I met Kris back in middle school, when he was assigned to be my tutor. I was a grumpy, stubborn pre-teen who couldn’t have cared less about math, and my mom (rightfully) decided I needed help. But instead of taking it seriously, I saw it as the perfect chance to get someone else to do my homework. And then Kris showed up. He was a high schooler, older, confident, and honestly very cute, which was completely overwhelming for my awkward, freshly teenage self. I spent that session panicked and flustered, too nervous to focus on anything he was trying to teach me. Safe to say, I didn’t walk away with better grades, but definitely a major crush.
I met Shelby on an off-chance when I was somewhere between a freshman/sophomore in high school. I was eager to find accessible ways to make money while in school, and so my math skills I had nurtured and acquired were a great way to do so. My math tutoring clients quickly grew from 1 student to 4 students within a month’s time. Business was booming and I was happy being a successful math tutoring entrepenuer, until it all came crumbling down. To my dismay, while the first three students were easy to work with and prompted me with only a handful of difficult questions per session, the fourth student I had tutored was quite the opposite. That student was Shelby. Upon meeting Shelby for the first time, it was obvious that she was going through her “teenage girl” phase. Quiet, somber, and a little shy. I had introduced myself, and to begin the first tutoring session - which, mind you was only an hour in total - I had asked her which math questions were causing her great difficulty. Shelby responded by opening up her math book to the end of an entire math chapter, and highlighting every single homework question; saying she needed to complete all ~60 math questions by tomorrow, in preparation for her final test which was on the same day. While I attempted to assist her as best as possible for an hour, I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable at the end of the session, accepting money from her parents despite what I knew was the eventual outcome of a failed exam from their daughter. That experience immediately led to the voluntarily cancellation of my booming, entrepreneurial, math-tutoring business. At the time, I couldn’t help but feel a small bit of contempt for the girl I just met, Shelby, for putting me in such an uncomfortable position. Fortunately, I didn’t know that the future would completely change my mind about her.
Fast forward over a decade later and I am working as a bartender at Red Robin. I was feeling burnt out and looking for new jobs. One random weekday night, the whole Erlitz clan walks in and up to the bar and sits at one of the tables. I immediately recognize the family, but couldn’t tell from where (later find out it is from both my tutoring days, but also from little league baseball). I go over and take their order, trying to place where I know each of them from. Since I cant place it, I send my younger brother, who also was working at the time, to bring their appetizers and tell me if he knew them. He immediately did, and they recognized him, so they were chatting. I took this as my opportunity to go over and join the conversation! As I’m doing so, I am seeing Kris out of the corner of my eye and getting big ‘ole butterflies because I think he is so so cute. My nervous self remains very giggly and giddy each time I went over. They soon left and I texted every friend and said I saw the CUTEST boy and sent them his instagram after a deep stalk. Not expecting anything to come of it, I just moved on. A few days later, I see Kris and his dad walk in the restaurant walk in and sit back in my section. I immediately get super nervous and shy, but go say hi, chat, and take their order. It was a very busy night, but anytime I had to take food to another table, I would take the long way to ensure I walked right past Kris and he could see me. They left again and I was bummed. I saw my mom a few days later and asked her if she remembered him. She immediately did and went to stalk his Facebook. She LOVED him, simply through his social media, and told me she had her blessing to marry him (hahahaha).
