Michael suggested to a friend that we might post the story of how our relationship began, so I thought I'd take a stab at it while I have some free time. This is, of course, my version of events only--Michael may have some editorial comments and extra details from his perspective here and there to post later!
Michael and I met on the first day of classes at the University of Alberta's School of Library and Information Studies, September 1998. The school's director was having us do some get-to-know-you-activities; we were split up into groups and had a set amount of time to find 5 things in common between the group members. I remember Michael speaking up at the start of the exercise, saying, "well, obviously we're all hockey fans, right?" To which I had to unfortunately reply no (I've since discovered the excitement inherent in a live hockey game, btw, though I still don't watch it on TV). He tells me that he remembers me saying in a pointed/significant manner early on during this same exercise that I had a boyfriend (I was still dating my ex Greg, who lives in Claresholm, though that relationship would soon end), which led him to think I was "warning everyone off" and dampened any initial interest he may have had in me. I honestly don't remember this, but I believe I brought it up, seeing as the entire 3 or 4 years previous had been taken up with the question of whether I would move to small-town Alberta with him and work in his greenhouse, or not.
Anyway. I ended up on the rebound pretty quickly after starting school, and began dating another classmate. One of those things that should have lasted for 3 months, but dragged on for 1 1/2 years. Not long after that relationship began, I did hear through the grapevine that Michael was possibly interested in me. I was not unhappy to hear this (he was the "cutest guy in school," after all!), but nothing came of it except and on again/off again crush on my part until March of 2000, as things with Mr. Rebound were falling apart.
So. The big moment. Before the day we got our graduation photos taken, Michael and I had talked on and off, but he never responded to my casual/friendly flirting. I laughed about it sometimes with my friends, saying that it was like trying to flirt with a brick wall. But that day, we were talking, and suddenly I flirted and he flirted back. And I thought...whoa...there's a chink in the armour here! Maybe something is possible! We spent a couple of days pretending to work on school assignments as we talked through DOS instant messaging on the school computers, and we went out for our first date--drinks on St Patrick's Day--at the Library Bar just off campus (I know you're rolling your eyes at that but it's true).
The first few months of our relationship were strange. We started dating six weeks before Michael left on his nine-week "grand tour" of The Middle East, Europe and the UK. He was home for only a few days afterwards before he left to visit relatives in Spokane for a couple of weeks, and then we were both off to ALA. He found his first job there, and we were only together in Edmonton for a couple weeks more before he moved to Florida. It made for an intense, emotional time, with many life-changing decisions to be made in a short period. I got my job with Broward County Library in the fall, and we were reunited in Florida in November of 2000.
Since then we've had lots of good experiences, and worked through some really tough times too. But, we made it, and now here we are!
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