1st impression – Asian Crime Victims Project @ Fordham: Smart, dimpled, rangy, charismatic. You clearly loved being the center of attention, which was both amusing and attractive. We worked together on ACVP stuff for a couple months, but I can’t even remember what we actually accomplished.

1st date – Nice Italian seafood followed by … bowling? Really? Though you probably found me boring due to my hangover and dislike of bowling, which led to this next memory.

1st surprise – What?!!! I’d been planning to break things off with you after what ended up being a fun night out with friends – fun enough that I started reconsidering my plan – but you beat me to it. Sitting in a greasy diner with a sticky red checkered tablecloth in the middle of the night, eating some delicious fried thing with too much sauce, listening to you say that you thought I was a great girl but you weren’t ready to commit to anyone, I silently vowed to make you eat your words. Then you walked me back to my dorm room, where we sat on my roommate’s couch and enjoyed talking without any pressure to impress, showed each other all the weird things about ourselves, and laughed at random stories until you left to go home to Queens.

1st road trip – When you came to pick me up for our group weekend in Killington about a month later, I didn’t really recognize you at first, driving your brother’s white SUV in the half light of dawn, in your thick-framed glasses, oversized ski jacket, and morning hair. I thought you might be a Chinese delivery guy. The drive went quickly, the skiing was fine, our friends were funny, and by the end of the night we were making out. I think that was pretty much the beginning. Almost 26 years later, I’m glad you let me down easy at Big Nick’s.

Jenn