Our Story - David
THE REAL STORY OF US
By: David Taylor
Ok, so Lisa was mostly on, but there are a few things that she omitted from the story. It all began our Junior year at Calvin College. At the end of my Sophomore year I had decided to double major in Psychology and Computer Science. So that summer I took my CS (computer science) intro classes at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. This would give me a little help in catching up with the other people who had decided to be in CS 2 years earlier. Anyway, so I show up to my first CS class (I have 3 this semester) and I see a few people that I know. One of them is a friend (yes a girl) that has lived in my dorm for that last two years. I also notice the lack of girls in the class (only 3 of them). Moving right along, these same girls were also in my CS Math class. It was very convenient because there was a pretty cute one and I would get to see her a few times a week (provided that I actually went to class). The girls stayed pretty close to one another, sitting next to each other and when we had programming work to do, they worked together. Since I knew one of the girls she invited me to work with them, must've been my incredible programming skills she was after (HA!). Naturally I jumped at the offer since it most likely meant that this girl Lisa would be in the lab as well. This began the long semester of working late in the computer lab. I always made sure that I finished my work up right about the time that Lisa would or had to go. How very convenient. I would offer to walk her to her car since it was late and we both lived off campus, this worked out nicely. From what Lisa has already said, apparently this was a game to her "let's see if he offers to leave when I do". She's a sneaky one I tell you. Since we were also in the same Math class and she was far better at actually doing the homework, I invited myself to study/work with her. She didn't turn me down so score one for the home team.
This brings me to the next adventure. Lisa was also a very active girl and would workout in the weight room a few times a week. I also went to the weight room with one of my roommates (Josh) and I just happened to change our schedule up a little so that I could try to catch Lisa there. This is one of the parts she left out... What she didn't say in the last page was that she kinda had a crush on this one guy and would try to see this other guy at the gym. Well, the only problem was that I was the one chasing her, not this other guy. I had tried calling Lisa multiple times (got her number in case I wanted/needed help with Math homework, yeah I'm a sly dog), but the girl refused to call me back. She'll tell you differently, anyway, I called her at least 3 or 4 times and never got a hold of her, but I always left a message. She just didn't return my calls. I called her to see if she'd like to go to a movie, to go out rollerblading and even called her to see if she'd come to a Haunted House just before Halloween. She'll deny that I called her that many times or she'll say that she didn't get the messages until late, but she never even called me back. Ask her how nervous she was when she didn't call me back after the 2nd or 3rd missed call and I didn't show up to class the next day when she had planned to apologize. Anyway, so back to the gym. She's got this crush on a guy who just doesn't seem very interested, which is great for me. So it's time to step it up a bit.
Halloween night (2000), I setup a study/homework date and went over to her place. We didn't get a whole lot of homework done, but before you jump to any conclusions, it's because we started talking. Before long one of her roommates came home (Trish) and she joined us in our chat. Well, it was more like an interrogation. This girl asked just about every question under the sun. At about 3 or so in the morning it was time for good old Dave to go. It was about this time that we started talking on the phone. I wish that I had saved those phone bills. My roommates didn't appreciate me taking the phone up to my room for a few hours and I didn't really care to have them butting in on my conversation, so... I called on my cell phone. I'll tell you what, that's one easy way to rack up a bill, specially since she'll actually return my calls now :)
Now comes the fun stuff. My roommate (Nate) new about Lisa and had met her and he and I talked pretty regularly. Now, when it comes to girls I must say that I'm not exactly the most outgoing person. I did my best so far with Lisa and had been quite good, but now that I was really wanting something to come of this friendship I thought we needed to actually go on a date. Apparently when this happens you have a DTR talk (determining the relationship). Anyway, Nate and I talked and he helped me work up the guts to ask her out. It was Monday and we decided the best thing would be to ask her out for dinner on Friday or for breakfast on Saturday. Well, come Wednesday (November 15, 2000) I was a wreck and couldn't wait any longer. So, I called her around 4:30 and had to leave yet another message, ARG. I figured that I had time to take a quick shower, so I hoped in the shower and then when I got out found that she had called me back. Bummer, so I quickly called her and was quite nervous, but asked her what she was doing... "I'm cooking dinner" was the response I got. Man, could it get any worse, the good answer is NO. So, I asked her what she was making, her answer was "I'm not sure, I'm just boiling water right now." This is great, so I offer "Hey, I have a suggestion", this part of the story is awesome, because if you ask her what was going through her head at that moment it was "this is great, he's going to help me decide what to eat because I really just don't know what to make." I followed up my "Hey, I have a suggestion" with "Why don't you let me take you out for dinner?" There was a slight pause followed by an "OK" from her. I asked her when she'd like me to pick her up and she said, with hesitation "Anytime". I being a good guy and also needing a few minutes myself said that I'd give her about 45 minutes. So, I picked her up and we're driving to the restaurant that I had in mind. I hadn't told her where we were going until about 1/2 way there when she really wanted to know, so I said we were going to Pietro's (as I proceeded to get in the left turn lane on East Beltline and 28th street, for those of you not familiar with Grand Rapids, I'll make it quick, Pietro's is to the right!). This is all fine, because I know in my mind where I want to go and I'm headed in the right direction. Lisa is a doll and says, isn't Pietro's the other way? I'm not sure what she's talking about because the place I want to go is to the left, so I say no this is the right way. Then I realize that I mixed up the names of the restaurants, we're headed to Papa Vino's (both are Italian restaurants). So, we get to the restaurant and were seated at a very nice table for 2 people in a relatively quite section of the resturant. This was great, the meal was great, the company was great. We probably sat there for close to 3 hours just talking and enjoying ourselves. We then headed back to my house and he hung out there for a while, listening to music and talking. Let's not forget my roommate (Nate, although I suppose that he's technically my housemate) playing every song that the could find with the word "kiss" in it. He especially liked the song from "The Little Mermaid". So, that was our official first date, she and I went to breakfast that Saturday and from there on many dates followed. I think I finally go her!
