How I met your Father

SPECIAL *Double* FEATURE

 

Now time for my version of how we met...  But first, make sure you didn't miss the first part: How I Met Your Mother.

My sweet boy!

With Father's Day coming up I wanted to tell you, Lucas, about how your father and I met.  Nothing interesting, just through mutual friends, but I have to say it took awhile for me to notice him.  :)

I was a freshman in college at UNC-Charlotte and lived in the dorms that year.  I had one roommate and several hallmates.  One of my hallmates, your Auntie Holli, was a Communications major and loves Loves LOVES Nascar.  Our college was apparently well known in the racing industry for its Motorsports program within the Mechanical Engineering program.  {Being in race country should have clued me into that one.}  There actually were several in the group that had traveled out of state to join this program - Ohio, Missouri, Pennsylvania and New York are a few of those I personally knew.  Even Holli came from out of state just to be in "racing country".  Anywho, the floor above ours was a boy-floor and we made friends with Jon and Charles, also on the motorsports team. 

Second semester rolls around and is quickly coming to an end.  Mid-April Holli has a party at what was at the time a Jillian's at the mall to celebrate her birthday.  There were probably a dozen or so people there and I didn't know half of them.  Apparently your father was there.  Who knew?  Maybe we were even introduced...  I just never noticed him.

I managed to snap a shot of Holli with Bradley at her party - and your father was in the background!

Then just a few weeks later was Charles' birthday and a smaller group met up at the local Hooter's to celebrate.  I have to say the most memorable thing I remember from his party is when Holli and I tried to stuff Charles' face with his birthday cake.  :)  He out-maneuvered us but we still got him!  Again, your father was there.  It was a smaller group this time and I vaguely remember him being there but still at this point I had never talked to him.

Cake in the face!

The summer goes by and my sophomore year of college has just started up.  By now I've become friends with not only Holli but Charles and Jon from the boy-floor as well as a few others.  I had started mingling with the motorsports crowd. 

Charles and I attended a house party just outside of campus together {only as friends}, the house belonging to a motorsports member, Scott {soon to be marrying into the family!}.  It was a low key party where we ended up playing drinking card games into the night.  This was the first time I spoke with your father!  The party dies down and we begin having a conversation about the basics.  Where are you from and stuff like that.  Wouldn't you know how small a world it was?

Apparently we had many things in common.  The most prevalent being that we were both originally from the same area.  His family is still living in that area whereas mine moved away when I just started middle school, moving me from a small town to a metropolis.  There were plenty of other things that I don't recall but that was the one that stood out and caught my attention, but the other smaller things definitely helped cynch my interest.  I had finally noticed your father.

Just a few weeks later I heard about another house party in the same set of townhomes off campus, just a few doors down from Scott's at yet another house belonging to some motorsports members.  I made it a point to go to this party knowing that your father would be there.  I headed over to Ryan and Nathan's place and this party was busy BUSY.  It's also important to mention that I dressed extra special for this party, looking my very best.  I went seeking him out and dressed to impress!

Now there may or may not have been some drinking at this party but I just had the "punch".  I flirted my very best with your father!  I may or may not have accidently stumbled into him, accidently grabbing his behind...  And at some point I may or may not have had too much punch, and ended up hogging the upstairs bathroom for quite some time.  And your Auntie Kenda may or may not have had to hold my hair for me that night.  Needless to say it was a very very late night.  I had crashed and burned for a few hours and was finally ready to head home at I believe around 4am? 

I recall finally walking outside and seeing Kenda and your father chatting out on the sidewalk.  I'm certain they were waiting to check up on me.  I ended up sitting in Kenda's car for a little while longer.  {Such a great friend of ours!}  When I was finally ready to head out to my car your father offered to walk me to it.  At that time I was a bit embarrassed of course and felt like CRAP so I wasn't into chatting with my crush at that moment.  When we finally arrived at my car he surprisingly asked me for my phone number!

I said No.

Shocking, yes, I know.  But I just told him that I wasn't feeling well and it wasn't the best time.  It really wasn't, I promise.

That was a Friday night.  I thought about him all day Saturday.  By Sunday morning I made the decision to get his number and call him, hoping he hadn't changed his mind about me because of my rejection.

First, I called Kenda to get his phone number.  She gave me his cell number.  Straight to voicemail.  I must not have left a message.  Instead I must've called Kenda back and asked if she had the number right and she must have then given me the number to Tim's place, where he was renting a room.  I called that number and spoke with Tim.  He informed me that your father had gone home for the weekend.  I found out later that he had driven straight from Ryan's house that Saturday morning {after that 4am rejection from me and getting no sleep that night} to go racing {about a five hour drive}.

