The Courtship -part 2

Our first date was to the Museum of American History at the Smithsonian in DC. I lived right by the Metro (express trains for commuters around the Metropolitan area in DC, MD and VA), so he drove over to my place and we walked over to the Metro. On the walk over, he handed me a card that had fireballs taped all over it. We had talked about favorite candies once, and he remembered I liked fireballs, hot cinnamon jaw breakers, and bought a bunch and taped them on the card. Awww.. He scored some points for listening and remembering! I still have the card and I never ate any of the fireballs.

We spent the day walking around the museum and there was an old train there that he wanted to show me. It was a train that his Grandfather drove once and they retired it and donated it to the museum. We had the best time, ate at Union Station and then went to the Holocaust Museum. It was a moving experience seeing all the mementos and actual items from the concentration camps and it also opened a topic of conversation between us about racism and different things that different cultures practice. We both discovered we have the same views of people and life-- live and let live. What you do is your business and vice-versa.

After a long day, we headed back to my place. We held hands most of the day and didn't want the day to end, so we ordered pizza. A close friend of mine popped up and the only thing running through my head was for her to go! I didn't want to be rude, though, so I introduced them: Best Friend, meet Date. Date, meet Best Friend. It was such an awkward moment and thank goodness she finally got the hint and left us alone again. We moved up to kissing that night. Those beginning stages of a relationship where kissing alone is all you need to sustain yourself. We kissed. Kissed again. Kissed some more. Then I finally pushed him away and told him he had to go home. I could have easily dropped him and pounced on him, but I didn't want him to think I was easy, ya know, it was only our first date! A girl's gotta have some standards!

A few nights later, we were in the parking lot at work and we were kissing each other good-bye. The next day at work, a few co-workers that saw us kissing were making kissy-kissy faces at us as we walked by. So much for discreetness! He followed me home that night and we talked for a little bit outside. A little while turned into a long time and he pulled the gate of his truck down and put a towel on it so I didn't get my jeans dirty. We sat there and talked and talked and talked. When we finally decided we talked enough, we got up and realized it had rained. It rained and left puddles, but we were dry. The truck was wet, the ground was wet, the grass was wet, but the towel we sat on and the two of us were dry! Once again we had that feeling of being meant for each other.

We hugged each other good-night, we kissed and then I couldn't help myself. It bubbled out of me and I couldn't stop it in time. I blurted out, "I love you!" The moment it came out, I cringed, afraid that it would scare him off as a woman moving too fast. My heart swelled so much it hurt, I had never felt this way before and I prayed that he wouldn't turn and run as far away from me as he could get. He pulled away from me and lifted my chin with his hand, my teeth biting my lips because they were trembling and I was barely holding back a flood of tears, and he said, "I love you, too." I started crying and then he started to cry and we both stood there in a trance, watching the other cry, realizing the magnitude of the moment. We have only been seeing each other for about 2 weeks and here we are, saying we love each other, before we ever did anything more than just kiss. It was one of the happiest moments in my life, knowing that I found him, my true love, my soul mate, the man I would grow old with.