How We Met

Here's a really great photo to show off our inability to coordinate a photo.

Really short version: They met on Match.com

The lengthy version: 

Back in May of 2004, Kip was just finishing up his senior year at Campolindo High School in Moraga. Laura was wrapping up her freshman year at Los Positas Community College in Livermore.

Laura was having no luck meeting anybody she was interested in dating at Los Positas, and she certainly wasn't going to meet anyone at work --- she still worked at her High School job at Boswell's Party Supply.   Long story short, she signed up for a free account on Match.com.  What the hell, she thought, it was free and it might turn out to surprise her. Thirty miles away in Moraga, Kip had signed up for Match.com too.

One day, and e-mail pops up in Laura’s inbox from a guy named Kip. He basically said hi, that she looked nice, and that if she wanted to she could e-mail him back. The only problem with this was that Laura had never taken the site seriously enough to get a paying account, and therefore did not have the ability to e-mail him back! While not wanting to be rude and just ignore him she tried to see if his user name might also be his screen name in AIM. Success! It was. About 10 minutes after having sent his e-mail, DreadPirateLaura popped up on his screen to say hello, and explain who she was. Nothing miraculous happened in this first online conversation, but at least it was a start.

It was a couple months and a few random emails later that Laura threw out there that she was going to a Renaissance Faire in Sacramento with her friend Danny and that if Kip wanted to go he could meet up with them there. She never expected him to show up, but gave her number anyway. In the event he did show up, she thought, and was a weirdo; Danny was a big guy and could at least look intimidating. While Laura loved Danny, Danny couldn’t spook a couple of cows up on Pleasanton Ridge, while she could just stare at them and they’d move out of the way. They never figured out why that was.

So, lo and behold, a few hours into the day her phone rang with a number she didn’t recognize. Kip had actually shown up! Laura saw him before he saw her. So far, so good on her end. He was good looking, and taller than her. Kip’s first view of her was that her bodice pushed her boobs up, so things were ok for him too. The first meeting was a little awkward given that neither Kip nor Danny were great talkers to strangers,  but luckily Laura can hold a conversation for three people all by herself (a skill she learned she had that day). When it was time to say goodbye, Laura gave Kip a hug and told him it was good to meet him. That hug apparently made a big impression on Kip and was enough encouragement to ask her out on an actual date.

The first real date didn’t happen until a month or so later, after Laura got back from visiting family in NY. At some point Laura had mentioned she loved Indian food so Kip picked a restaurant in Berkeley and off they went. Inevitably Laura spilt some food on her front and was a nervous talker. Apparently this was good, since Kip still wasn’t a big talker and liked listening to her prattle on about God knows what.

The dinner was over sooner than Laura expected, and while she was still a bit nervous, she was having a good time and wanted to stretch the evening out at least a little longer. Being her father’s daughter, she suggested taking a scenic drive up into the Berkeley hills and once up there, impulsively pulled off into a lookout point that offered a sunset view of the entire Bay Area. It really was a beautiful sight. They sat on the hood of Laura’s old and beloved Volkswagen Fox and admired the view. It was also a pretty movie worthy spot for a first kiss.

Thus is a good ending to how Kip and Laura met, and their first date --- which was much more interesting than their second date, but not as amusing as their third date when Laura cloths lined herself on barbed wire.