Our Anniversary of the Day We Met

Each year we "celebrate" the day we first met which was November 16, 1996. I wrote in a previous post about Gerard and I finding each other through Great Expectations. Today we will share with you about our first face-to-face date.

Gerard says:
November 16, 1996 started out like any other Saturday, but turned out it changed my whole life. I was getting frustrated at Great Expectations. Had been there for awhile and nothing! Finally, that day I found out one of the women I had chosen was willing to meet me! I was very excited. I picked many before, but they ALL rejected me. I washed my car as usual and tried to call Karen twice but she was not home so I left a message on her answering machine.

She called back and we decided to meet at a Pizza Hut in Garfield Heights that evening. I got some flowers for her on a whim. I wanted her to remember me and decided to mix up the colors. I got there first and waited outside and she came! Instant attraction for me. Karen was easy to talk to and I wasn't nervous at all.

Karen says:
I was happy to be going to Pizza Hut because I liked pizza and didn't like fancy restaurants. When I pulled in and saw him standing out front in his Ohio State Buckeye hat and jacket with a dozen roses, I thought WOW! How sweet of him. It was the first time anyone ever gave me flowers so I was pretty impressed.

We had an easy time talking. He was a good conversationalist and I wasn't really nervous at all. I was looking for a nice normal guy and Gerard seemed to be just that. I mentioned I wanted to get a gift for a kid for Christmas so Gerard suggested we walk over to the Marc's that was nearby. There we found a cute little stuffed dog which I named "Snoozer." I liked it so well though that later we got another one for me!

On our way out, I saw he had a real nice looking Camero and between the roses and car, I just assumed he must have a lot of money (wrong!). He had car payments. It was the best looking car in the lot!

Gerard Says:
When we left, I remember telling her to drive carefully and her saying, "No, I'm going to back right into that car." I went back home and watched Dr. Quinn. Karen called me on the phone to tell me she really enjoyed meeting me. I was ecstatic about that and figured I made a good impression for her to call me that same night. Went to bed happy and we began seeing each other every week. I asked if she wanted to go with me to the dinner event that Great Expectations was having for all their members and she said okay, even though she didn't think it would be much fun--she was right!