K&C Part 2: You’ve Got Mail!

Read this first: K&C Part 1: He’s From Winona.. It’ll make things a lot less confusing!

Four years ago today, I met Kevin James for the very first time! How do I know this? I saw my friend, Amy post on her Facebook yesterday that it was her anniversary. I met Kevin the day after her wedding.

But let’s back up a little bit.

Kevin, being the gentleman he is, contacted me first. eHarmony puts you through quite the series of events before you’re allowed “open communication”, and we dutifully went through sections such as “first questions”, “must haves/can’t stands”, etc. Kevin made me answer some pretty deep questions, but even in my pre-professional blogger life, I knocked those little essays out of the park!  The crazy part? Kevin was really the only guy I ever talked to on there! Spoiler: We got married.

And then came the first personal email. I must have liked him a little bit already, because I continued to communicate with him even when I found out he had a Hotmail email address!

Things we can glean from the email previews:

• Kevin was 28 – I thought he was so old! I’m 28 now!
• Kevin wrote a short email. I wrote a long one.
• I think I was joking about being the middle child.

Something else you should also know? I was still forwarding all his emails to Deidre at this point. What are friends for? She knew things must be getting a little more serious when that eventually stopped.

And that’s when we started acting like Meg & Tom in You’ve Got Mail. We would email each other multiple times throughout the day, share funny little stories, and laugh hysterically at each others’ emails.

I remember sitting on that balcony giggling like a schoolgirl over one of Kevin’s messages. At this point, my roommates had no CLUE what was going on. I think my roommate’s boyfriend was the first to catch on, just seeing me sitting out there with my computer. My best roommate ever started asking questions too. I just blew them off. I was super embarrassed about the whole eHarms thing, plus I was just having fun! But Kevin and I talked about serious things sometimes too. We are both very serious about our faith and knew we wanted to be with someone who shared the same beliefs.Maybe I should have been asking some more serious questions about his unruly chocolate brown child. I could have been better prepared for what I was getting myself into!

The next step? Kevin asked me for permission to send me a friend request on Facebook. I couldn’t help but tease him about asking to ask someone to be a friend. Too cute! But at the same time, I was a little nervous about the idea. I have a lot of info on Facebook. TMI, really. Many curious friends. Many, many unflattering photos! But of course, I accepted the request. Little did I know, that was his way of tricking me into online chatting. Baby steps!

But I could only hold it in from my friends for so long. One day I broke down and told Megan. I wrote it all to her in a note.. in church. Nobody tell Pastor John. I just figured it would be a non-threatening way for me to drop the news that I was talking to a boy I met online. Of course, I also had to break the news to my bosom buddy. I told her over gchat. I’m really confrontational, aren’t I? I couldn’t even get it out. I just kept telling her I had to tell her something, but I eventually confessed.

Good thing, because I was going to need some moral support for THE FIRST PHONE CALL. Sigh. I love email. Couldn’t things just stay that way forever? I was SO nervous. It’s so not me to talk to a complete stranger on the phone… let alone one I might someday fall in love with!  I was freaking out, but Kevin was super calm and did 90% of the talking during that first phone call.

And then we started talking about…. what if???

I was going to Minnesota the next month for the aforementioned wedding. I hadn’t been sure if I’d be able to afford it… the airfare to Minnesota is not easy on a teacher’s salary. But I managed to not pay my bills for a month so I could go. Amy is a lifelong (NBUA2BF) friend, and I could not have imagined missing her wedding. But I was not about to bring Kevin James as a date! Not when I hadn’t even met him yet!

The Wabasha 5 at Amy’s wedding… I was the last to get married.

Little did I know that the very next day I’d be meeting The One…

We set it up to meet at Caribou Coffee in Rochester, MN. Now I’m from a small town. I have a big family. I just wasn’t ready to shout it from the rooftops – after all, we hadn’t even met yet. So Deidre, Kristy, and Jen helped me plot out a game plan. I was typically in high demand while I was visiting the States; therefore, I needed some assistance with my alibi. I even wore the dress Kristy got me for my birthday. I was ready to go. I had jitters. But first I had to sit through a rugby game. I know that sounds like a joke, but it’s totally not. Meanwhile, Kevin was golfing with his dad. Haha.

Kevin was his usual, highly responsible self, and arrived at Caribou early. He planted himself in a seat you could easily see from the front door (even me!). All the while, I was worried about recognizing him! Terrified! After all, he did have about 800 fewer Facebook photos!

But, I knew him right away.

The HUGE smile gave it away. I was smiling too. I feel like we’ve been smiling ever since! We hugged, by the way, in case you were wondering. I was well on the way to being Dominican at that point so there really was no other option! But then, Jen and Kristy wanted to meet him! So I dragged this guy I had just met out into the parking lot to meet them. He was a good sport about it — he might as well get used to it with my friends & family!

After they left, we sat and talked forever. I can’t really say everything we talked about. Probably just rehashed our email jokes and talked about how nervous I was. Kevin brought me these beautiful caramel apples. We kind of skip fall in the Dominican Republic so I was so excited about them. I brought Kevin some of those Dominican fake Ritz crackers we used to eat all the time. I can’t remember what they’re called! My Dominnicanness is fading! Megan – can you help me out? We ended up talking our way till dinner time. We decided to go next door to Noodles & Co since I wasn’t about to get into the car with some strange eHarmony man. I’m proud to say that I ordered the mac ‘n’ cheese. After dinner, it was time to go. We said our goodbyes, and I really didn’t know what was going to happen next! I was scheduled to fly back to the DR in two days. Would I ever see him again? Would we see each other at Christmas? What was he thinking?!

To Be Continued… 

P.S.The good news is that Kevin didn’t close down any bookstores.