Misplaced Cowboy

Every love story has a beginning, and sometimes they just come out of nowhere. I think there are members of my family who had secretly given up hope I’d ever find someone I wanted to spend my life with. My friends were clearly of the same opinion, with some simply believing I’d remain a bachelor forever. It wasn’t for lack of trying on my part, but I could never seem to find that one person who was just meant to be. Even after my latest failed relationship, I was still positive the love of my life was out there, I just didn’t have a clue where the hell she was hiding.

In the middle of June 2023 I matched with a girl named Emily on the dreaded Tinder who had caught my eye. I messaged her immediately about her mismatched socks, and it resulted in a great conversation for about three messages. It was at this point in time she disappeared. I sent her a couple messages to see if she’d like to meet, but I never received a response. My heart sank a little, because something about her was special, but such is online dating. Little did I know, but Emily was attending a wedding in Charleston so she might have been too busy to message me back. I didn’t give up on meeting this stunning woman, so I tried one last time.

I like to think I wrote something incredibly clever to get her to see our messages again after she lost them. Knowing what I know now, she is just terrible at responding sometimes. Regardless, whatever I said worked far better than I had expected because Emily asked me out. Asked is a bit soft. She told me she wanted to meet me that Saturday night for a beer. That’s right world, Emily asked me out on our first date.

Cut to Friday, the 24th of June at a bit after 7, because Emily is ALWAYS a bit late. (That included our wedding.) She called me when she parked so we could easily find each other since the brewery was packed. I’ll never forget seeing Emily for the first time. She’d curled her hair, and put on a light touch of makeup. She wore a white tank top, jean shorts, and a pair of nude flats she’d bought for a wedding she’d been in. She waved at me, and started across the street to where I stood waiting. As she approached we exchanged greetings and I went in for a hug. For Emily, however, a hug was not good enough.

My first kiss with my future wife was technically before we had our first hug. As I reached my arms around her, Emily stood on her tiptoes and kissed me. To this day she doesn’t know why she did it, only that it completely caught us both off guard. She blushed scarlet and quickly went to the bar to order drinks. The incredible date that followed made me realize that I knew Emily was it for me. I was in love with her before I’d even made the drive back home.

Over the next week or so we messaged constantly, and when we weren’t messaging, we were talking on the phone. We had a second date night selected for the 7th of July. I’m not going to lie, I was not happy about that. I wanted our second date to be much sooner, but Emily had a small council of skeptical family and friends to talk to about a guy during their busy Fourth of July. I knew Emily had plans with family that weekend, which is why she was making me wait until the 7th, or so I thought.

The morning of the Fourth, Emily messaged me telling me I was taking her to watch fireworks, and sent three options that were in Fayetteville. Ecstatically I started planning our evening together. I wrote her a short note asking if I could take her off the market, in a girlfriend kind of way. On Fort Bragg that year Sheryl Crow was playing for free, I knew Emily was a fan of her music, so that’s what I planned on us doing. That didn’t happen. Instead she arrived a bit late, we got caught up in the note I’d written, and we left the house over an hour after the planned time.

Parking at any event on base is always an exercise in futility, so we parked where we could watch the upcoming fireworks display. I led her to the top of a small hill that had a commanding view of the brilliant display of pyrotechnics. As the sky exploded in a fiery display of celebration, I decided it was the perfect moment to tell her that I loved her. No need for Hallmark shenanigans here, ladies and gentlemen. Our journey together was now official.