I was living in Doe Hill, Virginia, which while beautiful, is lacking in humans in general. Let alone much of a dating pool. I decided to bite the bullet and sign up for online dating, and eHarmony won out (gotta look at those stats!)

I was really cautious who I interacted with, as online dating seemed so weird. It went on like this for a couple of months, no one even making it to the point where I felt comfortable enough to give them my number.

Then there was Joe. I had my radius set rather far, just to get matches that I thought were promising. There was this cute professor guy who kept popping up, but he was 2+ hours away. I finally reached out, not expecting much, and well, the rest is history. We started messaging via eHarmony, then I got frustrated and said "here is my number-just text". That became- "just call me!" (I am not a fan of technology for romance). I was new to this whole "online dating thing", and never thought twice about FaceTiming. He was surprised I didn't want to "get ready", um for what? What you see is exactly what you get!

The above photo was all he had to go on. I figured if you can't handle my "unique" hobbies, then you aren't for me anyways. He was dying to ask if that's how I always dressed, but somehow waited for whatever looked like an "appropriate time" to ask "so, ah, do you always dress like your photo?". I just remember cracking up, because he didn't want to offend me, but wasn't sure what to make of someone dressed like "Mary Poppins". I explained that I worked in the historical costuming arena and that I also enjoyed dressing up for events.

We immediately hit it off, from my absolute nerd driven desire to understand his research (I actually have read more papers on aeroacoustic instabilities than I realized even existed), to his seeming fascination with my "different" type of work and hobbies (of which there are many). Regardless of what the other person found interesting, each of us responded with curiosity.

He also just kept showing up. Just like he said he would. Making the drive to stay with me almost every weekend over the summer. I just fell for him more and more. I ended up in Christiansburg with him and our combined fur-family (2 cats, 4 dogs!) over winter. Sometimes, experiencing hardships with a partner, is far more telling, than anything else. We ended up loosing 3 of our 4 dogs in three months. That was devastatingly hard, but also showed me all I needed to know.

What I find so interesting is that we are both super smart, sometimes commanding, and are used to being the one in the "right". For whatever reason though we have approached our relationship as an equal partnership from the beginning. We had discussed next steps, but both of us were extremely wary, given our previous experiences.

I then found myself in line at the store, sort of staring at "RingPops", I sort of laughed at the thought of that being an engagement ring. That funny thought made me ask myself: Do you think you could find anyone else who is better suited to you and you to they? I could honestly answer, "Not a snowballs chance in Hell"! So I grabbed the RingPop, went home, and asked Joe if he wanted to marry me.

He thought I was joking. I was not. Once he realized I was serious, he said yes. I doubt that either of us would have expected the lives we have forged for ourselves, but I can say, without a doubt, that my life is far far better for having Joseph Meadows as my life partner. I look forward to many more adventures, quirky conundrums, and just being in the same room as him, as life always seems a little bit brighter having him in it!

Registry