The Story told from each perspective
Click on a picture to read their side of the story.
Who're Ya Gonna Believe?
Jon's side of the story
So, Boy meets Girl, Girl falls for Boy right? Well, thats not always how it works. Sometimes, Boy sees Girl's profile and sends encrypted message saying "You are fascinating" hoping for all he's worth she'll take the time to actually decode the thing. Luckily for me, she did. I knew from the beginning Des was something special; she has fantastic taste in music, loves books as much as I do, and knows it's not only acceptable, but really awesome to talk about nerdy stuff.
I was living in south Georgia when we first started talking. We didn't actually meet until I came up to Atlanta for a training thing for work shortly before I moved back. I let her know I was in town and we decided to meet at the bookstore on campus. I got there really early, mostly because I was pretty nervous and waited for her to get there. When she got there, we went to the bookstore Starbucks and then walked around the store looking at books and talking for a pretty long time.
When we finally realized that we'd probably already looked at all of the books on the shelves twice, we decided to get something to eat. Neither of us was actually hungry, but I wasn't ready to say goodbye yet. After dinner we just walked around Atlanta for a bit talking and having fun. When I dropped her off at the MARTA station that night, I knew my initial thoughts about her were right. This person was AWESOME!
I didn't kiss her that first night, and actually it took four dates for her to even get a hug. She likes to tell how she wasn't even sure if what we were doing was a date or not, but eventually she did get that kiss and while I'm still not a "hug person" for most folks, I am most undoubtedly a "hug Des person", and I plan to stay a "hug Des person" for the rest of my life.
Des's side of the story
The great thing about online dating is that you can weed out the crazies straight away (or direct yourself to your brand of crazy, I suppose). In my profile, I happened to mention that I enjoyed cracking codes and solving puzzles. I was unsurprised when I received an encoded message.
"Zpv bsf gbtdjobujoh."
Can you solve it? It was so simple, but also flattering, attentive, and playful. It's so very Jon. It says: "You are fascinating." It was refreshing enough to be worth replying to.
I sent him a message back, and our messages got longer and longer. I got tired of waiting for replies, so I asked if he wanted to text me. We talked about books and music. He admitted that he was nowhere near Atlanta, but was moving to Woodstock. The first time I heard his voice was in a video of him explaining a trig concept for his students. He heard mine first in a webinar I gave.
When we finally got to meet in person (after 3 months of texting), we met at the Tech bookstore. I got a chai and we walked around the store, talking about anything that struck us. We got dinner after that (and neither of us ate more than a few bites due to nerves) and then we took a walk around the park.
I liked him, but I couldn't tell if he liked me. There was no hand holding, no hugs, no kisses. He mirrored whatever language I used. Same for our second date, though he did ask if I'd be offended if he paid for dinner that time. The third date, we were alone, in the dark, in my apartment for a movie, and still nothing. On the fourth date, he finally got the courage to put his arm behind me on the couch (Note: not around me, behind me). I walked with him down to his car and he said he "wasn't really a hug person, but [he] kinda want[ed] one." I honestly thought he was joking and asked him about it the next day. I told my friends I liked him, but I wasn't sure if they were dates or if we were just hanging out.
I made up my mind not to mention anything about a relationship until HE kissed ME. It happened on September 4, 2013. We were watching The Internship because it was being screened for free on Tech's campus since it was partially filmed there. I was so surprised that all I could say was "Oh, hello..." Later that night, just before bed, I texted him and told him I wasn't seeing anyone else and I didn't want to and I wanted this to be an official thing. He said the same and it's been smooth sailing since then! We moved in together, moved to the first place we picked out together, and now we're starting a brand new chapter!
He's the best thing that ever happened to me and my person and I can't wait to call him my husband. He actually wrote in a little notebook about 2 months after we started dating that he was going to ask me to marry him one day. He might have known that first, but he definitely didn't love me first and I definitely said I loved him first!