At this moment of my life, I was enjoying time with my closest friends/family, focusing on my career, and working on my Master’s degree and spending time on activities that I enjoyed such as the gym, surfing, and going to baseball games. I was also going on dates throughout the year, but hadn’t met that someone that complimented me. I have always been relatively open with my parents about how my dating life was going. My mother was always keen on knowing whether there would eventually be another Mrs. Erlitz in the family. She mentioned this cute girl who was working at Red Robin as a waitress. She mentioned, “Remember that girl you had tutored in math years and years ago? She is super cute now! Her name is Shelby. She works at Red Robin now!” Taking a moment to recollect the traumatizing math-tutoring event, I responded, “ Ohh, that girl? Ughh, she was the worst! Made me quit tutoring math. I don’t know about her.” My mother insisted, “Oh no! She is super friendly and sweet now, you’d really like her a lot! You need to go out to dinner with us so you can meet her yourself!”. Begrudgingly, I ended up going to dinner with my parents and my brother to Red Robin at the end of that week. We sat in Shelby’s section at the bar. In that moment, I laid my eyes on the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. I was smitten by not only her good looks, but her endearing personality and friendliness. I knew my opinion was shifting quickly. I went in a couple times alone to Red Robin, asking to sit at the bar so that I could begin to know Shelby better without being creepy or too forward by asking for her section (as I had only met her briefly once). I had been unlucky in a few occasions, where on some days she wouldn’t be working, and so I’d have a quick beer and leave. I also went with my Dad once, and struck up small talk, some eye contact and light flirting. I was working the system slowly and methodically, trying to get to know her a bit better before eventually asking her out.
One very very very slow night at Red Robin, I saw Kris’s parents both walk in. Now feeling like I knew them pretty well, I went over to chat with them. They both quickly started talking all about Kris, his big accomplishments, his singing talents, his super cool hobbies, as well as my dating past and my relationship status. I didn’t think anything of it— just thought we were making conversation. They then asked me for my upcoming work week schedule, which I gave, because they said Kris was coming in to ask me out on a date. I was internally SCREAMING, but obviously couldn’t let that show. I acted very *whatever* but was so excited. I immediately ran to my phone when they left, texting everyone “Guess who I have a date with?!” Each person I texted knew EXACTLY who I was talking about because he had very clearly been my crush for a while now. Next was what felt like the longest like three days of my whole life, waiting for him to come in.
Fast forward about a month, I had and was still making time to occasionally go into Red Robin to strike up conversation with Shelby, amongst the other typical obligations in my life. To my mother’s disappointment, I was not working quickly enough to ask Shelby out on a date. “She’s not going to be on the market much longer, and you’re moving too slow!”, she said. I responded, “Mom, I wasn’t born yesterday. I am working my magic at a good pace. Rushing into things will not help anything, only scare her away.” She responded, “ If you don’t hurry it up, I am going in there myself to convince her for you.” Embarrassed by the thought, I told her, “ Don’t you dare do that. I have this handled. All this will do is make me look like I can’t handle things myself. If anything, this will make me look like such a loser. Don’t you dare go in there. I will be pissed. I can handle these things alone, as I always have.” Unfortunately, as you now already know, my parents went rogue on me and decided to do exactly the last thing any son would want in this situation. The next day after, as I arrived home from work, my mom was sitting on the couch with a massive grin on her face and a posture of confidence, saying, “ I talked to Shelby about you, and she thinks you are cute. She is working next Friday. See, if it wasn’t for me, this would have never happened. You’re welcome, now hurry up and ask her out before you blow it!” I will not lie, it was perhaps the most embarrassing thing to ever happen to me. My pride was at an all time low. And while to this day, I still know I would have asked Shelby out at the right time without any help, I can’t ignore the fact that my Mom’s persistence did pay off. I moved forward with going into Shelby’s work that coming Friday to ask her on out on our first date.
It was a very busy night at the restaurant and I was in the kitchen area filling up drinks for some guests. My manager came up to me and said “Hey Shelby, there is a VERY cute blonde man wanting to sit in your section alone *wink*.” My stomach dropped and I got all sorts of butterflies. He was put on a wait since it was a busy night, but I could see him waiting right outside the doors. A few minutes later, the hostess ran up to me and said something like, “Hi, I just sat a cute boy at table 125 by himself. I might go try to talk to him and get his number.” I remember, not rudely, but very directly, saying something along the lines of “absolutely not, he’s mine.” I walked over to his table (after going to the bathroom to check my hair and makeup) and asked what he would like. He said just a Corona with a lime, so I went to grab it. I came back with the beer and he asked if I liked baseball. I said yes, the Angels, to which he let out a sigh of disappointment (jokingly, I think). He asked if I wanted to go to a Dodgers game with him in a week and a half (longest week and a half of my life) to which I agreed. He was at the restaurant for maybeeeee a total of 10 min before paying (and leaving a hefty tip, what a *baller*) and leaving.
