September 15th, 2006

This picture is the beginning of it all. Well maybe not the beginning, but the first evidence of us together. The beginning can be told in two stories, and here they are.

His Story
My friend Pete "The Meet" Rooney was having a party on Saturday night in NYC, and although I would never and have never before or since gone into the city both weekend nights when working the whole weekend, we decided that I should come into the city to 'pick up chicks' for the party. Pete recommended Session 73, a bar on the east side. So we went to the bar and picked up chicks, which involved standing against the wall and drinking beer. When Abby walked by the first time, I used my best pick up line "What's goin' on". She replied that she had to use the bathroom, and I used my second best pick up line "well swing back on by." After she did not swing back on by, I saw her on the dance floor, and went up and start talking to her and not shortly after I jumped into her picture (see exhibit A). I remembering thinking how cute she was, beautiful smile, and an awesome laugh. She was even laughing at anything that came out of my mouth. We really hit it off. We danced to an awesome band, playing Stevie Wonder's Superstition and had a great night in which I forced myself into more pictures and tried to kiss her several times. The next day I invited her to Pete's infamous party, which she came to only because her friend who was supposed to come into town could no longer make it. We had a great time at the party, and then headed to a late night bar with some friends and basically isolated ourselves and talked and laughed all night. The rest is history...

Her Story
I had just moved into the city and it was the first night my two roommates, Hallory and Kate, and I were all going out together.  A woman I babysat for earlier in the day suggested we check out a place called Session 73 on the Upper East Side.  I walked in with my girlfriends in tow, and a cute, tall guy with a backwards hat said, "Hey, What's going on?"  (If I'd only known then that those words would change my life forever!)  Taken aback, I muttered, "Nothing much, just on my way to the bathroom..." and he said, "Alright, well, swing back on by."  I didn't.  I told my friends he seemed like he was still in college (little did I know he was 24).  But he did run into us again later that evening, and even jumped into the first photo my roommates and I were taking together.  After that, we danced to the live band and made each other laugh.  He told me he loved my laugh, which was good because he was making me do it quite often.  I told him I didn't know if I could start seeing a guy from Jersey since I had just moved into the city.  He told me Morristown "isn't really that far away" and I believed him.  He invited us all to a party his friend Pete was having the next night.  I told him we couldn't go because we were meeting up with a friend from high school.  But wouldn't you know the next day she called to cancel due to car trouble, so we all ended up going to the party, and it was as if we'd known each other for years.  He asked me out on a date for mid-week the next week and then started calling me every night.  We joked that second night about getting married, and I'm excited that after 5+ years, I finally get to marry that cute, tall guy from the bar.