Brett slid into my DMs before that was even trendy. Back when it was just the foreign suitors with broken English and creepy messages of “love”. And Brett.
It all started with a photo of a new puppy, on the Facebook of a guy named Billy. I commented something like “OH.EM.GEE. This dog is sooo cute!” Then shortly thereafter some guy commented directly under my comment, something along the lines of “ohmahgahh this girl ^ is sooo cute!”.
Easy as that, happily ever after.
Kidddding. That was back in 2009. We bantered a bit in Facebook messages, trash talking each other’s college football teams (Go gators), and then made a flirtatious wager (see photo). He said that if the Seminoles won the annual Thanksgiving weekend game versus the Gators, I’d have to take him on a date over winter break; and if the Gators won, he’d have to take me out.
Ultimately that led to our first, first date.
He picked me up at my folks’ house - shutting off the car and walking allll the way to the door, during a time when a horn honk and an idle engine were trendy AF for the boys.
We went to his favorite sushi spot out in Hollywood. He parallel parked, and I let myself out (I hadn’t yet learned that he is a chronic door-opener/gentleman). The first date gods then cursed me - the curb was high or the street was low, and me flinging open the door of his Civic wound up tragically scraping it alllll along the sidewalk, to the point that it took the two of us to lift and safely close it again. I was embarrassed and told him he could totally just drop me off back at home, and I’d understand. He smiled through the pain, and said of course not. Joke was on him though, the restaurant was closed for renovation and we had to leave and go to an alternative sushi spot back in Pembroke Pines anyway. WHOOPS.
The date must not have been that bad, because (apparently) we hung out a few times that winter break. I don’t remember much, which still makes him whimper to this day. I do remember giving him the runaround a lot. Telling him I was somewhere in downtown Fort Lauderdale and to come meet up, only to keep bar hopping with a flock of my guy friends and not really giving him the time of day. That might have been during another school break in south Florida - it all runs together for me.
Clearly, we didn’t dive into the depths of our love story there. We went back to our respective schools and lives after that initial winter break date. I went back to being caught up on an ex for a while, and he went on to date a few not-the-ones. #GodBlessTheBrokenRoad folks.
We’d check in about once a year, with some well documented Facebook messenger flirting.
It wasn’t until after college, when I was living out east with my girl Tina (circa 2013, so about 4 years later), that we really reconnected.
It was a beach day in November. I was there with a couple of my girls and a few guy friends from high school. (see photo).
I was laying there, minding my own Blondies business, when over strolls Brett with the same guy who had the cute dog photo (see top of story). They also knew the guys, and had come to say hi.
I immediately got a knot in my stomach. Not because I was hopelessly in love with this man who just walked back into my life in some board shorts, but because I was terrified he’d still be mad I messed up his car door.
He, thankfully, wasn’t holding grudges. We were pretty locked in, and it was at that time that I laid it down hard on him. “Sit down, stay a while”, I said coyly, patting the sand next to me.
And so he did. FOR-EV-VER.
He asked me out a week or so later. We had our second first date - more sushi, new spot. We were so engaged in conversation that we took about 2 hours before we were ready to order, and wound up closing the place down. He was also taking secret candid photos to show his mom later, which I think clearly shows how smitten I was this time around. (See photo). Note: he was smitten since the FIRST time around (2009), ask his mom. :)
From then on, it advanced pretty quickly. We’d go on sweet dates (where he’d often bring flowers...even if that meant I’d have to hold flowers awkwardly throughout a movie), we’d go out downtown with friends on weekend nights, and then he’d spend all day Sunday being lazy octopus heads with my girls and me, watching crappy tv or rom coms, and seemingly enjoying himself. We were all very confused by this new species of man.
The rest is history.
We made it official. Moved in together in Pines once my Fort Lauderdale lease [read: single life] was up. Renovated a townhouse. Dated. Dated. Almost broke up. Didn’t. Kept dating . Got engaged. Got pregnant. Made a baby. Moved to Davie.
Through every experience, setback, adventure, and triumph, we kept building our life and our love story. And here we are, getting ready to have the wedding we’ve been wanting. And added bonus, we will have a gorgeous, homegrown flower girl.
