Six months ago today, I met up with a guy for coffee. He was a blogger who ran an LGBT blog directory that I’d visited occasionally over the previous couple of years. I was well aware of his site, although I didn’t know anything about the guy who ran it. He’d long lived in another part of the country, but over the summer he’d moved to New York. I knew this because my friend Mike was a friend of his and had blogged about him.
One day, the guy left a comment on my blog. I’d been meaning to write him and welcome him to New York, and this seemed like a good opportunity to say hi. So I wrote him an e-mail, thanking him for the comment and welcoming him to the city, and he wrote back to tell me that he’d been enjoying my blog and suggested we meet up for coffee some time.
That guy was, of course, Matt.
That Saturday, in the afternoon, we met at the Starbucks at Astor Place, near the K-Mart. He was a little late because of subway delays, but that was okay. He was cute, as I’d expected from the photo on his site. We got some beverages and grabbed a table. We talked for a long time, and he showed me his Palm Pilot, which he seemed pretty enthusiastic about, and which made him even cuter. His shirtsleeves were rolled up and I liked the hair on his forearms. I wanted to touch his arms, but I didn’t.
After a long while, the coffee got to me and I had to go to the bathroom, but the line at Starbucks was too long, so we went over to Barnes & Noble and I used the one there. Then we walked over to and up Third Avenue, because we wanted a snack and I’d suggested bagels. We searched without success. We doubled back to Union Square and went into another Starbucks, but they were out of bagels as well and there were no snack items that looked appealing. I used the bathroom again. He did too, I think. Then we walked some more and wound up at Java & Jazz, a coffee shop on Broadway at 17th Street. There were bagels! Success. So we got some bagels and a table and continued chatting for quite a while.
Eventually it was time to go our separate ways, so we left Java & Jazz and walked along the northern end of Union Square. I liked this guy and hoped to hang out with him again, but I wanted to be casual about it. One of us, I can’t remember who, suggested we in fact hang out again, and the other one of us said that would be great. Yay! I gave him a spontaneous little goodbye hug, which seemed to take him aback, but he smiled and we parted.
Then I went into Barnes & Noble and worried that I’d been too forward by hugging him.
Tne next day, I got an e-mail from him telling me that he’d really enjoyed hanging out with me. He repeated that it would be great to meet up again soon. I felt good.
During the following week, I IM’d Mike and told him that I’d met Matt. I mentioned that I’d had a great time. Mike responded that Matt had told him he’d had a great time, too and had liked me a lot. I told Mike I was kind of interested in the guy.
Matt and I e-mailed a few times during the week. We decided to get together again that following weekend, and we were trying to figure out what to do.
And then he ended one his e-mails by suggesting that we go on a date sometime, because “a little bird” had whispered in his ear.
(Thanks, Mike!)
I wrote back and said that it would be my pleasure.
So that Friday evening, we went out to dinner, and then saw a movie, and…
So (ahem) anyway, it was six months ago today that Matt and I met each other. We’ve retroactively decided to use that first meeting as our anniversary date, because, well, it gets us there sooner. While our first meeting wasn’t officially a date, we did meet up for coffee for the purpose of getting to know each other, and we spent several hours together, during which I developed — er — romantic curiosities about him. So at the very least it was date-related program activities.
And so:
Happy six months, sweetie.
(He’s in Philadelphia this weekend, but I’m sure we’ll celebrate in some fashion soon.)
I’m curious: what do other couples use as their anniversary date?
