Ebay, gotta love it (ok so this post didnt turn out to be too much about ebay but its in there somewhere)

I love ebay because it allows me to find/buy things that I can not normally. I just won an auction for a concert poster that I have been searching for for nearly 2 years. I met my now girlfriend the weekend of Halloween 2004. I flew out to Nashville from Portland OR to meet 5 strangers that I had never met in real life before and only new from a internet message board about music. The plan was to fly out, meet these folks that I knew from online, and hang out for the weekend. We were going to party, listen to live music and go to the moe. Halloween concert at the famous Ryman Auditorium.

I flew out on Friday, we hung out a a guys house that night drank, alot, and just generally got to know each other. My now girl, was 1 of the 5 people I was metting. Her and I didnt talk much online prior to my trip but of the 5 I was most excited to meet her, something cosmic here perhaps?

Turns out she was the ex of the guys apartment we were at. Of the 6 of us, 3 of us were from out of town including me. And all 6 of us had never met except for the obvious 2, still with me?

Anyways I felt a connection from the get go, and so did she. We spent alot of the night finding ways to "be in each other company". Nothing happened between us that night, but the ex bf could tell there was some sparks there and even though he had broke up with her, he was jealous.

The rest of the weekend was planned as such.
Friday: hang out get to know
Saturday: private bluegrass party thrown every Halloween out in the country
Sunday: moe. concert @ the Ryman
Monday: everyone goes back to real life

So Friday is done. Now its Sat, in the south, so we go to a sports bar to watch the Vols game. After the game she "has to go do some homework" and will meet up with us at the bluegrass party. I find out later she left to get away from him as he was being a jerk about the connection between us, again he broke up with her wtf?

She meets us later at the party, its just about dark. We find each other right away and are attached at the hip. This party is huge (as you can tell from the pic below, that is just the woodpile for the bonfire later). Its outdoors and music is being played live everyone. Its awesome we are having a great time. And then we finally kiss, it was amazing.


He sees this and throws a fit "I am taking my ball and going home". Funny thing is he is leaving the party and going home. He didnt drive, so now he is taking her car and leaving her there out in the sticks with me ALONE. Hey thanks bud, I really appreciate this move. I want to invite him to the wedding but my girl doesnt find it as amusing as I do.


He is so bent about all this that he leaves her out in the sticks with me, making her rely on the rest of the group to get back to town. And now he isnt going to the concert. Bad part, is I left all my gear at his place, I only have the clothes on my back. My laptop, all my clothes, my airline tickets, everything is at this poorsports house.

We go to his place on Sunday morning and get my stuff, along with all the things he gave back to her since he didnt want to have anything to do with her again.

The concert was great, I was a perfect gentleman all weekend. She respected this and was very responsive to it. We all got a room downtown to crash at after the show and we snuggled on the floor together all night on Sunday (clothes on, again nothing beyond kisses happened all weekend). Monday morning I walked her to her car, didnt push for a kiss, or her #. She later said this was the clincher for her. She remembers looking in the rearview as she drove off looking at me and thinking how great it was I didnt make it awkward.

I got her # from 1 of the others later that day and sent a text to her at the airport. We sent texts back & forth that day and in LAX airport I paid to get online and we sent emails. The whole time, she told me later, she didnt know whey she was replying to my communications but felt like she couldnt not reply.

We talked almost every day after my return home and within 2 weeks talked for so many hours a day on the phone that I added a line to my cell account and shipped her a phone so we didnt have to pay ANOTHER huge cell bill by going so far over our monthly limits.

I flew back to Nashville for New Years and had yet an another amazing visit. It was at that time we decided I would pick up and move out here. I knew this was it, after all these years and all the searching that after I had finally given up on it I found her. She flew to Portland on 4/14/05 and we drove back to Nashville together. I have been here ever since and do not regret a second of my decision.

Anyways, this poster is really the symbol of the day we fell in love. I dont know what I would do without her in my life. She gave me purpose and direction. She really accepted me for me, and has loved me every day since.


She is the reason I am the man I am today. I have changed and grew to the man I knew I was inside and always wanted to be. I have purpose, I have hope, I have love. And now I have something I can look at to remind me of that day.