Seven years ago tomorrow, Rell and I met. In Austin. At a bar. (However, when I retell this story to my children in 20 years, mommy and daddy met at the library)
Im pretty sure it was a Thursday night, and as was typical for me seven years ago on a Thursday night, I was downtown on 6th Street with my friend Jodi. It was almost time to go home, but we decided to go into Logans for just one more beer. I mean, we did have to work the next morning! And it was already past midnight, I am sure. So we head into crowded Logans and order a beer. Any of you that have ever been to Logans know that “a beer” is really like 5 beers poured into one massive beer mug….HEAVY! We head to a corner to hang out and Jodi spots someone she is interested in talking to. (Im being nice here….it was late, we had had a lot to drink…it was a boy (a friend of Rells),,,she was flirting…you can picture it) Basically, I am bored with it and leave her to talk and try to go find a seat…I spot a chair at a table…there are two guys sitting there that I don’t know but I don’t care, Im tired and my beer is heavy and I need to sit. So I ask if I can sit down, and low and behold, it was Rell. We talked, we found out we had a lot in common…like that he was moving to Waco in a week and I was moving to Waco in about a month, along with other things. I gave him my number.
And he actually called! It was a Saturday night….we had planned a girls night in. We were all set on the couch, Jodi, Amy, Mandy and I. We had just popped Bridget Jones in for what had to be the zillionth time, and he called. He was headed downtown with some friends and wanted to know if some friends and I wanted to meet up. I said sure, convinced it would be easy to round up the girls and get them downtown….but it wasn’t. They wouldn’t. And I didn’t have his number to call him back. So I stood him up. I was sure I would never hear from him again.
He called a week later. We had a bad connection. We kept losing each other, but finally had a decent enough connection to actually talk. So we planned a date. And we kept the date. He took me to Trudy’s and the Horseshoe Lounge….two of my all time favorite places. He was moving the next day. We talked on the phone a bunch that week. That Friday I was having my wisdom teeth pulled….he came down after the surgery and sat with me. Against doctors orders, we decided to go out. We met up with some of his friends at Baby A’s…Terry and Leslie…..who to this day are some of our best friends….and thank goodness they didn’t hold it against me that I had fat chubby chipmunk cheeks and probably had one too many margaritas.
Several weeks later I moved to Waco to work for my family business. And Rell and I have been inseparable ever since. (Except for the couple of months he lived in Arizona without me while I prepared to move out here) We’ve moved cross country together…we moved in together….we got engaged… we bought our first house together …..we got married….(best wedding ever)…. …we renovated our house together….I got my first dog ever with Rell….we bought a business together….we sold a house together….we bought our second house together….we work together every day…. He is my best friend.
And I thank my lucky stars each and every day that Jodi drug me to Logans that night and just had to talk to that boy over in the corner. (that boy by the way, was also a groomsman in our wedding!) Thanks Jodi!
