April Fools

Tiffany's blue ring box with ribbon

Guess What’s In this Box…

Guess What’s in the Box?   Here’s a hint, it’s from Tiffany’s, and its smaller than a breadbox… A lot smaller.

I don’t have a breadbox to set the box next to it so you can compare the size, but trust me — it’s smaller than a breadbox.

Here’s another hint: Eight years ago (wow, time really does fly once you pass age 45!) Tim and I had our very first date on April 1 at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC. We were first introduced via the mystical methodology of eHarmony. Luckily for me, he’d been slogging his way through, unsuccessful introductions for about six months, and was just about to give up, when little old me came along into his inbox.

The start of our love affair

Tim & me  at the start of something special, May 2006

As for me, I seemed to have just a bit more luck – he was one of the first five matches eHarmony sent my way. Of the other four gentlemen sent for my amusement, err, approval, one was a coworker, and by mutual consent, we both decided to act as if it didn’t happen, and the other three, were pretty lackluster. Tim, however — there was something special about him, a twinkle in his eye and an infectious (not infectious like a disease, but in happy, vibrant with life way) smile. He tells me it was my smile that grabbed his attention, as well.

And so we began the process of jumping through eHarmony’s communication hoops. And the more we jumped through their hoops, the more we found we had in common and the more we thought someone special was on the other end of that email pipeline. After three weeks of daily epic emails, we knew it was time to meet.

Carollynn & Tim in NOLA

Me and Tim in New Orleans, October 31, 2009

On April 1, 2006, we met at the Metro station to go to the DC Cherry Blossom Festival. In the five years I’d lived here, I had never been, and for Tim it was at least 10 years since his last Cherry Blossom Festival.

Cherry blossoms in District of Columbia

Cherry blossoms in District of Columbia, source

It also was a very public place, with thousands of people around, so if he turned out to be a murderous psychopath, I figured there was safety in numbers. I can hear you snickering, but seriously ladies – I’m not crazy or over protective — you do have to think about these sorts of things these days.

Be safe, and be smart when meeting a stranger for the first time.

I digress — it turns out Tim IS NOT a murderous psychopath and the day we spent together was magical. Maybe it’s because we spent three solid weeks writing War & Peace like emails to each other, there wasn’t ever a lull in the conversation, no awkward moments; it felt like I’d met my best friend.

Has that ever happened to you? You meet someone and there’s some sort of instant kismet and you JUST KNOW this person is going to have a major and lasting impact on your life?

And? Guess what? I had. I met the person who is my better half – someone who is kind, patient, funny, ridiculously smart, the best father to our two GRRRR Girls and someone who makes me a better person every. single . day since we first met.

Eight years later, he is still my best friend, and as of 12 noon, he’s now my husband. Wow, that seems weird to write that. Today we married at the Cherry Blossom Festival – specifically at the District of Columbia War Memorial at the Tidal Basin.

No big pomp and circumstance wedding, we’ve each been married before, this time it was a very small and intimate event – just the two of us and a minister to perform the ceremony on a very special to us date and at the place where it all began.

You could say, this makes us April Fools, after all, since our first date, its who we are.

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