Kid Socrates
First Post
Well, I don't know if I really have time to tell the "how we met" story, but to sum it up in a paragraph or two, Meghan and I met in a writer's workshop/comic fanfic online group, she lived in Overland Park, Kansas, and I lived in Radford, Virginia at the time, during my semester of college. That was in the fall of 2000. Over the next three years, I visited out here to KC four times (riding a Greyhound bus 25 hours here and 30 hours back the very first time), she visited me once, I lived like a miser to save up money, and last year I managed to finally move out here, and since then we've been doing great. I do have a little love anecdote, though, if not a full-fledged story.
Meghan works as a retail manager, and so her hours fluctuate. On this certain day, she's getting off at six, and I'm off at five. I get the idea of buying her flowers and showing up at her work as she's leaving, just to surprise her. I do stuff like this. So I get off work, hop in the car, and drive towards her work, which is about 30 minutes away from mine with evening traffic.
I pull off across the street and go in a grocery store, because the place for 22-year-old know-nothings to buy flowers is a grocery store. The one in question is a nice little store, actually, and has a florist section with a great selection, many options, lots of choices. Which is fine and all for someone who has the slightest idea what's going on. Me? I stare blankly until the wonderful florist woman comes over and saves me from myself.
So I get three roses done up with some little white thingies around them, wrapped up all pretty, and off to the line I go. The express lane, with the slowest shopper in the history of mankind in front of me. And I wait. Time ticks. And I wait. Time ticks. He finishes, I swipe my card for the flower, and I go sailing out the door to my car. It's 5:50.
It takes five minutes to cross a fairly busy street and make a left turn, and then park. I head into the store, and run into the manager that knows me. I'm still feeling good -- here I am being all romantic, buying flowers and surprising my girlfriend...
"Oh, hi, Matt!"
"Hey, (manager). Is Meghan here?"
"Payroll was light today, so she took off early and went home about an hour ago."
I head back to the car, defeated. The roses glare at me from the passenger seat. Then I say screw it! To her house!
I drive to her house, which is pretty close to mine, about a five minute drive. About 25 minutes from her work. I park across the street, turn the car off, grab the flowers, hold them behind my back, and walk up to the front door. Still feeling good, a little beaten but not defeated, I ring the doorbell.
As expected, her German Shepherd goes absolutely nutsoid at the sound of the doorbell, and I wait. And I wait. I can see lights on, so I think they're there, but the garage door is down and her family's car and her car both fit in there, so I have no way of knowing. I ring again, still no answer. No one comes to the window to see who it is. I go to call her on my cell phone, and realize that my cell phone is sitting on the kitchen table where I left it that morning.
Here I am, standing on my girlfriend's porch, with it starting to get dark outside, with flowers in my hands, no one coming to the door, and no way to let her know it's me. After thinking it all over for another few minutes, I carefully set the flowers on the porch, head to my car, and drive back to my apartment. As soon as I get in, I grab the phone and call her house.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Meg. Do you not answer your door?"
"That was you? You should have called to say it was you!"
"I left my cell phone at home. You also left work early?"
"Yeah, it was slow, and -- wait, how did you know?"
"Open your door."
"Why, what's out -- (silence)"
"See, I tried to buy you flowers, but it took forever to get them and you left work early, so I decided to come and surprise you at your house, but no one answered the door, so I had to leave them there, and it was pretty windy so I hope nothing blew out the flowers, and I thought I'd try to do something a little sweet and romantic and I hope you don't mind that this was the best I could do."
"...I am so lucky to have you."
"Could you answer the door next time, then?"
That's the story of our relationship, more or less -- really well-planned romantic things that never quite go as planned. I remember that evening more than I would had I just shown up with flowers, though. It's more memorable in the end.
And what's the real lesson learned?
Don't give up, even when things don't go your way at first.
Either that, or make sure to have a cell phone on you all the time.
Meghan works as a retail manager, and so her hours fluctuate. On this certain day, she's getting off at six, and I'm off at five. I get the idea of buying her flowers and showing up at her work as she's leaving, just to surprise her. I do stuff like this. So I get off work, hop in the car, and drive towards her work, which is about 30 minutes away from mine with evening traffic.
I pull off across the street and go in a grocery store, because the place for 22-year-old know-nothings to buy flowers is a grocery store. The one in question is a nice little store, actually, and has a florist section with a great selection, many options, lots of choices. Which is fine and all for someone who has the slightest idea what's going on. Me? I stare blankly until the wonderful florist woman comes over and saves me from myself.
So I get three roses done up with some little white thingies around them, wrapped up all pretty, and off to the line I go. The express lane, with the slowest shopper in the history of mankind in front of me. And I wait. Time ticks. And I wait. Time ticks. He finishes, I swipe my card for the flower, and I go sailing out the door to my car. It's 5:50.
It takes five minutes to cross a fairly busy street and make a left turn, and then park. I head into the store, and run into the manager that knows me. I'm still feeling good -- here I am being all romantic, buying flowers and surprising my girlfriend...
"Oh, hi, Matt!"
"Hey, (manager). Is Meghan here?"
"Payroll was light today, so she took off early and went home about an hour ago."
I head back to the car, defeated. The roses glare at me from the passenger seat. Then I say screw it! To her house!
I drive to her house, which is pretty close to mine, about a five minute drive. About 25 minutes from her work. I park across the street, turn the car off, grab the flowers, hold them behind my back, and walk up to the front door. Still feeling good, a little beaten but not defeated, I ring the doorbell.
As expected, her German Shepherd goes absolutely nutsoid at the sound of the doorbell, and I wait. And I wait. I can see lights on, so I think they're there, but the garage door is down and her family's car and her car both fit in there, so I have no way of knowing. I ring again, still no answer. No one comes to the window to see who it is. I go to call her on my cell phone, and realize that my cell phone is sitting on the kitchen table where I left it that morning.
Here I am, standing on my girlfriend's porch, with it starting to get dark outside, with flowers in my hands, no one coming to the door, and no way to let her know it's me. After thinking it all over for another few minutes, I carefully set the flowers on the porch, head to my car, and drive back to my apartment. As soon as I get in, I grab the phone and call her house.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Meg. Do you not answer your door?"
"That was you? You should have called to say it was you!"
"I left my cell phone at home. You also left work early?"
"Yeah, it was slow, and -- wait, how did you know?"
"Open your door."
"Why, what's out -- (silence)"
"See, I tried to buy you flowers, but it took forever to get them and you left work early, so I decided to come and surprise you at your house, but no one answered the door, so I had to leave them there, and it was pretty windy so I hope nothing blew out the flowers, and I thought I'd try to do something a little sweet and romantic and I hope you don't mind that this was the best I could do."
"...I am so lucky to have you."
"Could you answer the door next time, then?"
That's the story of our relationship, more or less -- really well-planned romantic things that never quite go as planned. I remember that evening more than I would had I just shown up with flowers, though. It's more memorable in the end.
And what's the real lesson learned?
Don't give up, even when things don't go your way at first.
Either that, or make sure to have a cell phone on you all the time.
It's great when they tell it, cause the cute blonde gets some other not so pleasant adjectives that can't be talk of in grandma safe environments, and the tuba player too 
