Thoughts on faith, life, and art.
3. The meet-cute.
I remember the night I met Andrea like it was yesterday. In fact, when I first saw her, it was like there was a spotlight shining down on her. For seriously. I was actually surprised to go back later, and find out there wasn’t a spotlight in the ceiling above her. My first thought when she walked through the door was, “who is that!?” Previously, I'd thought my life was in full color, but now it seemed as though it had all been in black and white. But just seeing her was not the same as meeting her, and there was no way on God’s green earth I was going to just go up to her and introduce myself. I wasn’t that kind of guy. I didn’t go up to girls I didn’t know, especially if I had no other reason to talk to them other than I thought they were attractive! No way. But that’s okay, God knew that about me. He had things worked out in advance.
It all began with an announcement the pastor made, inviting any artists or creatives to meet him in a classroom after the sermon. Apparently the church was putting together a new sermon series, and they wanted to collaborate with artists. I almost didn't go. My normal routine after church was to go to dinner or something with friends, but this particular night I didn’t have plans, which was unusual. Also, when I'd heard the annoucement, I thought to myself, “I’m not really an artist—I’m a writer—I doubt my kind of ‘art’ is what they’re looking for.” But, I decided to go check it out anyway. Mostly because I enjoy meeting other creative types. What better way to do that, than to go where they're all in one place?
Upon entering the room, I met all the usual suspects—many friends I already knew and was not surprised to see there. But, there was a good number of people I hadn’t met yet, so I made my way to the giant circle of chairs and settled in. That’s when Andrea walked in the room, and time stopped. It was just like the scene from the Broadway musical, Big Fish. . . “Time stops, when suddenly you see her. Time stops, and what you thought you knew… changes, and life beyond this moment, is better… bigger!” Not surprisingly, it’s one of our favorite karaoke songs to do together. I digress. Time abruptly started back up again, when a buddy plopped down next to me and began talking my ear off. I don’t even remember who it was, or what he said. I was still coming out of my trance.
Once the meeting started, there were about 50 or so of us sitting in a large circle. We all went around the room saying who we were, and what we did. I introduced myself as a writer and a musician. Saying, “musician” felt weird since it was very much a part of my old life. But still, I was a musician, and it would always be a part of my life in one way or another. Anyway, a quarter of the way around the circle, it got to Andrea. I thought to myself, “oh good, the cute girl!” I soaked up every word she said. She introduced herself as an artist and a dancer. She said she was a painter, who was also passionate about dance because she grew up dancing ballet. Fascinating! There was still no way I was going to go talk to her. What would I even say? “Hey. Me Daniel. Me like you. Me can’t dance. Me think art is cool.” Nope.
But then, it got all the way around to the girl directly across from Andrea. She introduced herself as a dancer, and someone who sews. A seamstress! Wow, someone like me! What a lot of people didn’t know was that during that time, I had been painstakingly hand-sewing a dress for a friend’s upcoming wedding—not the actual wedding dress, just the reception dress. It’s funny, I only got into sewing because nothing ever fit me from the store unless I took it to a tailor, and that gets expensive. So, I began doing all my own alterations. Up until that point, though, I had never made anything from scratch. I had especially never made any women’s clothing, much less something as important as a reception dress for a bride. I still couldn’t believe she’d trusted me enough to do that, especially given my complete lack of experience.
Anyway, I was up to my ears in dealing with extra fine needles, delicate slippery fabrics, and handstitching mock french seams. I was excited for the chance to talk shop with someone who might have experience with what I was going through. So after the meeting concluded, I made my way over to talk to the sewing, dancing girl. Her name was Katie. It felt safe because I could speak to her in a language I knew—sewing! Had I gone to talk to Andrea instead, I could have only managed caveman speak. But what I didn't realize, was that Andrea was also making a beeline for Katie, to talk about dance. Both of us arrived in front of her within seconds of each other, and thus began a friendship that Andrea and I cherish to this day. After all, Katie’s very existence is the reason we met.
Immediately, the conversation swirled around the topic of dance, and by the end of the discussion, Andrea realized she had grown up dancing in the same ballet studio as my younger brother. She was just a few years older than him! As soon as she told me that, I suddenly recalled seeing her performing all those years ago. It stuck in my mind because I’d thought she was cute back then, too! Of course I didn’t tell her this until much later. She didn’t believe me at first, but then I told her, “there were four rows of girls on the stage, with about five girls in each row. You were on the far right, in the very front, in a red dress.” Oh yes, I definitely remember seeing her before! Who knew that all those years later we’d cross paths and meet in this way? God did.
Eventually, it came time for me to talk about sewing. I had been all kinds of eager to talk about it with Katie, but now the "cute girl" was standing there, and what in the world would she think of me when she found out I sewed? But, I had grown and healed a lot in those five years at the church. I knew enough to know that if I couldn’t be myself in front of a person, then she wasn’t for me. If she rejected me for who I was, and how God made me—including my ability to sew—then I wasn’t for her. So, I took the plunge. She didn’t balk. She didn’t even blanch. In fact, she seemed impressed! And that's when I knew, I had to see this girl again. But how to make that happen? I'd never asked someone out that I'd just met. And how would I know if she even wanted to see me again?(posted 11-5-21)