To set the scene... imagine it's late January, 2008. I'm lonely at a new job in a new town in Illinois. Ryan is a bored college student living at home with his parents in Philadelphia. We both see an ad on Facebook for a Christian dating site, and we join.
I saw Ryan as one of my "matches" and thought he was cute (but I insist to this day that he's cuter in person than the photo he used on his profile). Despite our distance, I sent him a "smile" (ughhh dating sites are laaame).
Ryan's dating profile picture in 2008... his hair was really long!Ryan emailed me listing all the awesome ways in which we were similar... we both majored in tv production, we are both Methodists, and we both love the Simpsons, Weezer, and Green Day. I was instantly impressed and sent him an IM.
My dating profile picture in 2008. Bangs were a (thankfully) fleeting thing.We spent the next 3 days obsessed with our AIM... checking it morning and night to see if the other person was online.
At 5am on the 4th day, we decided we should meet. Like... immediately (or... as "immediately" as you can get living 13 hours away from eachother). We decided to each leave our respective houses at noon that afternoon, drive 7 hours each, and meet at an Applebee's just outside of Cleveland.
So we did just that.
We had dinner (Ryan ate chicken fingers... winning me over right then and there). After dinner, we attempted to go bowling (but the alley was closed), then decided to watch a movie on his computer. The next day, we went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and shared an awkward (Kelly-initiated) kiss in a furniture store parking lot before heading home.
In front of the Rock Hall
Phew!
So there you have it... the beginning of a beautiful relationship. We started officially dating about a month later, and the rest (as they say) is history!
