Obligatory How We Met Story

So I have to begin somewhere so I will start at the very beginning, it's a very good place to start...

I had moved to Boston in August of 2003 for grad school at BU. After living in Boston for a few months I looked into joining a running club. Most of the ones I found were competitive or met at ungodly hours such as 8 am on a Sunday. I like to rest on Sundays or at least not have to get up earlier than I do during the week. Luckily my search lead me to the Boston Hash House Harriers. Now this group started in a bar, ran for a bit and then ended with pizza and beer. The best part was that the runs began around 2:00 on Sundays (during the summer they met Wednesdays around 6:30)! I had found my running group. So I went a few times and enjoyed the running, drinking, signing lewd songs, the welcoming group of people. I also liked the nicknames that everyone who stays long enough gets - it was reminiscent of my Parks days.

On February 14th, one Hasher (JMo) threw a Lonely Hearts Hash for all the single folks in the group. Being unattached I went to Mary Ann's in Cleveland Circle on a very cold night. After running around for longer than I wanted in freezing temperatures, we ended at an apartment of one of the hashers. SO in the midst of the party I met Brendan and we seemingly hit it off. Due to circumstances that cannot fit on a blog due to length and complexity, Brendan was yelled at for talking to me and we would casually talk when ever we saw each other at a hash.

Fast forward to summer of 2003. Brendan and I now have a few Hash friends in common and our paths are crossing more often. We even take a road trip together with other hashers (both annoying and cool - I am sorry I invited them along!). One night while we are out with a bunch of people, I explain how I am moving but need to go to Target and get Rubbermaid bins so I can put all my stuff into it. Brendan gallantly offers to drive me the next morning to Target to buy all the packing supplies I need. I take him up on his offer and he says he will call me when he gets up and we will go. So this is great - he will take me to Target, problem solved. Unfortunately, I have no faith that he is calling and we didn't make concrete plans. I like times and structure to my day. So instead I ask my friend Keith if he is free to take me and he says he will be over around 10:00. The next day, Keith picks me up at 10:00 as planned and I go to Target and get all the Rubbermaid bins I need. I return home around 12:30. At 1:30, my cell phone rings and it is Brendan calling to tell me he just got up (this pattern of me getting up at 9:00 and him sleeping until 1:00 is reoccuring and a major source of frustration). So instead of telling him I have already been to Target and don't need anything, I make plans for us to go to Target. He picks me up and we go to a different Target than the one I was at a few hours earlier. So I buy two Rubbermaid bins and that is it. Brendan even questions me as to why I only buy two since I said I needed a bunch of stuff just the night before. I don't really know why I went to Target again but looking back I think it is telling.

Moving day comes and Brendan is one of the people helping me move and by this point we are talking on the phone and emailing more and more until we somehow are in this quasi-dating phase. We would talk all the time, hang out at each other's house but nothing was official and on some level it felt like we were in high school or college.
However, on one particular weekend I realized that this was going to be serious. Brendan was going with friends to Vermont and lending me his car so I could go visit my brother's in New York. When he dropped his car off, he hands me the keys and asks "Did you print out directions to Long Island?" Of course I didn't. He replies "I didn't think so. Here are the directions to Long Island, my cell phone, my AAA number, the number to call AAA, and 911 number." I thought "Holy crap he has me figured out."

It is after this weekend that I would say we really began dating as it was after getting freaked out that he knew I wouldn't have printed out directions that we had the "what are we doing talk" that made things a little clearer on both sides.