Ten years ago today I met my husband, Scott, in a bar. I lived in Philadelphia and he lived in Boston. He told me he owned a salsa company in Albuquerque.
This was not true.
But he is kind of an amazing story-teller and I believed him alllllll night. And was fascinated by this random entrepreneurial vision to start a salsa company. Did he adore salsa? Did he have a farming background? How did he manage field crews and distribution?
I asked some version of all of these questions, and many, many more, and he had such interesting and convincing answers to every one of them. It never really occurred to me that he was lying.
Because, honestly, who does that?
Yep. Now you know who does that.
Anytime we tell the story of how we met he gives a, “Whoa, whoa, whoa – I was backed into that story by Seth,” his friend who sort of started the whole Albuquerque lore that night.
I was dumbfounded when the truth came out, and felt horribly, embarrassingly duped, yet still inexplicably gave Scott my phone number after I’d learned the truth.
Again, I ask you – who does that?
Well, obviously I do that, though I still can’t tell you why I did – I have no idea.
Shortly after I got back to Philadelphia we started talking on the phone and a month or so later I wound up back in Boston for a few days visiting a friend and Scott and I saw each other every day while I was there.
Turns out he was neither a sociopath nor a pathological liar and once I knew what he actually did for a living and where he lived and we got to know each other in the real world, I realized he was hilarious, smart, and kind.
Besides the distance, we were inseparable after that and I moved to Boston the following summer.
Four months later he shocked me half to death and proposed in front of my parents a few days after Christmas, and we were married the following October.
Marriage is hard work sometimes – full of sacrifices, arguments, compromises, and the like. Scott’s not perfect and I’m not perfect but we really, really work together and at the end of the day I can’t imagine my life without him in it. He’s big picture and I’m in the details, he’s long term and I’m day-to-day, he’s grounded and I’m emotional – in so many ways, we’re balanced when we’re together.
Neither of us are mushy-gushy-lovey types, but I remember freaking out a little as I was getting ready to move to Boston, leaving my family and friends behind for a guy I’d known for one year, and hearing Dave Matthews’ Where Are You Going in the car.
I do know one thing
Where you are is where I belong
I do know, where you go, is where I wanna be
And I just felt like, yes, that’s where I want to be right now. Sometimes you really do just have to kind of hold your breath, hope you’re making the right decision, and jump.
I never could have imagined that one tiny, ridiculous act – giving my phone number to a guy in a bar who lied to me all night – could lead to so much laughter, so much goodness, and so many happy moments.
I’ll be sharing some old photos of us on Instagram today – I had them all ready to scan last night to post here and then I couldn’t get the scanner to work. I’ll add them here too, so check IG or back here later for some baby-faced pictures of us!
