Titania by John Simmons

Wedding Pages

How We Met

After my friend Melissa got married in May 2000, I came home from the wedding feeling like I was finally ready to start dating again. So, I did what any girl of the twenty-first century does... I fired up the Internet and checked out the listings on Yahoo! Personals.

A few nights later, one ad caught my eye. The title was "Arlington Eccentric Seeks Same". I've been described as eccentric from time to time, so I decided to read further. I can't recall what else about this ad struck me, but I decided to send a message to the ad-writer. I did my best to scare him off -- I mentioned that I believed that any true love comes from the inside and not outer appearances. This single line had scared off other potential dates, so I didn't hold my breath for a response.

I got a reply to my message within a day! I hadn't scared this one off! Now what?

We e-mailed back and forth for a week before we decided that we should meet. I remembered the first law of Internet dating, and suggested that we meet at a movie theater downtown, so that I wouldn't be alone with a strange man. We agreed on Fantasia 2000, and met at the Dupont Circle theater on a rainy Saturday night (June 17, to be exact).

I'd never actually been down to Dupont Circle before. Andrew had told me which exit from the Metro that I wanted. Unfortunately, I didn't know which direction to go once I got out of the Metro station. I chose poorly, walking halfway around the circle before stopping in the CVS to ask directions. It turned out that the theater was about 20 feet from the Metro escalator. I finished my circuit of Dupont, and arrived at the theater properly soaked. If that "true love" line in my message didn't scare him, I knew that my wet-dog appearance certainly would.

He was waiting for me under an awning, and we recognized each other since we were the only ones looking around stupidly for someone we didn't know. We talked a bit before the movie -- I lost him with the details of my research, and he lost me with details of his programming tasks. After the movie, he walked me down to the Metro and we waited for our trains (going in opposite directions). And that was that.

I didn't have to wait long to find that my wet-dog appearance didn't scare him away. He sent me an e-mail the next day:

I really enjoyed going to the movie with you last night, and liked you even better after meeting you in person. I'd love to do it again sometime soon.

So, we continued dating...and the rest, as they say, is history.

Last updated: 01 May 2004