anatomy of a set up

first, the preliminaries - i almost didn't go. drove the four hours back from weirton sunday morning and made good enough time that i figured i'd take a short nap. mistake. didn't sleep much and it just made me grouchy. not the best of moods if you're going to meet someone. add to that major wardrobe crisis mere minutes before leaving, and i was a bundle full of fun on the way to the wedding. horrible frame of mind. had i not promised, i would have just stayed home. but i went, met bea at starbucks, drove to meg's then to the wedding.

the wedding itself was lovely - simple, straightforward and very, very crowded. beth knows everyone. there were TEN bridesmaids and TEN groomsmen. just a bit of overkill, but who am i to judge. oh right, someone who's been to far too many of these things. anway, i spent much of the service scanning the crowd looking for jessica. now i didn't know much about her - artist and relatively young. beyond that, nothing. beth was just a bit vague in descriptions. didn't see anyone who matched my preconceptions. so when we finally were dismissed (you know, there's no good way to do this - especially if you're stuck at the back waiting waiting waiting), beth leaned over and said she was in the back on the left in a blue dress. so i looked on my way out. didn't see anyone matching that description. not good.

so we head over to the reception (they had rented out ault park - beth's parents are not poor) and i had pretty much given up hope. i was in a bad mood, i didn't know who jessica was, beth was busy doing bridey stuff, so i was ready to write the afternoon off. then we went to talk to annie, who i had forgotten had actually me the mysterious jessica at a bridal shower. and it was through her i actually was introduced.

first impressions: not at all what i expected. much quieter and subdued - more the contemplative artist than the wild and crazy artist. she was wearing a bluish dress, which is why i didn't find her earlier - i was looking for solid blue, this was more of a patterned dress. we joked early on about beth's pushiness and then she joined us at the table we had commandeered when we arrived.

(aside: i got to spend the day with three beautiful women - meg, bea, kelley. i must have looked like quite the stud sitting at a table, the only guy among all the lovely women. sure, they're all taken, but 'twas fun nonetheless)

we talked, chatted, asked questions - all those things you do during a set up, trying to separate the preconceptions from the truth. and as we talked i came to a startling conclusion...

she's me. in many ways.

not sure how i feel about that. we're both strong introverts, evidenced by the lengthy gaps in conversation at times. we both have elitist tendencies (hers certainly can't be as annoying as mine, but i did get the sense). we both are uncomfortable in large groups and hate talking on the phone. and while it was great meeting someone who understood a lot of my quirks, there's part of me if it might not be too much of a familiar thing. but i'm withholding judgment for now, until we can get together again under less contrived circumstances (though aren't all "dates" contrived?).

so no, it wasn't the miserable experience i feared it might be on my drive there. was quite a pleasant experience. and while there were no fireworks or bolts of lightning, it was a fine way to spend an afternoon/early evening. and we'll see what comes next.
Æ

Tunes: over the rhine - my love is a fever (acoustic)