Our First Date...Revisited

Bill and I had a four-day first date.   When we were both single parents of three, we called to chat with complain to our mutual friend about our situations.   When she was sick of having the same conversation twice everyday, she  “introduced” us.  “Just talk to each other!” she said. “I don’t have time for this!”  So we did.

We began talking on the phone about six weeks before we met for the first time.  We lived 2000 miles apart, but connected so strongly that he bought the plane tickets the morning after our first conversation – which had lasted 5 hours.   He flew to our friend’s house in Connecticut and I drove down to meet him.  Amazingly, there was never a moment of awkwardness or nervousness about meeting for the first time.  We both felt like we had been together forever and were just on vacation.  Since it had been such a wonderfully relaxing and gorgeous first date, we decided recently to take the children on a tour of the places we had visited.  It wasn’t exactly the same…

On our First Date, Bill and I went to Black Point Beach – a beautiful, quiet beach on the Long Island Sound.  I used to go to this beach every summer when my maternal grandparents were alive.  This is what it looked like when I took my three kids there:

This is what it looked like when Bill and I went there on our First Date:

This is what it looked like (after an hour of pleading and a bag of Twizzlers as a bribe) when we took all 6 kids there:

 

 On our First Date, Bill and I went for a walk on a Boardwalk.  He was disappointed when he heard that there was no ice cream stand nearby as he had “imagined us walking on the boardwalk licking ice cream cones.”  Intrigued that this man had been “imagining” us on our date, I also felt disappointed that this part of his vision would not come true.  We pulled into the parking lot of the boardwalk and noticed that they were nailing a sign to the side of what had been an antique store the summer before.  It said, “Gumdrops and Lollipops: Homemade Candy…and Ice Cream Shop.”  What?  As our date and our life continued, we would come to expect these silly twists of fate that worked like neon signs pointing us towards the obvious conclusion that we were meant to be together.   This was the first one.  The ice cream store was opening as we spoke.  Our cones were the first ones ever served there. When we went back the following summer and dropped off a photo from that first date and explained what had happened, the owner exclaimed, “You should get married here!”  This summer we brought them a wedding photo…They remembered us.

This is what it looked like when Bill and I went to the ice cream shop on our first date:

 

 This is what it looked like when we took all 6 kids to the ice cream shop:

On our First Date, Bill and I drove from the ice cream store to Harkness Park, a gorgeous historic estate complete with a mansion, gardens, and a beach.   We wandered around: holding hands, sitting for photos, kissing embarrassingly. It was beautiful.  It was calm.  It was perfect.

This is what it looked like when we went to Harkness Park on our First Date:

This is what it looked like when we bribed the kids to sit in the same spot:

 

This is what it really looked like when the kids were at the estate.

 

 Before Bill arrived for our first date, I had done some research on seafood spots near where we were staying.  (I hate seafood, but he loves it and I was pretending. Plus I was pretty sure they’d have something else for me to eat.)  When I found Bill’s Seafood, I thought for sure I had it right.  He loved it.  I loved him.  They had chicken. It was perfect.

This is what it looked like when Bill and I went to Bill’s Seafood:

This is what it looked like when we took all 6 kids to Bill’s Seafood:

*Facebook  - Sorry, Bill’s Seafood, we didn’t know that the lobster would scare Gabby, causing her to scream in your restaurant.  Also, we understand that the seagulls would rather not have had Levi throwing ketchup-covered French fries at them.  You just got Blended.

After our re-created first date, we drove back to Nana and Pop’s house with exhausted, sandy children.  We put them to bed and collapsed into a heap on the couch.  When we were wandering through the Connecticut shore that April day, we could never have imagined where we would end up two years later.  Our recreated date was definitely not as calm or relaxing as the real first date - in fact it was completely insane.  But it was, just as the first one, exactly what we were looking for.  Our friend introduced us way back then because she wanted to change our lives.  She had no idea.

 

© Jody Hoffman 2011

Comments

[Heather]

You are SO cute! I love the idea behind this post! I am a definite new follower and will surely be back! :) Thanks for stopping by earlier!

[Praises of a Wife and Mommy]

I adore all those beach pictures...too cute!

Thanks for stopping by my page and for the follow. I am following back! I love finding cute blogs blogging about life! :)

I have a neat giveaway going on that you might like: http://praisesofawifeandmommy.blogspot.com/2011/07/adorable-hair-clip-giveaway.html

[Her from @6degreeslove]

I LOVE YOU GUYS!!! You make me feel NORMAL. And, normal as a 33 year old, was divorced, now blended mom to 6 kids is hard to do. :) Love it.

Um, how do you get six kids to do that jumping thing? I don't know if there is enough icecream in the world to get my 12 and 10 year old boys to.... :(

[Marthamormon]

So glad I could help lead you two to each other! Oh, and your a turd, you made me cry...I love you!

[Sandie Owen]

The first date photos and the recreation of the first date photos are equally precious. This blog makes me smile to enjoy your beautiful family adventures. I think this family was heaven sent!

[Pat]

Smart parents to ban chocolate ice cream - just can't imagine that ice cream photo with chocolate involved!