to Victoria it was sad but NOW I had a reason to go to Victoria and I got to stay with her!
So. This was the first time I had been in Victoria and we were officially dating. And the first thing we did was go to the wedding! We arrived all dressed up and walked through the grass holding hands towards the ceremony. We saw Evan there who was the camp director at Nanoose where we met and he was like, "When did this happen!?" looking at our hands. And haha.... we were like... ummmm since camp! But he was excited about it.
It was a little weird honestly. Because it was like... that day where Eric was introducing me to all his friends. And he has had all these friends for a very long time and they all knew him so well but there I was DATING him and I still felt like I hardly knew him at all. How do you get to know someone fast in 4 weeks long distance? You just don't. Things take time. So in a way I was kind of jealous of everyone because they knew this guy who I was now dating. Weird.
K. So the couple that was getting married; they were the cutest ever. I had never even seen them before until I saw them come out for their wedding. And I was like. Eric!!!! Your friends are so CUTE!!!!!
After the ceremony Eric took me to meet his parents. No pressure y’all. Just met all your friends, lets go meet your mom & dad and wait…whats your name again? (I’ll have you know that Eric didn’t “have to” meet my parents for about 4 months) Anyways. It actually went really well. He had told me that his father was mostly blind but when I met him his first words were, “Wow! You’re right! She is beautiful!”
It was the cutest.
We sat on their back patio and ate homemade cookies with watermelon and talked about Eric as a child. They said that Eric was always the cute one. And they showed me a cute little school picture of him with a bleach blonde bowl cut and a little tiny smirk on his face.
They are lovely. Truly. Meeting them then was scary only because I just didn’t know if I was going to be in the family forever or not.
Anyways…
We went back to the wedding for the evening. And boy. I had one of those moments in my life that I will never ever forget. Ever. It is hilarious to me now. But at the time… slightly traumatizing.
So.
Eric’s ex girlfriend was there. And I honestly really like her. A lot. I think she awesome. And if she reads this I want her to know that I think she’s awesome.
But later in the evening… it came time for the bride to throw her bouquet.
And oh boy… I did NOT want to catch it.
At all.
It was my first time around all of his friends, and like… still didn’t even really know Eric that well BUT I am suuuuuuuper competitive. I like to win. I like to try my hardest at any game.
So I stood FRONT and CENTER for this bouquet toss. And I held out my arms to hold all the other desp Christian unmarrieds back.
But I was joking.
I didn’t want to catch this single red rose that Alicia was about to throw.
..
But there it was.
Flying straight towards me
In slow motion.
And I’m like LORD NO!
I CAN’T CATCH THIS THING!
.
But it was coming straight to me.
I just had to reach out
And take it
So I reached out
..
And then OUT OF NOWHERE
Eric’s ex.
FLYING through the air.
SMACKS the rose to the floor!
Turns around and walks away.
…
Picture me.
Standing there on the floor with my mouth wide open.
Other girls laughing and looking side to side.
WHAT.
JUST.
HAPPENED.
I don’t even know if anyone picked up the rose. We all just kinda laughed and umm… walked away.
Like what was I even getting myself into?
..
The rest of that weekend got better. I had to have a weird conversation with him that went something like… are you going to pursue me? It had felt like I was making all the effort. Came to his city. Met his parents. Met his friends. I still didn’t really know him!
I was staying the night with Bonnie. She helped me get all prettied up because the next day Eric was picking me up to take me on a date.
He arrived. Dressed handsome. With his hands behind his back. And as soon as we said goodbye to Bonnie, he pulled out a rose and asked me if I would like to have dinner with him. :) I was like UHMM a FLOWER date proposal? DUH
He brought me back to his place and told me to sit on the couch. Dinner was in the oven. I wasn’t allowed to peek. It was the cutest. Part way through cooking, and me still being quarantined to the couch he had to run outside with help from his roommate for some reason..
When dinner was ready he brought me outside and had set up a candle light table under their porch. It had originally been in the yard but he had to move it underneath because it was raining. So we sat and ate chicken legs and green beans and salad in the candle light while listening to the sound of the rain. He had set a jar in the middle of the table and told me to put the rose in it.
Cutest.
Thankful he actually did take the opportunity to pursue me, even though I had to tell him to. You know… sometimes guys need a little help, and he was such a great guy… he wasn’t a professional boyfriend from the get go and I wasn’t a professional girlfriend but we took the time to learn about each other and be the best bf/gf we could be for each other, and I am so thankful that we did.