A few friends, after hearing I got engaged, emailed with something like "Congrats! But who is Peter? How did you meet him?" So here's the story...
I was a freshman in college, thinking I was going to major in English Literature (I wanted to be a poet, perhaps) or Comparative Literature (maybe translate for the UN?). During my first semester, I quickly realize three important things during my first semester: 1) I didn't actually *like* literary criticism. 2) I wasn't nearly fluent in Italian - which I realized every week when I went to my Italian literature class, taught in Italian, and had very little idea what was going on 3) I like anthropology. What the heck is anthropology, I thought, I'd never heard of it! Anyway, I realized that I wasn't allergic to science, and I decided to take a geology class on the history of the earth my second semester. This was waaaay back in prehistoric 1994. Peter was my TA for that class, and I had a crush on him (Aw, cute!). He says he also 'noticed me'. But he was my TA, and that would not have been an appropriate avenue to pursue (except in my head). So, I just went to pretty much all of his office hours and rode next to him in the van he drove for our geology field trip. :)
After that, we stayed friends... for 14 years! The occasional email, the occasional face-to-face visit when I was in Philadelphia, where he was getting his PhD in geology and teaching at the veterinary school at University of Pennsylvania. After a bad breakup of a very long relationship (in '04), I had a High Fidelity moment and emailed him to reveal my old crush. During the next year, I stayed with him for the night when I ran my first ten mile race, in Philadelphia. He got up far too early in the morning on a Sunday to drive me to the race start, hung out and read a book and took a nap in the car while I was running, and had a 'congrats, you did it!'-type sign waiting for me at the end of the race. Wow, I thought, what a sweet guy! Two years after that, we had dinner together when I was at a conference in Philadelphia. So far, just friends. But it all really started when I went to my 10 year Bryn Mawr College reunion last June. I was in Philadelphia and thought 'hey, Peter lives here, let me give him a call!'. He was free the next evening, so he came to the college campus for the big evening festivities - lots of wine, African drumming and dancing, and wonderful candle-esque lighting all through the evening. At the end of the weekend, we both knew there could be something more to us... but I wasn't sure if I was ready to date again, having recently come out of a relationship (again...!). Nevertheless, he visited me in DC the next weekend, and more sparks flew; my face literally hurt from smiling all weekend! And the rest is history. :)
And in the present -
I got back to Nairobi from the field last night, washing off the diatomite dust felt GREAT! Now that I have better internet access, I'm going to try to post more often, finish up the story of Peter's visit, and more.
I was a freshman in college, thinking I was going to major in English Literature (I wanted to be a poet, perhaps) or Comparative Literature (maybe translate for the UN?). During my first semester, I quickly realize three important things during my first semester: 1) I didn't actually *like* literary criticism. 2) I wasn't nearly fluent in Italian - which I realized every week when I went to my Italian literature class, taught in Italian, and had very little idea what was going on 3) I like anthropology. What the heck is anthropology, I thought, I'd never heard of it! Anyway, I realized that I wasn't allergic to science, and I decided to take a geology class on the history of the earth my second semester. This was waaaay back in prehistoric 1994. Peter was my TA for that class, and I had a crush on him (Aw, cute!). He says he also 'noticed me'. But he was my TA, and that would not have been an appropriate avenue to pursue (except in my head). So, I just went to pretty much all of his office hours and rode next to him in the van he drove for our geology field trip. :)
After that, we stayed friends... for 14 years! The occasional email, the occasional face-to-face visit when I was in Philadelphia, where he was getting his PhD in geology and teaching at the veterinary school at University of Pennsylvania. After a bad breakup of a very long relationship (in '04), I had a High Fidelity moment and emailed him to reveal my old crush. During the next year, I stayed with him for the night when I ran my first ten mile race, in Philadelphia. He got up far too early in the morning on a Sunday to drive me to the race start, hung out and read a book and took a nap in the car while I was running, and had a 'congrats, you did it!'-type sign waiting for me at the end of the race. Wow, I thought, what a sweet guy! Two years after that, we had dinner together when I was at a conference in Philadelphia. So far, just friends. But it all really started when I went to my 10 year Bryn Mawr College reunion last June. I was in Philadelphia and thought 'hey, Peter lives here, let me give him a call!'. He was free the next evening, so he came to the college campus for the big evening festivities - lots of wine, African drumming and dancing, and wonderful candle-esque lighting all through the evening. At the end of the weekend, we both knew there could be something more to us... but I wasn't sure if I was ready to date again, having recently come out of a relationship (again...!). Nevertheless, he visited me in DC the next weekend, and more sparks flew; my face literally hurt from smiling all weekend! And the rest is history. :)
And in the present -
I got back to Nairobi from the field last night, washing off the diatomite dust felt GREAT! Now that I have better internet access, I'm going to try to post more often, finish up the story of Peter's visit, and more.
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