The Courtship

Lindi and I met through a mutual friend, Lisa. Lisa and I have been friends ever since we met in World Studies in the 9th grade, but had lost touch a couple years after High School. Lindi and Lisa became friends in 1991.

By mere coinscidence, I ran into Lisa at a restaurant and exchanged numbers on Father's Day 2002. She called me up and invited me to the local club, The Paper Moon, for a birthday party. I was actually dating someone at the time, so I arranged to meet my new girlfriend down there for a drink and to visit with Lisa.

I arrived a little early, and checked in at the front, inadvertantly leaving my keys at the desk. A few moments later, a tall blonde came to the bar and handed me my keys. That was the first moment I met Lindi. It just so happened it was Lindi's birthday party I was attending.

My girlfriend, D, arrived an we partied with the birthday group, but honestly, I couldn't take my eyes off Lindi. I even gave her a birthday kiss! I bought her shots and she and I danced. D actually encouraged it, she told me later that she could see how Lindi looked at me and knew we were meant for each other. At the end of the evening, Lindi gave me her phone number, which I ended up calling a few days later when I broke things off with D.

Our first date was dinner at Buca deBepo's a charming Italian restaurant, where we shared chicken parmesan, manicotti and a bottle of wine. We got to know each other and found out that we had many friends in common and should probably have met years earlier. We talked for hours in the restaurant, in the parking lot, and finally at her home.

From that moment on, we were inseperable. I met her family a couple of days later at a family Barbeque and her daughter Sarah after about 2 weeks of dating. She met my family after about a month.

We took trips to Park City for a weekend, saw each other every weekend, planned dinner dates and lunches, sent flowers and cards for seven months before we were engaged.

The Engagement occurred on Valentines Day 2003. Lindi took me out to dinner at my favorite restaurant, The Macaroni Grill, then back to her house for a "homemade" present - a DVD. She created a slide show to Brian McKnight's "Back At One" that included pictures of me as a child, her as a child, Sarah, and finally concluded with sunset photos and the words, "Will You Marry Me?" She presented me with a marquee diamond solitare set in yellow gold. Of course, I happily said yes!