Let's grow young together

The title of my Yahoo Personals page was "Let's grow young together." Under the heading "Me and My Ideal Match," I had written, "Like golf, bicycling, photography, dogs (most of the time), cats, reading, writing, mountain hiking, watching "Seinfeld" and football on TV, hot tubbing, sharing and caring, wind chimes. Honest, values sense of humor, frugal but not tightwad, homebody. Likes quiet life, loyalty, good work ethic, balance between work, play and home. Dislikes traffic jams, tail-gaters, loud people, rap, blowhards, fighting, hypocritical behavior, excessive materialism. Not a male mystique fix-it handyman but try my best. Seeks partner who is intelligent, adventurous, loving of people and animals and a good cook for sharing accomplishments, challenges, outdoor activities, fun. Make the ordinary extraordinary. Enjoy the little things of life. Let's love, cherish and annoy the heck out of each other."

Ten days into Teri and I's e-mail correspondence, my honesty in asking for exactly what I wanted, and being extremely honest in who I was, foibles and all, was beginning to pay dividends. Teri's e-mail, written during lunch at work, struck a chord with me. The Oreos dunked in beer is a reference to Teri's initial response to my wink. The happy insomniac zombies refers to our tendency to write each other at all hours of the day or night and being extremely happy about our prospects regardless of sleep deprivation. The next Sunday we would have our first date.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008 1:43 p.m.
Subject: Lunch recess stuff ... ;)

Jeff --
Your "let's grow young together" is taking shape. You're right, the future is wide open and ours to explore. What with Oreos (albeit dunked in beer), "happy insomniac zombies," the feeling of a "crush," which I already told my friend Helen, "Oh, no, this is so not a 'crush,' this is definitely something more -- even if nothing beyond what we have right now becomes of it, I feel we have made a deep connection and at the very least we will both have a wonderful friend. Talk about a life-altering event. Seems like we have one of those "if I only knew then what I know now" situations, a true chance to push back time with a far better chance to "get it right." I feel like a grown-up kid, if that makes sense, and it feels awesome.