Meet Cute: "An amusing or charming first encounter between two characters that leads to the development of a romantic relationship between them."

It's February 27th 2016, my mom is visiting and we have dinner with two of my favorite people. After, my mom heads home and we choose to stop by a friend's birthday party for "just one drink". Cue the loud music, a typical Scottsdale party scene and the glance of one tall, very handsome gentleman. I smile at him, he smiles at me... and he walks away. A few minutes go by, another pass and another smile, and he walks away... again. Third time around I smile as big as I can, with as many "come talk to me vibes" as I can exude, and finally get a "Hey, I'm Ryan", or something to that effect. The third time, and some liquid courage, is the charm right? We talk, dance and exchange phone numbers, only to find out we're both from New Mexico, which of course leads to just one more drink. After a bit more flirting, I finally decide it's time to get home, so I say goodnight with the lamest, yet totally valid excuse of "Sorry, I gotta go hang out with my mom". Way to be cool.

Now, I don't know what it was about this guy. Perhaps it was his stellar dance moves (all 2 of them!), or maybe it was the way he made me laugh like an idiot, but after meeting him, something told me that I should commit this man's name to memory. That night I go to bed thinking "Ryan Blackman, Ryan Blackman, Ryan Blackman". Fast forward to a few days later where we make plans to have dinner that week. Immediately after this I manage to toss my phone (literally toss - you should've seen the way it flew) , along with my handsome date's contact info, straight into the pool. Luckily, I was able to find Mr. Ryan Blackman on Facebook and reach out to him less than a day before our first date. In what can only be considered an act of fate, past (and in bed by 11pm) Stephanie had future, clutzy, smitten Stephanie's back.

Needless to stay, that date went "swimmingly", and we haven't stopped hanging out since! People always say, and believe me I heard it a lot, "you'll meet someone when the time is right". Well, call me a believer, because I can't imagine what life would look like now if I hadn't been standing in that one bar, at that one time when Ryan Blackman glanced my way.

The Setup:

It was a weekend and a couple friends and myself were set on heading out on the town later that night. As was the practice in those days we had decided that having a couple ... or more drinks would be appropriate to help out our wallets as well as quench our thirst, plus there was the added bonus of “hitting the ground running”.

After some adequate quenching, the uber driver was kind enough to transport us to our final destination of a quiet little watering hole by the name of Dakota. The intent for the evening was to participate in some light socializing and find some ladies worthy of both my dance moves that I had acquired over the years.

First Looks:

Before any dance moves were to be shown off it was necessary to consume the proper amount of liquid courage; it just so happened that it was my turn to by the next round of courage. I briefly scanned the space to visually map out the path of least resistance, then in my finest swagger, I began a walk to the bar that I had no long term intention of remembering.

I had a hazy laser focus to reach the courage station and was intent on completing my journey when all of a sudden out of the corner of my right eye there was a distraction. The distraction, a gorgeous woman with an enticing smile that in that moment appeared to be aimed fully in my direction. Alas, as mentioned, I had a focus that was not to be swayed.

I continued the journey and reached the courage fueling station to order 3 less than masculine/fruity beverages. While carrying three beverages I began an enviable balancing act taking a similar path as previously to reach my group of friends; It was my task to dole out the liquid courage and I had no plans of failing.

On the way back there was again a distraction, only this time out of my left eye. It was the same gorgeous woman wearing white shorts with what appeared to be a deliberate smile that was again piercing my psyche. This time with all the smoothness I could muster, I slung back a cock-eyed smile that would be difficult for her to dodge.

First Encounter:

After divvying up and then consuming the beverages recently purchased the time had come to show off some awkward dance moves. For these moves a partner was required, I knew just where I would begin my search.

Using my go-to swagger I walked up to the gorgeous woman in the white shorts and said something, I have no idea what it was but I like to think it was clever and witty . She gave me a courteous laugh in response which I took as a sign to ask her for a dance.

The club was crowded but she agreed so I swiftly took her hand and spun her around (a.k.a. dance move 1). With each twirl her smile grew greater. A song was finishing up and as a finale I dipped her while trying not to run into too many other people (a.k.a. dance move 2).

The Brush Off:

With my confidence peaking I asked for her phone number with the intent of meeting up at a later date. To my delight she obliged and provided me the digits. I thought I’d push my luck a little more and ask if she wanted to move outside to continue our conversation. With a pause of hesitation, she looked me dead in the eye and said, “I would but I have to go hang out with my mom.”

This was a shock as it wasn’t a school night nor was it much past 10pm. I figured maybe I had read the signs a little off or maybe I had pushed too far but figured, no bother, I’ve been blown off before, there’ll be other chances.

Almost Moving On:

After a couple days I was still thinking about the gorgeous girl in the white shorts with the piercing smile. Lo and behold I had a method of contacting her! I promptly dialed the number and waited anxiously not knowing for sure what I was going to say when I heard the voice on the other end … Straight to voice mail. Not being easily deterred I waited a couple hours and tried again … straight to voicemail.

Being a glutton for punishment I waited awhile longer and tried again, same result. Figuring her disposition about our encounter had changed I started the process of moving on by plopping down on the couch to watch some Netflix, it was rough but I had binge worthy episodes as distraction.

Rejuvenation:

A couple more days went by when a facebook message from the gorgeous girl in white shorts had found its way to me. Forgetting exactly why she knew my last name I was excited and rejuvenated that she had remembered it. She disclosed that she had thrown her phone into some water, this explained the voicemail snafu, and that she would be nothing less than ecstatic to meet up at a restaurant somewhere at sometime.

Since that fateful night the rest is history.