The most awkward questions for us to answer are about the beginning of our relationship. Erica and I do not agree about what our first date was. Erica and I went to the same high school but nothing really came of it. We knew OF each other but didn’t know each other. In the spring of 2009, I got a job at Academy Sports and Outdoors in Lewisville. Erica worked there during the summer. We talked occasionally, but nothing of substance. At the end of the summer she returned to school, but we continued to talk on Facebook, off and on. June 8th, 2010 we went to a Rangers game against Seattle. Neither of us consider this our first date. There was chemistry, but nothing happened. There was, however, a lot of excitement about the Rangers that year.

On October 22nd of 2010 the Rangers beat the New York Yankees in the ALCS to clinch a spot in the World Series. I was watching at home with my mom and dad. I had refused to sign up to work that night because I wanted to be able to buy World Series merchandise. When I got home, I was talking with my parents, and I got the crazy idea to borrow their credit card and go stand outside the stadium to see if I could somehow get tickets for us. I never thought it would work, but when I got there, the line wasn’t as long as I thought it would be. The following morning, I got four obstructed view seats to game 3, because that is what was left. I had tried to get a friend to go and had asked my current girlfriend to go but neither were able. I knew that Erica would fully appreciate the game for the history it was. On October 30th, 2010, Erica went with my parents and I to game 3 of the World Series. Erica has said, since then, that she was “kinda hoping it was a date,” at the time. She was unaware that I was dating someone else. I introduced Erica to my parents as my friend, and my parents “were nice and made her feel included.” It was the first World Series win by a team from Texas in MLB history, and her favorite player – Mitch Moreland – hit a 3 run homerun that was the difference. It is a night neither of us will ever forget.

Months went by, and we continued to talk through Facebook. I was single, shortly after the game. Erica returned to Academy in the summer of 2011. I attempted to find out her schedule by saying things like, we should do something soon. Erica would just ask me to go to a baseball game with her friends, or to six flags. That’s how it went through most of June. I was trying to get a date and was only interested in her. Her friends would say things, “what are your intentions with my friend?” I consider our first date to be a specific baseball game in July. Erica has a picture of me trying to help little kids start the wave. I HATE the wave. I like little kids though. She has a picture of me looking like an idiot in front of the crowd trying to help some kids. To me, that is our first date. In Erica’s mind, it was a couple weeks later. We went to the movies the night before she had nose surgery. Throughout the years we’ve celebrated our anniversary as some week during July.