Ten Years Ago Today (and Two Days Ago)

Today marks the tenth anniversary of what Marcie and I have deemed our “dating anniversary” — or at least the second half of it. You can read about our March 23, 1996 Sea World date in the online version of the tongue-in-cheek story we included in our wedding program. But what doesn’t really get covered is the first half, which occurred on the evening of Thursday, March 21.

At the time, I was living in San Diego pursuing my master’s degree and Marcie’s sisters both happened to be living in the San Diego area as well. So she scheduled a flight from Davis (where she was going to school) for that weekend to spend some quality time with them — or at least that’s what she told her sisters and parents. Prior to her arrival, we had already made plans to visit Sea World and for me to have her over for dinner afterwards. Although we were still “just friends” at that point, I was hoping to win her over with my culinary skills (I didn’t realize at that point that my romantic inclinations toward her were mutual).

But other than the Sea World/dinner plans, we hadn’t made any other arrangements, nor had I expected to see her at any other time during her visit (although I certainly wanted to). So I was very pleasantly surprised to get a call at work late in the afternoon on March 21 from Marcie saying she had just arrived in town, was going to be staying with her sister Aimee, and wanted to know if I’d be interested in coming by for a visit that evening. It took a considerable amount of will power to keep from turning into some sort of crazed Jerry Lewis character and saying “Laaadeeee!! Niiiice Laaadeeee! I’ll be right there, laaadeeeee!!!” Instead, I calmly said I’d be very happy to swing by and tried to get through the rest of the call without sounding completely incoherent.

I next had to race home, shave, change clothes, and ensure I was adequately favorably-fragranced (i.e. wasn’t stinky after a long day of classes and work). I tried calming myself during the 45 minute drive to Del Mar (the area of San Diego in which Marcie’s sisters both lived) by playing Pink Floyd on the radio and blasting air conditioning on my face. And then I arrived.

I’ll always remember my first glimpse of Marcie at the door. She was wearing denim overalls and looked about as adorable as you can imagine. After briefly catching up and taking up Aimee’s offer for a slice of pizza (I skipped dinner in order to get ready as quickly as possible), we decided to take a short drive to a Starbucks in a nearby outdoor shopping mall. In our mutual excitement, we both failed to pay much attention to Aimee’s directions and we got immediately lost. But after driving around for a while (and almost getting rear-ended while I was trying to move into a turning lane), we arrived at the mall with a combination of relief and laughter.

Enjoying the cool early-Spring air brushing across our faces while strolling along toward our final destination, we passed a walkway water fountain display with oddly underpowered jets. There was something comically pathetic about the lackluster sprays of water shooting out of the pipes that got Marcie laughing uncontrollably. This proved to be a most enjoyable foreshadowing of the memorable chicken-stealing seagull incident two days later at Sea World (see our wedding program story for more on that silly incident).

Upon finally reaching the Starbucks storefront, we noticed an ice cream shop next door and simultaneously exclaimed “Ooooh!” We immediately made a beeline for the ice cream and never did get that cup of joe.

After returning to Aimee’s place afterwards, we finally began to speak more personally and it was then that Marcie revealed the true nature of her feelings. I immediately let her know that her feelings were very much reciprocated. Several hours later, at around midnight, the evening came to a close with a very sweet first kiss at the door and a very happy man returning to his car.

Ten years later, we still laugh uncontrollably at silly things, we still say “Ooooh” every time we pass an ice cream shop, and we still have wonderful conversations. And yes, that happiness I felt returning home that night has remained ever since.