Tim was kind enough to take a message from me.  Your father actually had been home that Sunday morning at Tim's!   Tim didn't know he had been there, after having driven straight back right after his race that Saturday night...not sure why he didn't want to stay at his parents and get some sleep instead of driving another five hours back?? So he was actually in his room at Tim's finally catching up on his sleep.

Meanwhile I talked to Holli who at the time was dating Bradley.  I don't remember if I had talked to her before your father called me back or right after...  But at some point your father called me and he agreed to go out with me. 

So I had arranged a bowling date that very night {Sunday} for your father and I.  I was most comfortable having us go out with some mutual friends for our first date so I had arranged for us to double date with Holli and Bradley.  Instead of having him pick me up I chose to have us both meet at Bradley's house, which was nearby the bowling alley we were going to attend.  It was a fun night and afterward we spent a few hours hanging out at Bradley's house.  But then of course it was late and classes started early for me on Mondays. 

Our first date.  You can't tell but those are turtles on my shirt!

So he walked me to my car {for the second time} and we said our goodbyes.  And yes, he kissed me.  He was the worst kisser ever {not that I had kissed many boys}.  And yes, your father knows this so I can tell the whole world.  :)  He's one of those kissers that gets his teeth in the way sometimes.  Fortunately not all the time, but yes still!  {I hope you don't inherit that trait from him.}  And I didn't hold it against him.  We had our second date the following night!  A dinner date with just the two of us.  And your Aunties' Holli and Kenda had much to do with getting us together which is why they are so important to us.  :)

And that's how it all started. 

Loving you bunches!

Mama

CLICK HERE TO SEE HUBBY'S

VERSION OF HOW WE MET

How I met your Mother

SPECIAL *Double* FEATURE

I asked Hubby to work with me on a collaboration of sorts.  I wanted us to write letters to Lucas about how we met each other.  After much gentle reminding {I finally turned the tv off and told him to sit his ass at the computer} he finally wrote his story. 

I have to admit I was impressed with what he wrote.  And you have to keep in mind that this is from his perspective -- and mine might be a wee bit different.  Of course, I did have to remind him the order of events to help him with his editing {because Mama is always right}.

So, here is Hubby's take on how we met...

Dear Champ,

Since one day you will me ask “how did I meet your mother,” I decided (your mother told me) to write it down to make sure I get it right.  Of course, like all my stories, it starts with racing.  

As much as your mother won’t like it, if it wasn’t for my racing, we would not have met.   Like most couples today, we met each other while attending college.  However, if not for racing, I would have continued my college career at UNC-Wilmington and never transferred to UNC-Charlotte.  I transferred to Charlotte for the Motorsports program offered by their engineering department.  This program is what brought the people into our lives that would one day introduce me to your mother.

As you know, there is a little bit of an age difference between your mother and me.   So when she entered college and lived at the freshmen dorm, I was living off campus with roommates that were on the racing team.  One of her freshmen dorm friends, Charles, joined our Legends race team and spoke of your mother a lot at the shop.   

However, the first time I actually met your mother was at your Auntie Holli’s birthday party at Jillian's in Concord Mills.  See, at the time your Auntie Holli was dating Bradley, a guy that was good friends with some of us racing guys, so we decided to attend the party.  Like usual, we had been working at the shop on the cars and arrived to the party late.   I was introduced to your mother but I didn’t get to talk to her much, actually hardly at all.  Honestly, I thought Charles and your mother were dating during their freshmen years.

See, the moment I actually took an interest in your mother was at Charles’ birthday, a few weeks later, which was at Hooter’s in Concord.  It was a smaller group of people and I was able to pay attention to your mother’s antics. 

Soon after, the school year ended.  With the arrival of summer, the Legends team became involved with the Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway and I didn’t have time to chase girls.  I was racing during the week with the Niner Legends car and then on the weekends with “Crissy”, my own race car. 

I didn’t see your mother again until the end of summer once she got back to start school.  Your mother started to come to some of the groups’ “gatherings” and play cards with us. 

It was only until a certain specific “gathering” at Ryan’s that she made it clear that she was interested in getting to know me.  She grabbed my butt as she stumbled out of the downstairs bathroom.  Of course, being in college implies that “gatherings” are actually drinking parties, and your mother was well on her way to reaching her drinking limit.  She got sick.  A lot that night.  But Auntie Kenda and I kept an eye on her and kept her safe during the night. 

So as the night turned into early morning, she became sober enough to drive home.   I walked her to her car and as she was getting in, I asked her for her number.  She shot me down.  Major crash and burn.  After putting the flames out, I drove to my place in Harrisburg.  But before I could turn the car off in the driveway, I was called by the Legends team to drive them to Jacksonville for a stock car race.  This was a five hour drive…  So began my long day at the track without any sleep.

