How We Met posted by Mike on October 13th

Holly and I first met on a web site called Make Out Club, which isn’t quite what it sounds like. The name comes from a song by Unrest, and it’s really just a place for kids who like this sort of music to meet and talk. Holly and I liked a lot of the same stuff, so we ended up talking a lot.

When we started talking, I had just lost my job and I was struggling with money. I was planning to move back in with my parents, who were in North Carolina at the time. Holly was heading off to college in Savannah. The two aren’t far apart.

We were both big fans of Hayao Miyazaki, a well-known, Japanese animation director. Not long after we moved, his latest film, Spirited Away, started showing, but only in smaller arthouse theaters. The closest theater for me was hours away, in Atlanta. It was the closest theater for Holly, too.

So seven years ago today, we met in Atlanta to see the movie together. I got there really early and sat around nervously for a while. She brought a carload of girls with her. The film was amazing. Holly brought some raisins and shared them with me.

After the movie we ate at a diner next to the theater, and then we kind of stood around next to her car talking. The girls went off somewhere to entertain themselves. I felt kind of bad about it, but I didn’t really want to leave either. So we just stood around talking, about music at first, and I don’t even remember what after that. I was nervous, she was cute, and fun, and we seemed to have everything important in common—the Pixies, video games, comic books.

After a while I think we were running out of things to say, but we still didn’t want to leave, so we just stood there leaning on the car, next to each other. And we kept leaning closer to each other, until her head was on my shoulder. I know I was pretty nervous at that point, so I don’t know if that moment was a few seconds or close to an hour. But eventually I got up the courage to turn my head toward her, and she looked back at me with her face inches from mine. I just thought, “finally”, and I kissed her.

I don’t know if I can say it was love at first sight. I liked her immediately, but I was too interested in getting to know her to worry about whether I was in love. And the more I got to know her, the more I realized that we’re perfect for each other. Every day something reminds me that she is exactly the person that I need to spend every day of my life with. Even if we’re fighting, I can’t stay mad. After the initial frustration is gone, I look at her, and I realize I don’t want to waste our time together that way.

What amazes me most is that I have never felt uncomfortable around her. (I don’t think I can say that about any other person. I’m pretty shy.) I’ve never wondered how I should act or what I should say. I’m just myself and it always feels right. Even that first kiss—I was nervous, of course, but not because I had any doubts about whether I should. It always felt right, I just didn’t know if it really was right yet.

Now, I do.