life by candlelight

Sometimes people look at me and Bill and ask how the two of us ever managed to meet much less get into a relationship. Well, children, make yourselves comfortable. Here's the story.

New Year's Eve, 2002

My friend Anna and I decided to go to the Denvermix.com New Year's Eve party at the historic Parkside Mansion. Just the two of us. And 248 other people. You would think that over 200 people would feel like a lot. It didn't. It felt like we were surrounded by couples. You know that song "I'm With You" by Avril Lavigne. That almost perfectly describes my evening. I think of that night every time I hear that song.

Anna is good at small talk so she was managing to talk to a few men but I felt a little out of place. It started snowing outside so I sat on a couch and watched the snow. Finally, at 11:55pm, Anna had had enough. She told me to stay there and emerged a few minutes later with this guy in tow. She said to me, "here...this is the guy we're gonna kiss at midnight." Well, I wanted no part of that but the guy didn't seem to realize that and stuck himself to my face right after Anna at midnight. Five minutes later, the guy (named Jack) said, "Hey, meet my roommate Bill." Since the cab Anna and I had arranged for didn't show, Bill ran many blocks to get his Land Rover and drive us home. At Anna's apartment, he said, "I'll call you tomorrow." In my drunken stupor, I laughed in his face and thought, "Yeah, right." Well, he called the next day. And the next. And the next. And before I knew it, he had worked his way into my life. It was like he had always been there. And even though our politics and interests are highly polarized, I can't imagine him not being there.