When You Know...You Know

Our story can be told one of two ways. The sweet and condensed version is that we met through mutual friends and the rest is history. Short and simple. But who likes short and simple?!

The extended (and much more interesting) version includes Eeyore in a hookah lounge, Facebook-stalking, and a grand scheme. It was late October 2009, and I headed downtown to have a couple drinks with a group of friends after a comedy show. In this group of friends was Danny's best friend who was dating one of my great friends, and we all ended up at a hookah lounge together. Our group grabbed a table outside and sat back to chat and enjoy a couple drinks.


Being that it was late October, apparently people were practicing for Halloween the next weekend…because in walked a guy in an Eeyore costume with a cute little pink-bowed tail.
The Eeyore-clad homeboy stood right in front of our table with that tail swingin’ just within distance of me. And just like Eeyore wants to be noticed, I was trying to get Danny to notice me, and in a moment of full (im)maturity I yanked on Eeyore’s tail.

Maybe it was the hookah-smoke-filled air, maybe it was the Jim Beam, but the romantic in me wants to believe it was an innocent way to get Danny's attention. So while I succeeded in getting him to notice me (he tells this part of the story when talking about how we met), in retrospect it probably wasn’t the most effective way to get him to do so because in the blink of an eye I noticed that the dashing Alabama boy had disappeared. I was convinced he disappeared into thin air, but his friend assured me he just went home for the night.
 

I remember waking up the next morning with a vivid picture of Mr. Honey in my mind and thinking that I needed to see him again.

It didn’t take long because our town is small, and I remember seeing Danny on Halloween the next weekend…dressed up as a woman. And hot damn he even looked good in a pink robe and slippers, ha!

Our friends were still dating and I took every chance I got to let my girlfriend know that I wouldn’t say no to a double date or a night out on the town with her man and his “friends”…to no avail. I went November and December without running into him.

One Funday Sunday in January, some girlfriends and I headed to a historic bar in town to have an alcoholic beverage and praise our sweet lives. That’s when Danny came up again in conversation; he had a “real” job (which is hard to come by in our lil town), he loved country music, he had a dog. Music to my ears, and I decided to do one last beeeeg to meet him. So we did what any 21st century girl with a crush does: Facebook-stalked him…with all of my girlfriends. It’s OK. I have no shame, and Danny is fully aware of my tactics now. His Facebook profile picture was a good introduction to his adrenaline-loving behavior.

After the stalking I was even more convinced I needed to meet him—again. So we devised a plan. The next weekend there was a benefit for a local kayaker who was in a four-wheeler accident and lost his hand. We knew the benefit would bring all kayakers together, including my love interest. I would casually show up and “just happen” to run into Danny. The plan worked swimmingly. We were reintroduced and within 5 minutes we were both hooked on each other.

So while fate may have had something to do with it, I certainly helped push it along because I was unwilling to wait. And it all worked out because we haven’t looked back since. We moved in together after three months, adopted kittens a couple months later, got engaged after eight months of dating and will be married just after our two year anniversary. Hey, when you know, you know.