I can’t wait to keep flirting, loving, growing, and renovating our homes, lives and minds together.
As I'm sure most know, Sarah and I met through the most popular social media platform known to man, FarmersOnly.com. JK, it was Facebook. My good friend Billy Spreitzer posted an adorable photo of his puppy. THEN, this beauty, Sarah Fialkov (no clue how to say it!? I know, been there, changed that), commented on that photo and expressed how cute she thought the pup was. I couldn't resist and commented underneath her comment about the cuteness of the puppy admirer. From there, slid into the DMs, more better known as PMs (private messages) at that time, and struck up a friendly competition. A battle between the FSU and UF football teams. Winner gets a dinner paid for by the loser during winter break. So, I paid for dinner. #ThanksTebow. But, before that dinner, I picked Sarah up at her parents house in Plantation. I remember the pool table being where the dining room table ended up during our second go 'round (proof we hung out and I remember, but I digress). I drove Sarah to this delicious sushi place over in Hollywood. After we parked, she opened the door to my newer Honda Civic and she scraped the bottom of the door along the curb. She felt bad. Apologized. Wasn't her fault. It was a first date. We already flirted a lot online leading up to today. She still cute. Let's grub! Paid for parking and then walked up to the restaurant... only to find out that the restaurant was closed... for hours. Like, not even close to enough time to wait it out by walking down the street and flirting our faces off. Took her to a much sketchier, less appealing looking Sushi place in Pines afterwards, don't remember much other than liking this Sarah creature. She was intriguing. Beautiful, friendly, smart, pensive... she taught me that word.
We met up a handful of times after that date that she doesn't remember. But, I specifically remember Smokey Bones beer pong tourney, Ducky and Sarah's brother, Hunkle J were there; bowling with Amanda and her then boyfriend, Teddy; Off the Hookah Ft. Lauderdale meet, etc. Pretty sure she either, 1) wasn't that into me, or 2) stuck on an ex, whatever. Naturally, I FB stalked him once, to check out my competition. Secretly, I wanted to be upset with this person that I didn't know. However, I ended up watching a video of him in a ridiculous outfit "working out" by moving his hands up and down a pole. Damn, he's funny. The video made me laugh. Still liked her though AND, I'm funny. Her funniest friend, actually, just ask her. Back to the story... Fast forward a year or two, I don't actually know the time frame but we somewhat stayed in touch over the years and I would try to meet up with her when she would hang out with our mutual friends. However, she didn't like to talk on the phone and I didn't have texting. #ThanksMom. Recipe for disaster. Mom ended up getting me texting later. Side note: total dating game-changer. Short story long, we would attempt to meet up during college breaks at places like Dicey Riley's, Brick, and Off the Hookah in Ft. Lauderdale. When I saw her out, she would be with the largest group of guys and just walk past me. We'd exchange flirtatious banter and then she'd leave or I would leave to another spot. Never actually hanging out with eachother. Then at the end of one specific night, with that exact scenario, she texted me something like... "You looked good tonight." So, it didn't work out. We both moved on.
Fast forward to 2013. Billy Spreitzer. So, Billy and I are on Ft. Lauderdale beach, see a group of girls, game on! As we get closer to the group, I noticed that there was one girl that stood out to me, Sarah whatever her last name was. She patted the towel next to her and said to me, "sit down and stay a while." So I did.
The second first date that we had, we went out for sushi. I will never forget us not being able to actually look at the menu to figure out what we wanted to eat because we couldn't stop talking and laughing. #PoorWaitress #SorryImNotSorry. I knew very early on that Sarah was special. I knew very early on that she was different. I knew very early on that I really liked her. I knew very early on that I loved her. I knew very early on that I had fallen in love with her.
She was then, and is now, my best friend. I confide in her. I trust her. I value her. I want her. I need her. I am there for her and she is always there for me. I am so fortunate that she is in my life. She is the type of person that makes me want to be better, not because she asks, but because it's what she deserves. She is one of the most selfless, loving, and caring people that I have ever met. AND, she has given me a gift that no one else on this planet ever could have. A beautiful, happy, and healthy baby girl, Sadie Marie Thompson. For all of those reasons and many, many more, I cannot wait to share this Wedding Day with her and all of the people that we love.