First kiss happened a few weeks later like she said. We were at her house watching a movie and hanging out talking, finally when it was time to part ways we gave each other a hug and as we started to let go our lips came together. I've never been so stinking nervous as I was for that entire night, especially the 4 hours that led to that first kiss. Ha, it makes me laugh thinking about it now. So, that's when things turned more serious for us. Christmas break rolled up and we had to spend the next 3 weeks apart as well as most of the month of January. Lisa was going to Europe for Interim. So, that meant we'd see each other for 1.5 days between Christmas and her trip to Europe. We decided that this was clearly way to much time to be apart so, I offered to meet her sometime during Christmas break. She being from Boston and my extended family being in Delaware (we visit them every Christmas), put us relatively close to one another. So we decided to meet in NYC for a day. This was to be the big test, because her parents were going to be coming. This would be my first meeting with them and boy was I nervous. But hey, I'm a likable guy right? So, we met in NYC and had a wonderful time. We went all over, too much to tell here, but we did go to the top of the Twin Towers (9 months before they fell) which was really incredible. We had a great time and Mr. & Mrs. Slighter were great.
Moving along, we get to Spring Break where we each went our separate ways. I went on a trip with two of my roomies (Nate and Josh) to Florida, with stops in Ohio at Nate's parents for food and shelter and also in NC for more food and shelter at my parents. I don't remember what Lisa did, but moving along we missed each other and I spent a good deal of time on my phone with her. When we got back I had it on my mind/heart that I really loved this girl and that I needed to tell her. So one night while we were hanging out, apparently I was like a book with really big letters in it, I told her that I had something that I had to tell her. She, obviously knew what was coming, but have I ever told you how girls make me nervous. After about 10 minutes (2 hours) I was finally able to tell her "I Love You". She was great and was able to say the same back to me. I'm glad that we were both there in our feelings for each other. It really makes it easier.
Fast forward a little and we get to the Summer. She headed back home for an internship in Boston and I went down to Indianapolis (my hometown) to spend the summer with friends. She helped me move down to Indy and one of the days we were down there I took a big chance you could say by telling her that not only did I love her, but that my intentions were to marry her. I think that she wasn't quite expecting that from me so quickly. She told me that she wasn't at the same point yet, but believed that our relationship was heading in that direction.
Fast forward a little more and we're back to school coming up on our 1 year anniversary of dating. We had already been ring shopping and had decided that yes, we'd get married sometime. Now it was just up to me to buy a ring, get permission from her parents and propose the her. Well, I bought the ring and had it shipped up to Michigan (I bought it from a jeweler in Indy). I had the ring for almost 2 weeks before I decided that it was time. I tried to set up a romantic evening with this really special proposal down by the canal. What ended up happening was, Nate and I running around Calvin trying to find both Lisa and Marcie (Lisa's friend and future maid of honor). They were suppose to be studying and then we found out that they had given up and gone home. So, we went over there (I wanted both Nate and Marcie to be there after the proposal) and yes, I was a nervous wreck :) Lisa and I were talking and I asked her if she'd go to dinner with me (I'd already made the reservations, actually made those before I called her parents to ask permission), before she could answer, I followed up my question with "Will you go as my fiance" I got down on my knee and asked her to marry me. As if a girl could possibly turn that down, she said yes and I gave her the ring of her dreams :) I then grabbed my bag because we needed to be a little more dressed up than jeans for dinner and got changed into a nice shirt and tie and Lisa got all dolled up and we went downstairs to get congrats from Marcie and Nate and also to take some engagement pictures. We went to dinner at Gibson's which was phenomenal and had a wonderful meal. Afterwards we went downtown to the AmWay Grand Plaza and went to the top where they have a coffee shop/bar. We sat in an overstuffed love-seat and had cappuccino's and proceeded to call all of our family and close friends to tell them the good news. We also snuck up one more floor to a private dinning area that was empty which gave us a beautiful view of the entire city of GR. In the next few weeks we had a lot of planning to do and were able to set our wedding date for August 17, 2002.
And you thought Lisa's story was long!