Meeting...

Jenn and I first met in the spring of 1999. It was her second semester at college, and I only had a year and a half left. We were both in the same Theatre class - Creative Dramatics (or, Theatre for Children).

I was taking the class based on the recommendation of a friend in the Theatre program (as I was minoring in Theatre by this point), she was taking it, having just had the instructor for an Introduction to Theatre course the previous semester.

Like most guys tend to do, I was checking out the class dynamics - about five or six guys in a class of about twenty - and the "scenery". Jenn was one of about three that I took a quick interest in (the usual, "Hmmm, they're cute" thoughts on the first days of classes).

The joke from my Theatre friend, Bill F., was that the class was "get an A to Play" - basically play theatre games for an hour, three days a week, with the fundamental idea being primed to teach children theatre skills and games. A lot of the class time was spent talking about different interactions and methods to get and keep the audience involved. One of the first class activities was to have everyone draw a picture, later used when the teacher read a story to the class. The catch is that members of the class would act out the story.

That story was about an older woman, living with her cat, that had a thing for art - to the point where she eventually opened up her house as a miniature museum. Jenn played the old lady, complete with a feather boa as part of her "costume"... I was the cat. Like cats will do with string, I did with the boa - batted at it as it hung there, gently flapping and swaying as she moved. She wrapped it so that less of it was hanging... I continued to bat at it. She turned as if she was going to pop me, and I started purring and rubbing my shoulder against her calf.

As the next couple of months went on, wWe would often end up talking after class, as I would walk her over to the music building - or at least towards it. By this point I knew her first name, but wasn't sure of the last, and I found myself listening to the roll call to find out.

One week she happened to miss a couple of classes, and I looked up her number and called to check on her... I got her voice mail for her room, but let her know that I was checking in since she had missed class, and let her know what assignment we were supposed to be working on for one of the next classes.

About a week or so later, on one of the walks after class, I asked her out. At the time, she worked for the local movie theater, and one of her side perks (which I didn't realize) was that she could get in free to "non-premium" viewings, and the exchange went a little something like this:

Me: So, do you go to the movies much when you're not working?
Jenn: It depends on what's playing. (sounding a bit annoyed) What movie did you want to go see?
Me: Um, I wanted to take you out.
Jenn: You know I can get in free since I work there?
Me: Actually, I didn't... and that's not really my point. I want to take you out, and I thought a movie would be pretty easy thing to do. I'm not looking to get in free.

Jenn stopped, actually as little surprised at that, and she seemd to lighten up a little. We talked about it a little more as we finished walking to the music building, and decided we would go see this cool looking new movie, The Matrix. The night? April 1, 1999.