A little Newt story part 2 –meeting the hubster

As promised:

In May of 1998 my roommate was invited to her friends wedding. She had recently broken up with her boyfriend so she had no one to go with. She asked me if I wanted to go with her. That we would make it a girl trip. We lived in the Bay Area and the wedding was out in Las Vegas. After the wedding we thought it would be fun to detour to S. California and visit family.

Not too many days before we had to leave she changed her mind and didn’t want to go to the wedding. But her brother, who I was actually casually dating at the time, convinced her to go. That she needed to get away and this trip would do her good.

So off we went to Vegas. The drive is a pretty desolate one but it actually winds through some “top secret” military areas. The highlight of the drive was when a large black ship/plane cruised across the sky. It was like nothing we had ever seen before. More than one car on the freeway actually ended up veering off into ditches and people got out of their cars to watch it. It was a stealth class bomber unlike anything we had seen on the History Channel. The plane didn’t appear to fly but rather to hover. “Cool” doesn’t even begin to describe what we saw.

The wedding was at the Excalibur hotel and the wedding party was dressed in Renaissance costumes. I had only met the wedding couple briefly a month or so before at their house warming party. I didn’t really know anyone at the wedding but it was a beautiful occasion and a great deal of fun. After the ceremony we gathered in the bridal suite to chat and celebrate. We got to know the members of the wedding party that had grown up with the groom “W”. One was the grooms brother who also lived in San Jose and the other two were his life long friends from Minnesota, M and Boy J. M entered the conversation we were having after he had been standing behind me making bunny ears. (I have since forgiven him for that). After a nice visit it was time to go to the reception., which was actually the Jousting Dinner Show. That was a load of fun!

From the reception we went to visit some old co-workers of mine at a bar in NY, NY. From there we had planned to meet back up with the groomsmen, G, M, and boy J for a night on the town. I had wanted them to see the “new” Fremont Street Experience so we hopped on a bus and headed to the old part of the strip. While we waited for the next light show we found a $0.99 cent margarita bar. We sat and talked for quite a while. This was the first time that M and I started to segregate ourselves off from the rest of the group. We chatted about all sorts of stuff. Somewhere in that conversation is when I let my giant skeleton out of the closet regarding still being married. Now quite buzzed and happy we went to watch the show. Which was fantastic.

Then we wandered back to the bus stop to head home. We waited and waited and waited. A kindly homeless person let us know that we would be waiting a while for the bus since they had stopped running for the night. He then let us know that best place to grab a taxi.
So after an insane taxi ride up the strip we finally arrived back at Excalibur. Then we all went up to our room to chat some more. Cigars, beer, and cheese in large quantities were consumed. M and I had hit if off superbly. And I never wanted the night to end. I think it was around 5 that we finally said good night. But we had agreed to meet up again around 7 or so. So short naps and showers for everyone. Then we had planned to meet at the NY, NY rollercoaster for a ride, followed by breakfast. Of course I rode the coaster with M. Who else would I want to be next to????? Breakfast was at the Motown café. We both ordered Corn beef hash and eggs. At first I didn’t order it because it’s one of those love it or hate it things. And I always hate to have to listen to the “Gross, you’re going to eat that?” comments. But then M ordered it and “SWEET” I could order it too then without having to worry. Or at least the odds of “gross” comments get reduced quickly when more than one person is eating something “odd”.

We had made some time commitments to our family in S. Cal. So we girls had to get on the road. We packed our stuff into the car and said good-bye to our new found friends. We exchanged phone/address info and started to head out. But with arms outstretched “M” ran back to the car and kissed me good-bye through the window. He said he just had to do that before I left.

The drive back into California was quiet and relaxing. I think we were both a little too tired to be talkative. When we arrived at my friend’s Aunt’s house we finally got the sleep we needed. Unfortunately when I talked to my parents I learned that my Grandpa had passed away during the night. One of the main reasons we had decided to detour back through S. Cal was so I could see him since he was so sick. But we were just hours too late. So the family visit turned into funeral arrangements and mourning.

My friend and I returned to our home in the Bay Area. I really only unpacked from our trip and repacked to go back down south for Grandpa’s funeral.

When I finally got back to the Bay Area my friend told me there was mail waiting for me in my room. “M” had sent me a sympathy card. And he had sent me a letter. As it turns out I owe everything to my friend. She had been talking with the Minnesota boys on the phone. “M” told her how he felt about me and if I was available. She told him I was casually dating her brother but it wasn’t serious. “M” told her to rip up the letter and throw it away. She refused to. She said he sent it to me for a reason and that I should be the one to decide how I felt about the letter.

So, an amazing letter turned into an all night phone call. Which turned into several all night phone calls. Which turned into a visit. A couple weeks after we had met he bought a ticket to come see me. He would fly into San Francisco.

Our first date……………….you’ll just have to wait till tomorrow for that one.