Stu plus Maria equals Jumex

Here's another one for today - it's our love story. I'm flipping through all the old blogs and I found this one - and felt compelled to share. I love this story.

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March 4, 2006

One year ago today Stu and I met for our very first date. We first met on line at match.com. I'm sure anyone who knows me has heard the story but here it goes again...

I went on match.com to go out to dinner. Yep, I was looking for a free meal, nothing more. I wanted to go out more, I wanted to meet more people - even though I knew quite a few already - but I wanted to just expand my horizons as they say. I wanted to be taken out to dinner by a nice guy and have a good conversation and if it worked out great and if not who cares.

Well, one of my brother's friends found my profile and "winked" at me. Winking is what you did to get someone's attention and if they were interested in you they'd wink back then you'd message each other and so on. Well when Darren winked I thought, "that's hilarious, I wonder who else from Bartlesville is on match.com?" See, I was living in Tulsa and only searching in Tulsa. Darren, like me, was from Bartlesville and that's what his location stated. So I was going to search in Bartlesville just to see who I might know and then make fun of them for having a profile on match.com. Never mind that I had one too - it's just what we do in Bartlesville. Make fun of each other.

So I'm searching through the profiles, do-do-do-do-do, la-la-la, and lo and behold there's "Mr. Wonderful". Hilarious. Who are you searching for girls? Mr. Wonderful? Well here he is! I got the joke - apparently, and lucky for me, no one else did. The other intriguing thing was that he was Jewish. I mean - it was like - wow, really? In Bartlesville? I know some Jewish people - Jon Stewart, Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandler, Harvey Weinstein, the list goes on - and they all seemed like very cool people. I had to find out more.

Turns out, Stu had been in Oklahoma about 12 of the previous 13 years. He was recently divorced, only came to Bartlesville b/c he found a job here - he was friends with someone who had once owned a business in Tulsa and had moved to Bartlesville. He didn't know anyone, was trying to meet people and wonder of wonders he put a profile on match.com.

When I saw his profile I was so very excited. He was funny, smart, he was well educated, he liked so many of the same things I liked. I remember him saying that he loved to watch the news but he'd be just as happy watching Spongebob Squarepants. I was swooning. And I replied to his profile saying just that "Oh my gosh, I LOVE the news, and I LOVE Spongebob, and I LOVE eating good food, and I LOVE solving long division in my spare time..." Ok - not the last one. He wrote me back and said he was absolutely floored. He didn't think anyone would like his profile. I can't remember exactly what else he said but I remember wondering if he was being sarcastic - he wasn't - but it also wasn't the first time I'd wonder if he was being sarcastic.

And it wasn't the first time I'd swoon...

So we exchanged a few emails, got each other's phone numbers, and on March 3, 2005 we talked on the phone for 4 hours. Folks, I do NOT like to talk on the phone. We couldn't stop talking though, and after four hours we had to go to sleep but I don't think I could sleep - I was on cloud 9.

Then, a year ago today, we went on our first date. We hugged each other immediately. We went out to eat at a spendy restaurant in Bville, and only ordered appetizers b/c we were both too excited to eat. I remember telling him about my job, I remember him being so kind and looking at me with those huge green eyes and making me feel like I was beautiful. That night was perfect, we went out every night that weekend and have been together ever since. It took us 5 days to say we loved each other. It happened so fast but when ya know, ya know. He's so very precious and kind. We've both been hurt and in some tough relationships and just so absolutely happy and grateful to find each other. We are comfortable and we are completely in love. I always wondered what it would feel like to finally meet "the one". I could never have imagined this feeling in a million years... It's all that you hope for then turned up to eleven. You know what I mean!

OK - so that's it for now. I'm swooning today. Tonight we're going to eat at a very nice restaurant. Yea! Stu and I are very happy and pleased to have reached this one year mark - but at the same time, it doesn't feel like anything special b/c we feel this way every day. We're looking forward to treating ourselves to some good one on one time. And of course, spending the rest of our lives together!