One of my favorite stories to tell...

How I met my husband... Part III

(Part I )
(Part II)

Now Mr. Darling is having random thoughts of marrying me. I'm hearing voices saying I should marry him. However, at that moment we were each still thinking the other was pretty much a loser.

But by this point, my curiously has gotten to me. I start asking Amy questions.

ME: "So...what's he like? What's he looking for in a woman?" (He, apparently, also started asking her about me.)

HER: "He wants an educated woman who would rather stay at home and raise his children."

ME: "Sweet! I have my Masters Degree and have zero desire to use it!"

(All I've ever really wanted was a family. That's convenient, no?)

Three days later, Amy calls and says, "Mr. Darling thinks the two of you should get married." I half-joking say ok and I continue my barrage of half-joking questions.

The next day she calls back.

HER: "He's serious about the marriage thing, are you?"

I am a little taken aback. "Maybe I'm serious???"

So now things are a bit more earnest. For the next several days, our phone conversations are something like this, "Ask him what he thinks about this," and, "Ask him how he feels about that." Then it's her turn: "He wants to know what you think about this," and "He wants to know how you feel about that."

Finally she decides that we should quit being twelve and she should just put him on the phone. As I am yelling, "No NO NO, I don't want to talk to him," she hands the phone over and we end up talking for the next three hours.

The next morning Amy calls to tell me Mr. Darling wants me to fly out and see him. I figure: Why not? Maybe over the summer. No, that was not good enough. He wanted me to come for New Year's Eve, and he was paying. She was just calling to verify out of which airport I wanted to fly. I, again, am a little unnerved, but I figure, "Hey, it's a freaking free trip to Hawaii and if things go terribly bad, I'll hang out with my best friend. It's a win win."

(Did I mention New Year's is 2 weeks away?)

Over the next two weeks. Mr. Darling and I talk every night for two to four hours, depending on how long the poor guy can hold the phone up to his ear. We talked about everything, we asked questions, we got to know one another extremely well, we laughed, we were, without even realizing it, falling in love. We wondered if it was possible to miss someone you had never really been around? And the best part was, we didn't have that awkward dating period where you had to be on your best behavior and stressed out about what you should or shouldn't do. There were no weird physical moments. Should I kiss him, should we hold hand? It just wasn't an option. We learned everything we needed to know about each other without any awkward situations. (Of course to this day, we both claim, had we ever actually dated, it would have never worked out. It would have been the little things that seriously do not matter in the big scheme of things, but would have annoyed the crap out of each of us had we been dating.)

By the time I got to Hawaii I was head over heels for this guy. And he had already bought the ring!

(Can I just say, he went ring shopping with my very best friend and she totally threw me under the bus. He was going to buy me a Tiffany's ring and she told him I "wasn't that kind of girl." UH, EXCUSE ME? Hello? Help a girl out. It was TIFFANY'S!!! Apparently because I never had any brand name or designer anything, she always thought I simply didn't want it. Okay... just because I couldn't afford it does not mean I wouldn't have liked it! But anyway, after convincing him I would never in a million years want a Tiffany ring, he went and had a ring made especially for me, and it is beautiful... even if it isn't Tiffany's...)

Man, I am long winded... Stay tuned for Part IV - My arrival in Hawaii and our first date... on his Submarine!