The Story
Question
Rosie's Side
Answer
My patience was running thin as I waited for my friend, Kate, to bring home my Wendy’s Frosty. She finally walked in an hour late, with a crazy story and Frosties that, at this point, better resembled luke-warm chocolate milk. She was pulling out of the drive-thru when she witnessed some guy riding his bicycle with no helmet, phone, wallet, or lights at dusk, slam into the hood of a box truck. Kate played first responder, alerting emergency services and utilizing her extensive facebook friend network to find someone this poor guy knew to meet him at the hospital.
Question
Chris' Side
Answer
I definitely got some air. I couldn’t help but feel like the star of the show as I lay pancaked in the middle of the Wendy’s parking lot. My shoes were gone! BOTH. I won’t lie, I was a bit out of it, and I do not recall much. I do remember people driving around me to still get into the drive-thru line. Tough crowd! But that’s Wendy’s for ya. I do not recall any faces. Only shoes. I remember Kate wearing flip-flops. The guy who hit me wore slides. Kate was incredibly concerned, while the guy who hit me eventually said, “sorry bud”. I admired how Kate went after the cars pulling into the drive thru line around me, yelling at them through their windows to give me space. She was my champion that night and would play a huge role in the shaping of the rest of my life.
Question
Rosie's Side
Answer
Fast forward seven months. I was invited to a mutual friend’s graduation party. Turns out that that mutual friend was the eventual sister-in-law of the poor fellow who got backhanded by a box truck earlier that fall. At some point during the party a strapping young man in mustard colored shirt, walked over and asked me to move off the cooler I had been sitting on so he could grab a drink. I knew this was my opportunity to find out more about that crazy night, and maybe get some reconciliation for my warm Frosty. As I got up, I mentioned, “Hey, I think my roommate saw you get hit by a car”. The perfect ice breaker. I enjoyed getting to know the man behind the story, but turns out he was planning a big hiking trip and I was planning to move to DC that summer, so I really didn’t ever think I’d see him again.
Question
Chris' Side
Answer
I wanted a Truly, and she was sitting right on top of the cooler. Yes, she was cute, but at that moment I was living for one goal, hiking the entire Appalachian Trail. I was less than two months away, and I was not going to let some girl slow my momentum. No, sir. Even my mother, who desperately wanted me to rethink my decision to hike, was not budging me. That moment lasted three minutes TOPS. What can I say… she had the perfect ice breaker. All I could think was “she actually thinks I’m a badass!”
Question
Rosie's Side
Answer
I did not.
Question
Chris' Side
Answer
I spent the rest of the night propping up the illusion of me being the reincarnated James Dean. If someone would’ve handed me a cigarette, I would’ve hit it. Maybe even twice! My illusion did not last long. In fact, it seemed like she was more interested in the authentic me anyway. As the night unfolded, however, we realized that with her eventual move to start her career in D.C., and my transcendentalist ideals, our future together was statistically improbable. Game on.
Question
Rosie's Side
Answer
He actually came to the coffee shop. The night we met, I mentioned I worked there, but didn’t think he’d actually come. But he came. And the switch flipped. Instantly I went from a chill barista with big city ambitions to a blushing, flustered girl smitten that a man would come to a coffee shop, for her. It was busy and I had a limited time to leave an impression. It had to be smooth, it had to leave him wanting more. I shot him a thumbs up.
Question
Chris' Side
Answer
All I got was a lousy thumbs up. A thumbs up is exclusively for when you are taking a picture with your buddy and your arm is around each other’s neck, and you have no idea what to do with the other hand. The thumbs up is excluded from romantic situations. As I would later find out, I read a bit too far into the thumbs up. In fact, the visit to the coffee shop set off a cascade of dates over the next month that would solidify our relationship before I went hiking on trail.
Question
Rosie's Side
Answer
Queue the movie montage of coffee dates, hikes, lounges in parks and beach trips. It all felt very carpe diem. Chris created a seemingly endless list of places to visit, people to meet, and moments to experience. To further the serendipity, the pandemic took its toll on the job market, and I no longer had to move to DC.
Question
Chris' Side
Answer
Little did Rosie know that behind the scenes I was frantically planning each date such that our relationship would progress at the necessary rate to remain viable for the moment I started hiking. I had the first date, the first kiss, meeting the parents, everything planned. We had one month to have a relationship that was equivalent in maturity to a three year relationship between two 30 year olds. It was stressful, yet rewarding. When the news had arrived to me about Rosie losing her job opportunity in D.C., I was actually doing a three day “reconnaissance” hike. I understood she was bitten by the pandemic like so many others, and I felt sorry. However, I did a little Irish jig in the woods alone that day. I now knew with certainty that we would eventually be here today making this website.
Question
Rosie's Side
Answer
It seems like a common belief that everyone must eventually leave their hometown, but I discovered another side of the coin. I found a job here in Raleigh while I waited for Chris to finish the trail. I managed to hike with him for a week in the White Mountains. I picked him up in Georgia after he finished, providing him with a stick of deodorant and shampoo. It was not nearly enough. It has been over four years since we spent those four months apart, and we have been by each other’s side ever since, building a community of friends and loved one’s. As Chris once told me, “We are like Batman and Robin, Shaggy and Scooby, or Tsarina Alexandra and Rasputin!” He is my partner in crime.
