First Comes Love

This story was originally written for Christopher's birthday on 6.6.05, three years after we first saw one another. It was supposed to be written like a children's book so that we could remember all the details of the beginning of falling in love (and one day read it to our children)
 
Chapter 1: Boys and Girls

There once was a boy named Christopher from Cincinnati, Ohio. He was a good boy from a good family. He always desired to find an unconditional love. He looked around the greater Cincinnati area, but he count not find one unconditional love anywhere.

At the same time, there was a girl named Maureen from Birmingham, Alabama. She was a good girl from a good family. She always desired to find true love. She looked around Birmingham and beyond but she could not find one true love anywhere.

Maureen was very happy in Birmingham but something was missing from her life. Christopher was also very happy in Cincinnati but he felt like something was missing too.

Then, one day something changed. At the time, this thing seemed to be the worst possible thing that could happen.

Maureen's family was picked up and moved by a giant Butter Monster. He carried her family to Cincinnati, Ohio. She was very sad. She cried and cried and cried. She cried enough tears to fill the dirty Ohio River.

.......

Chapter 2: Love at First Sight
Maureen had to take her SAT test at St. Xavier High School on June 6, 2002. This was a few days after she moved to Cincinnati.

She got up early that morning at the hotel, took a shower, blow dried her hair and put on her make-up like a good Southern Girl. She was so nervous. She ate a bagel for breakfast with her dad at the hotel and drank some water to cool her nerves. As she left the hotel, she took a big handful of mints because she loved sugar. But it was not her true love.

This same day, June 6, 2002 was Christopher's 18th birthday and he was very sad. He had to take his SAT test on his birthday. Christopher hated taking tests. His test location was at his high school, St. Xavier.

Christopher's last name began with a "C" and Maureen's last name began with a "D".The A and B last names were in the same classroom, C and Ds, E and Fs, and so on and so on.

Maureen walked into St. Xavier High School and she did not know anyone.

She did not understand these types of people. She used to live in the South and Cincinnati is the North. The North and the South are like apples and bananas. They are both delicious, but they taste different, smell different and look different. In the same way, the South and the North are both wonderful places to live in this great country but they are very different.

Maureen did know one person in the whole city of Cincinnati. She looked at all the girls and boys coming to take the SAT test. She was studying them more than she studied for the SAT test. She looked different, talked differently, and acted differently than them.

The South was slow moving, sugary, sweet, and pretty. The North so far was not as sugary sweet. It was more salty and savory. Maureen was definitely a sugar lover, so the North was not her taste.

Maureen finally found her classroom to take the test at St. Xavier, but the doors were locked. She sat outside and people watched until the door opened. People did not seem as friendly and Maureen felt uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, Christopher was not having a good 18th birthday. He was groggy and tired and the last thing in the whole world he wanted to do on his birthday was take a three hour long test.

He had to get up early on this Saturday morning and drive the 30 minutes to his school to get this horrible test over with.

He drove really fast to get to his school because he thought he was late, and he loved to drive fast. He got there really fast because on Saturdays there is not much traffic.

When he got to the room he realized the door was locked. He saw some of his friends and so he talked to them while he waited. Christopher was someone who smiled all the time and was always happy and laughing. Even though it was not the best 18th birthday, he was making the best out of it.

Christopher saw a girl. She did not look like all the other girls in the greater Cincinnati area. Christopher could not stop looking at her and smiling.

Christopher's school was an all boys school, so he sometimes forgot how to act around girls. As Maureen sat and waited for the proctor to come and open the door, a boy kept smiling at her. In Birmingham, when boys looked at girls a lot and smiled at them, soon after they would approach the girl to get to know them better.

This is not how boys in Cincinnati courted girls. These boys in Cincinnati would get confused and act silly around girls because they were used to hanging around boys all day.

Maureen thought it was odd that this boy kept smiling at her and she was sure that he would talk to her because that is what boys in Birmingham would do. Maureen thought the boy was cute and friendly and she felt confident that she was already getting attention in this new place.

Christopher thought he probably would talk to the girl after the test because he thought she was beautiful.

Maureen secretly hoped that the boy would talk to her soon because he looked like such a nice boy.

.......

Chapter 3: The Test

Finally the proctor came and unlocked the door. It seemed like an eternity because Maureen was just sitting all alone people watching while everyone around her talked to one another.

When they got in the in the classroom, Maureen sat in the second row, three seats from the front. Christopher sat in the fourth row, four seats back.

Christopher knew many people in the classroom. He knew the girl sitting in front of Maureen. She lived 2 houses down from him and he had been friends with her since he was four years old. Maureen saw someone with a shirt on from the school Maureen was going to attend in the fall and needed to know her school code. She asked this girl and she was not very nice to Maureen.

Christopher continued to talk to this girl and did not say one word to Maureen because he got scared.

Maureen figured he would talk to her after the test and she found herself really hoping and wishing that he would talk to her.

At first she just assumed that he would talk to her, but as more and more time was passing and he didn't seem as interested in talking to her, she wanted him to even more.

Too late. It was test time. Maureen and Christopher worked hard at the test. Maureen felt like the test went alright and Christopher felt like it wasn't his best, probably because it was not a good birthday present to have to take the SATs.

When the three hour test was finally over, Christopher just wanted to get out of school and go home to enjoy his birthday. He forgot about the girl. He just wanted to go home.