After racing, we again drove the five hours back from Jacksonville in the middle of the night.  Once home I went straight to bed, since I hadn’t slept in 48 hours.  While I slept, your mother was quite busy.  She had been making phone calls in an all out effort to talk to me.  She called Auntie Kenda and got my cell number.  She called my phone but I didn’t answer because I was unconscious from having been awake for 48 hours.  Since I didn’t answer my cell, she once again called Auntie Kenda to get my house number.  My roommate answered when she called and he said he hadn’t seen me in two days.  Your mother left her number with him and shortly after my long sleep, I woke up surprising my roommate that I was actually home and he gave me her number. 

After getting over my initial surprise of her call, I called her back and she wanted to go out later that same day on a double date with Auntie Holli and Bradley.  So, our first date was actually chaperoned by your Auntie Holli.  We went bowling, and just like now, your mother was very competitive.   After bowling, we went back to Bradley’s house and watched a movie.

The movie ended and I walked your mother out to her car.  That’s where I kissed your mother for the first time.  And it was horrible.  We banged teeth when we kissed.  Not my best Casanova moment.  Yet your mother did have dinner with me the next night.  But I guess my kissing has gotten better, since your mother did marry me. 

Love ya much,

Da-Da

O, Fishface, O, fishface

CLICK HERE TO SEE MAMA'S

VERSION OF HOW WE MET

Tourney + Spring Break = Free Trips

With the end of this year's tourney (Congrats Kentucky by the way) it reminds me of my Tourney days.  And after drafting this post it's come to my attention that it all started TEN YEARS AGO.  Boy, do I feel old. 

Here's the gist of it all.  UNC-Charlotte doesn't have a football team (ah, I should now say they DIDN'T have a football team because as of next season they should be starting their first year!).  So anyway, since we didn't have football at the time Basketball was the main sport that ruled the school.  And since no football, no marching band.  So what comes with basketball was the Basketball Band! 

Love this collage!  The best part of being in the "Pep Band" of course is not only going to all the home games but also getting to travel to all the Conference Tournaments - for FREE, paid for by the school.  And even better is that it's all during Spring Break.  The women's team always started off with their tournament and then the men's would follow.  So basically, two trips during Spring Break for free.  Yep.  Awesome.  AND, even better, if we made it to the NCAA tourney we would get to go to that as well.  Except that's when they would limit the number of people.  Yeah, I got to go to some of those too!  Now those weren't during Spring Break obviously.  Those were extra bonus days that we would get to skip classes!

So, without further ado, below are the stats from my four years at UNC-Charlotte (GO NINERS!) which were also the last four years they were a part of Conference USA.  The locations in bold are the places/tourneys I actually travelled to.  And boy were those some fun times.  I won't go into any details because just like Vegas, what happens on a Spring Break trip should stay on a Spring Break trip.

2001-2002

Women:

Conference USA @ Chicago, IL - First Round versus Memphis 58-46; Second Round versus Houston 68-65

*No NCAA or WNIT appearance

Men:

Conference USA @ Cincinnati, OH - First Round BYE; Second Round versus Tulane 78-69; Third Round (Semifinal) versus Cincinnati 71-55

NCAA @ Greenville, SC - First Round versus Notre Dame 82-63

2002-2003

Women:

Conference USA @ Memphis, TN - First Round versus Marquette 67-65; Second Round versus TCU 78-65

NCAA @ Athens, GA - First Round versus Georgia 80-61

Men:

Conference USA @ Louisville, KY - First Round versus UAB 85-61

*No NCAA or NIT appearance

2003-2004

Women:

Conference USA @ Fort Worth, TX - First Round versus ECU 74-61; Second Round versus TCU 89-73

WNIT - First Round versus Clemson (@Clemson) 78-71; Second Round versus Western Michigan (@ Kalamazoo, MI) 85-83OT

Men:

Conference USA @ Cincinnati, OH - First Round versus Tulane 78-48; Second Round versus UAB 77-66

NCAA @ Buffalo, NY - First Round versus Texas Tech 76-73

2004-2005

Women:

Conference USA @ Charlotte, NC - First Round versus Cincinnati 63-46; Second Round versus Houston 76-73

WNIT - First Round versus Wake Forest (@ Winston Salem) 100-75

 

Men:

Conference USA @ Memphis, TN*** - First Round BYE; Second Round versus Memphis 83-69

NCAA @ Worcester, MA - First Round versus NC State 75-63

***Note: I opted not to go to Memphis my final year since I'd gone before and my Fiancé had taken a job in Wisconsin.  So I opted to travel to Wisconsin instead!  :)

 

Now, for a few pictures from those trips.  Enjoy!

 

Athens, Ga

Louisville

Louisville

Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas

Front of shirt: "Special Ed Loves Trish & Kristi..."

Back of shirt: "...Nightly"

Memphis

Note: I did a poor job of record-keeping with these photos and I can't tell you which trips some of them were from.