6 Years

May 15th, 2004. That was the day Graham and I began dating. Officially. Graham would argue that we went on "dates" numerous times over the two years prior but I disagree. This will probably always be a perpetual point of contention in our relationship but I think Graham has finally come around as even he mentioned last night "Tomorrow is our dating anniversary!"

Okay so maybe he did take me out a few times prior to May 15th. There were evening strolls on Alki, coffee to-go sipped at Discovery Park, lessons on the rules of chess at Cafe Ladro, dessert at B&O on Capitol Hill, outdoor study times at various Seattle parks. These very well might have been dates. But I would argue that, no matter how lovely, a date isn't a date until the girl knows you are into her. I thought Mr-Lady's-Man-Crozier did these things with all his female friends. He did, after all, have MANY female friends given his subject of study.

So rewind three months back to the end of February, 2004. Unfortunately, here is where my memory fails me and I seem to have lost the record of the exact date. I was newly single as of Valentines Day from my only other dating relationship. Graham waited a good week and a half--okay, maybe it was two weeks--before making his move. He came by my dorm room and told me he was having a rough night. Would I go on a walk? I accepted and he proceeded to share with me how one of his female friends was struggling spiritually and he wasn't sure what to tell her. Interesting lead-in approach. I had no idea what was coming. I'm sure I gave him some very intellectual and wise advice before, BAM! Topic change!

We were sitting on the wall below the basketball courts at Ashton Hall (you fellow SPUers, you know where I'm talking about--oh the memories!) Graham said something like "So there isn't really a good way to transition to this but............."

Pause.

"I have feelings for you."

Silence.

Whoa! I am pretty sure I did not see that one coming. I think this is the point where I lost all things intellectual and starting stumbling over some jibber-jabber of an answer to let him go easy. What ended up coming out was "Sure, we can hang out more!" (Nice Kelsie, real classy!) That was my way of gently rejecting him I guess. Truth be told, I really had no intention of ever dating him. I didn't think we could. We were just so different.

What happened in the 3 months that followed that changed my mind? Graham often asks me the same thing. I think I wasn't as hard set on not dating him as I led everyone to believe. I mean, he had a lot of really romantic and desirable qualities (just ask half of the SPU female population who seemed to be on the chase!) He was musical and could often be found playing the guitar and singing in the echoey dorm stairwells. He was creative. And spontaneous. He had the best ideas for all of our "non-dates." He always asked about me and how I was doing. He seemed to really want to spend time with me. What girl wouldn't find that attractive?

I think I refused to believe that I was receiving special attention from Graham. I kept my guard up because I feared later getting my heart broken if I found out I was "just another girl." Graham was persistent though and pursued long and hard. I must say, it's pretty difficult for a girl to turn down a guy who woos like he did. The Lord definitely knew what I needed in a man much better than I and Graham couldn't be a better fit!

Back to May 15th. I must have known this was going to be a "real" date because I wore a skirt. Oh, and we were going out to dinner (a first!) When Graham pulled around my dorm to pick me up, there were roses in the front passenger seat (yep, definitely a REAL date!), two-tone roses with bright tips-my favorite!

Our first stop was the gas station because, alas, Graham's car had no fuel. This is probably my favorite part because it so perfectly represents the ever-spontaneous-take-things-as-they-come Graham that I adore. Really, it couldn't have been any other way.

For dinner, Graham introduced me to my first Ethiopian meal by taking me to Queen Sheba on Capitol Hill. We ate with our hands (brave first date), some sort of chicken dish which we scooped up with injera (Ethiopian bread, more like a large, spongy "pancake.") I loved our meal and even more I loved the fact that Graham was exposing ME to new foods (we've been back a few times since, including on the night he proposed). We somehow managed to make it through all of dinner without talking about "us."

It wasn't until the car ride home that I broached the topic. Graham had, after all, been waiting since February to hear how I felt. I told him that I was finally ready to become BFBF and GFGF (as we liked to refer to one another). To my surprise, he didn't seem giddy or even at all excited. In fact, he seemed quite the opposite. He later filled me in that he caught a small case of cold feet when he realized this might actually happen. Thankfully, he recovered quite quickly and we agreed to take our relationship to the next level.

Graham had signed up to play and sing at an open mic night back at SPU so we headed back to campus. I proudly watched from the audience. I probably should have just worn one of those name tags "Hello my name is Graham's Girlfriend." I'm sure it was written all over my forehead I was so excited.

After the talent night, we went back to Graham's place to hang out with his roommates for a short while. When it came time for me to go home, Graham said he'd walk me back and his buddy Glendon offered to come too. So the two of them escorted me home. Apparently after the boys had dropped me off, Glendon asked Graham "Man! When are you two gonna start dating!?" Graham hadn't had a chance to tell him until right then "Actually, we just did tonight."

Needless to say, Glendon reportedly was a wee bit embarrassed to have joined us for our first official goodbye as boyfriend and girlfriend. :)