After the test Maureen was still hoping that this boy would go talk to her. He didn't. She felt sad. When her dad picked her up, she saw the boy leaving. She would probably never see him again.

.......

Chapter 4: Life Goes On

Maureen forgot about the boy from the SATs. Christopher forgot about the girl too.

Maureen started at her new school. There were no boys at her school, only girls.

Christopher started his senior year of high school and had a great time. He had girl friends, but he didn't think he had found the unconditional love he was looking for.

Maureen met some boys and went on dates but she did not find the true love that she was looking for either.

.......

Chapter 5: Rings of Love

Maureen had a friend at school that was having a surprise birthday party. She decided that she would go to the party even though she did not know many people yet.

She got all ready and met some boys before and went with them. The boys she went with were Christopher's friends, but she had not met Christopher.

Christopher came to the party with his neighbor friend. He was happy school was over and excited to go to his friend's birthday party.

Before the birthday girl arrived, everyone was hanging out and talking.

Maureen was meeting new people and chatting with girls from school. Then a boy walked in. He looked familiar. She could not put her finger on why he did.

Christopher walked into the party and said hi to all of his friends. He saw a bunch of people that he did not know.

Christopher loved to meet new people. He walked over to the group. This was the group that Maureen was with. Christopher introduced himself to everyone in the group. She looked familiar, but he did not know why.

He was equally nice to everyone in the group of new girls that he met even though he was most interested in Maureen.

Maureen thought Christopher was such a nice and good-looking boy and he was so kind.

Christopher wanted to see Maureen again. He did not know what to do. He saw that she had a class ring on. "Can I see your class ring?" Maureen had a State Championship soccer ring on and she said, "Sure, but it's not a class ring." He saw that it was a State Championship soccer ring and was impressed. "Wow, what school do you go to?"

Maureen explained to Christopher that she had just moved to Cincinnati from Birmingham. Christopher liked Maureen's southern accent.

Then Christopher thought of a plan. "Hey do you want to swap rings for the night?" Maureen thought it sounded funny. "Ok sure."

Christopher secretly hoped that he could slip out the door without giving back the ring, so that she would have to see him again. Unfortunately, Maureen caught him as he was leaving and gave him his ring and he reluctantly gave hers back.

Christopher left and hoped he would see Maureen again, but he failed to get her number.

.......

Chapter 6: Where Did You Go My Lovely?

For the next month Christopher tried to find Maureen. Meanwhile, Maureen's new friend told her that she really liked Christopher.

Maureen thought that Christopher was a very nice boy and just figured that she should forget about him.

Christopher did not like Maureen's friend. He liked Maureen.

One day Maureen's friend finally got to hang out with Christopher all by herself. She thought maybe he liked her. When she was at his house all he talked about was Maureen and he wanted to call Maureen and invite her over.

This was devastating to Maureen's friend but she went along with it. Maureen was excited to go because she wasn't doing anything and she thought Christopher was a nice boy.

Christopher really like Maureen, but Maureen did not know this because boys from the North did not show interest in the same way that boys in Birmingham did.

.......

Chapter 7: The First Date with Cherry Cordial

Christopher and Maureen really hit it off and after that night he began to call MAureen and they would hangout everyday.

Maureen started to remember why this boy looked familiar. She realized he was the boy from the SAT test. She could not believe it.

Christopher and Maureen were both interested in each other, but they were not "dating." They were just friends. They even went to the same dance, but not with each other. Christopher had hoped Maureen would ask him to the dance, but his childhood friend asked him first.

At the last minute Maureen asked another boy.

The whole dance Maureen and Christopher danced with each other and they had a fun time.

A few days after the dance, Christopher asked Maureen if she would go on a date with him. He text messaged her....

Would you allow me to take you ice skating on Friday at 7?--Cherry Cordial

Maureen was excited. She picked out an outfit to wear and she told her friends. Christopher liked Maureen so much and was glad that she said yes to going on a date with him.

He picked her up at 7:00PM on Friday and she wore all black with a red vintage leather coat and a hat. Christopher thought she looked beautiful. Christopher wore a turtle neck sweater that was navy blue and light blue.

They went downtown Cincinnati to go Ice Skating. It was too warm and they had to close the rink.

Christopher was a good improviser. They went to get Starbucks and walked around downtown. Then they got cold so they walked around the inside of the Westin Hotel.

They took pictures of each other goofing around, the listened to a piano player, they set off his car alarm to try to scare the carriage horses close by, they played a game of 'who could get the most people to say hi to them," and much more. Everything they did together was fun.

Then they got bored in the hotel, so they decided to go to Kentucky. This was exciting to Maureen because it was sort of like the South! They went to Gameworks and played games with each other and had a great time.

Then they went to the picture booth and took goofy pictures. For one of the pictures Christopher kissed Maureen on the cheek and for another one she kissed him on the cheek. He was so happy. They printed out the pictures and then left. Then they went to Ault Park and talked. Christopher told Maureen that he really liked her. She told him that she had a great time and that she really liked him too.

Christopher took Maureen home. He thought he may have found his one unconditional love. Maureen wondered if she had found her one true love.

She had.

7.7.07

I love you Christopher.


**7.7.07 was the date we always talked about getting married....and we did**