A Thousand Days in the MakingPart 6: The Thousandth Day

Two weeks passed without a word from Rachael. I was already planning a formal apology to the whole family and a blog entry about how I had, "Scared off Mandi's sister" It had only taken me six months too!

Day 999(July 5th) -

The IM window popped up. Rachael explained that life had gotten crazy, and she had retreated from certain social aspects.

She needed her own special alone time? She's prefect!

Rachael and I spent a few hours IMing back and forth, and then another two hours on the phone. I felt like a 15 year old talking to his first girl on the phone. It was fun. It was funny. It was exciting. An enjoyment of phone conversation wasn't something that I had felt in a very very long time.

Up until this point in our relationship, everything had been very nice and cordial, but for whatever reason, the gloves had finally come off. The girl I knew as always being the polite sweet girl from Kansas threw me a few zingers. She made a few off color jokes. I went from being interested in meeting this Internet friend to being interested in Rachael.

We agreed to get everything out of the way and just meet for lunch the next day. There would be no backing out this time.

Day 1000(July 6th) -

The phone rang at my office at ten as if on cue. It was Rachael and she began rather slowly.

"Here's the thing..."
"You have got to be kidding me" I interrupted.
"I am. I just wanted to freak you out. And, I wanted to change the location"

An hour later I was waiting outside of Pei Wei. As the moments passed I grew more and more nervous.

What if I don't recognize her?
What if she thinks I'm weird?
What if....

Rachael hopped out of her car wearing the biggest smile I'd ever seen.

"You're not that short" she said as we approached each other.

It was at this moment that I realized I had no idea what was appropriate. Was this a hug situation? Was it a hand shake situation? Was it neither.

Before I had a chance to screw it up Rachael threw her arms around me and told me that it was great to finally meet me.

We took our seats, and before I knew it two hours had passed! I hadn't even finished eating because I was so entranced by the girl sitting across from me. One more hug, and we went our separate ways.

I wasn't completely sure if she had had as good a time as I had, but for my part I couldn't wait to see her again.

Stay tuned for the exciting epilogue, "2000 days in the making!" coming to Sesquipedalis 4/1/2012!