She says:
On only the second night of my Swarthmore College experience I saw Joel for the first time. He was playing music with his band ellipsis. Immediately I had an intense feeling that this was a person I had to meet. Some people may call it fate, I call it luck, but whatever it was it had us keep crossing paths intermittently throughout my first semester of freshman year. Which is quite amazing when you think about it because, and this is where luck comes in, Joel was no longer a student (he had just graduated from Swarthmore with the class of 2000 … I am part of the class of 2004).
- I tried out for a cappella groups, as every musically inclined college student is wont to do, and ran into Joel at the tryouts. It’s a good thing that I didn’t base my decision of which a cappella group to join on my crush – because he was only there to help out with tryouts.
- I bumped into him at breaks during chorus rehearsals. He was there to see his friend Matt, but somehow I ended up talking to him … a girl has got to go after what she wants!
- We ran into each other one day when I was walking across campus. I was unfortunately in a rush to get back to my dorm, but he offered to walk with me. I didn’t find out until later that he walked in the complete opposite direction of where he was headed … maybe he liked me too?
and finally…
- I became friends with a girl named Alana because we were in the same dance & drum ensemble and we were both really interested in music. I only found out that Alana and Joel were siblings after our final concert at the end of the semester!
It was at this final concert that I saw Joel and for the first time, talked with him for more than 2 minutes. Being in a rush (again) to get to rehearsal for my next performance, we promised that we would see each other after the concert that night. But I never saw him that night! I was crushed! I had to leave the concert early, after I performed, to see my parents off. What a disappointment – how would I ever meet this guy that I was destined to marry?!
Well it just so happened that I wasn’t the only one interested. Joel got it together and emailed me that night. When I opened that email my heart was racing! Just ask my roommate – you can get the whole bouncing-off-the-wall story. We emailed back-and-forth and finally decided to hang out and go to dinner “as friends”. Dinner was great, but no, that’s still not the start of it all.
I went on winter break and he went home. However, as luck will have it, he went home to Madison, WI and I went to visit my grandparents in Chicago, IL. For anyone who knows, Madison and Chicago are a good 2.5 hours apart, on a good day. On a day with a snowstorm … I think about 4 hours. But Joel came down to visit me! He drove down, through a snow storm, with his dad to visit me and my family for just a day. Why did his dad come along? Well, I found out later that it was because he wanted to make sure that my parents knew that Joel came from a good family (Gary – we are forever grateful to you – my parents thought that was the sweetest thing). Joel and I played in the snow, he and his dad came out to dinner with us, I survived the embarrassment of my family picking on me in front of the boy I liked, but no, that’s still not the start of it all.
I went back to New York that night and Joel went back to Madison. However, Joel’s New Year’s plans landed him in New York! He came in early that day and we hung out together and I showed him around my city. He invited me to come with him to the party and I, of course, joined him. Dinner, champagne, and a few hours later it was midnight. Happy New Year! I saw him, he saw me, and … we hugged. So no, that’s still not the start of it all!!!
So we parted ways once again … sigh, I guess he doesn’t like me, but wait, more emails! Winter break is quite long (how I miss having 4 straight weeks of vacation!) and so a week before school started up again I went to visit a friend in Philadelphia. Joel was actually living in the town of Swarthmore at the time, and when I went to drop off my friend for her preseason track training I met up with Joel once again. We walked around campus, played in the children’s school yard, went out to dinner, and watched a movie. And finally, I kissed him! (Yes ladies, that’s right, making the first move does pay off!) In our case, four times is a charm. And that is how it all started.