How we met

In the fall/winter of 2019, I started to grow out my beard, like really grow it out. As in don’t touch it for 90 days and then find a barber to see if they can do anything with it grow it out. My hairstylist had a hard and fast rule at the time that she did not cut, nor trim beards, no matter how many times I had asked. So I found a local barber and scheduled a beard trim. Now this gentleman was a master at his craft, trained at the London school of barbering, he knew exactly how many steps a beard trim had, and could do them all blindfolded. I enjoyed the trim, so much so that I scheduled one for the following month, which would be January 2020.

It was at this appointment, the gentleman made reference to my hair saying I should let him cut it, because he could do something “really cool.” Intrigued by the satisfaction and compliments I had received from his prior services, I gave it considerate thought. However, I had been seeing the same hairstylist for the better part of the last decade, and had always been satisfied, not only by the service, but also by the kind of friendship you can only build with someone over seeing them once a month for 10 years. Now you can tell your best friend anything, but for some reason, people will tell their hairstylist everything, and I was no exception. This led to an undying loyalty, and therefore, I declined the gentleman’s offer for a haircut, but not without keeping the lingering thought in the back of my mind of how refreshing it might be to get a haircut from a guy with a skill set that is this unparalleled.

The next month I made the hard decision to take him up on his offer for a haircut, and this meant breaking the news to my current stylist that I wanted to go with someone else. I cowardly lied to her and asked if I could cancel my next appointment, and reschedule for a later date that I had yet to determine. She immediately followed up asking if I had found someone else, I sorrowfully said yes, hoping we would remain friends, while knowing we wouldn’t, but I was ready to try something new. The new haircut was undoubtedly fantastic, so much so that I scheduled another one for March of 2020. And at the next appointment, it felt different, and not in a good way. Call it the onset of Covid-19, or a man who was proud of his business that he built brick-by-brick singlehandedly, both of which I respected in great detail, but it was lacking that certain warmth/conversation I had become accustomed to when experiencing my monthly cut. It turns out the grass isn’t always greener after all.

And in May of 2020, after a 2 month quarantine, I decided to send the remorseful text to my former hairstylist begging to be added back to her client list, she willingly agreed and scheduled my next appointment, but not without giving me plenty of shit for it first, all of which was well deserved. 2 weeks before that next appointment, I received a text from her saying “I think I might’ve found your soulmate,” and while dramatic, this woman remains a great judge of character. I asked her for details, and she replied that she would tell me more at my upcoming cut, a sure fire way to not only spark my interest, but also get me back in her chair for that next appointment (or maybe that second part is just my ego talking).

I went and enjoyed the warm conversation I had been missing from my haircuts, especially following 2 months of minimal interaction with any humans. She told me she had a new client named Kelsi, and that she was smart, mature, and cute. She even showed me a picture, and she indeed was very cute. I thought, what the hell? It’s been awhile since I’ve been on a date, let’s give it a shot. Later that night I asked my stylist for Kelsi’s phone number, and we began exchanging text messages. We hit it off, and agreed to meet in person 10 days later. We had decided to grab some ice cream and take a walk in a nearby park.

And On June 5, 2020, I made a 40 minute drive to north Edmond to meet her in the parking lot of Roxy’s Ice Cream Social at 7 pm. She showed up first, I got out of my car, she got out of hers. Side note: It did happen to be about 102 degrees out that day. And when she got out of her car, I could see that her hair was tied up, she had minimal makeup on, and she was wearing sunglasses, a t-shirt, and running shorts. Now internally, I must say this was a bit of a shock, as I had been out with girls in summers prior who would wear a leather jacket in June because they thought it looked good, and didn’t care if it meant they were sweating all night. Kelsi on the other hand, wasn’t concerned about looks at all, she was more so concerned about not sweating her ass off if she could help it. Now to me, this screamed that she had a confidence that was unmatched. For me, it was an instant attraction, not to mention this girl had a natural beauty unlike anything I had ever seen before. However, neither of us were concerned about looks that night, we were genuinely interested in getting to know one another.

We grabbed our ice cream and took about a half hour walk in the nearby park until we both agreed that it was too hot. We then went back to her car and proceeded to talk for the next two and half hours. The topics were wide-ranging. We shared many stories and even more laughs. Over those next two and a half hours. I learned that she was smart, funny, empathetic, and incredibly kind. She was also strong, considerate, compassionate, thoughtful, and resilient. That two and a half hours felt like two and half minutes, and around 10 pm her friends started calling her to ask her how it went, of which she made a point to publicly decline them and keep the conversation going. I told her I didn’t want to keep her from anything, she assured me I wasn’t, but did mention that she had to work the next morning. We agreed to call it a night and say our goodbyes, but left the door open to meet again if either of us had the desire. I wanted a hug, but due to heightened uncertainty of Covid-19, we settled on an “air high five,” and since getting out of her car that night, I haven’t wanted to go on a date with anyone else ever since.

Wedding Party