It was Friday night at Red Robin. I got dressed up in one of my classier, but casual button-up shirts, making sure I was presentable. I walked up to the host, and for likely the 5th time, asked to sit in the bar area, but this time specifically in Shelby’s section. The host smirked - she knew why I was there. She said it would be just a few minutes. I waited patiently, and eventually got seated. Shelby came over and talked with me for a few minutes and asked if I wanted something to eat or drink. Since I was on a mission, and wanted to leave topics of conversation for our first date, I just asked for a Corona with Lime. I asked her if she would like to go out on a date, to which she said yes. I asked briefly about interests/hobbies to gauge what a good first date would be, to which she responded vaguely, not giving me much to work with. At the bar behind her, a TV was playing the Dodger game. I asked her if she liked baseball, and which team she liked. She responded ecstatically, saying that she loved baseball, and that it is practically her families favorite sport. However, she answered that her favorite team was the Angels. “ The Angels … Disgusting”, I thought to myself, being a devoted fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. My response to her was something along the lines of, “Oh wow, that’s unfortunate”. Who doesn’t enjoy a little bit of banter and a light “Shit Test”? I asked her, rightfully, to go with me to a real baseball game at Dodgers Stadium. She said, “That sounds great”. I got her number, wished her a goodnight and that I was looking forward to our date, and then left within only a few minutes.
The day of the first date finally arrived and I was living with my friend at the time, so she helped me get ready and of course made fun of my nervousness. She said that if he doesn’t come to the door to get me AND open my car door, he isn’t the one. When he arrived, he most definitely did both of those (and still does to this day. I’ve maybe opened the car door twice since being with him). He drove me in his old mustang through Los Angeles traffic (with a stick shift) and we talked non stop the whole ride there. Maybe cliche, but it was so easy to be around him from the very start. We watched the whole game, laughing and cheering. We took a picture in front of the stadium after some stranger offered (seen in the gallery!). We drove all the way back and even though that date had already lasted like eight hours and it was past midnight, we weren’t wanting it to end. We decided to go to an empty grocery store parking lot where he *attempted* to teach me how to drive stick shift (…haven’t tried since that day). After that more than perfect first date, we have been deeply and unconditionally in love. I am so incredibly grateful to have this man in my life, and I will continue to be grateful until the end of my time.
The day of our first date, I pulled up to her place in my 1986 Mustang GT. While I still have that car til’ this day, it was at that time my daily driver. I walked up to her front door, rang the door bell, and waited for her at the front porch. Shortly, she opened the door, to which I gave her a hug and led her to my car, which I opened the door. As Shelby proclaims, this was a perfect day with ease of enjoyment in each other’s company. Every conversation was organic, there was no need to put on an act or be different around each other. The game was very cold during the September evening, and so we spent the whole game cuddling under a blanket while in our respective seats. I recall going in for the first kiss during the game, as indiscreetly as possible to not draw attention from other people in the stadium crowd. I recall after the kiss, saying to Shelby, “ That is the only one for tonight”, to which she replied, “ Tonight? Well, what about after the game?” Following a Dodger’s Victory against the Diamondbacks, we had dinner an In N’ Out and Shelby learned how to drive manual transmission in the Mustang (She is a great driver, don’t let her tell you otherwise). The rest is history, and I am nothing but humbled to be the man that she has chosen to spend the rest of her life with. I know we are both overjoyed to celebrate the special occasion with you!