April 20, 2007

April 20th is the most important day of my life. Ha ha, no, not 4:20! April 20, 2007 is the day I met Kirby--my husband and best friend, the person who changed my life. When I woke up that morning I knew it was going to be a good day, but I had NO IDEA what the day had in store.



I started the morning by teaching my class. I was an adjunct professor at Belmont that semester. I left class and went to Amerigo on West End because I knew there was a game that night and that some of the hockey players would be there eating lunch. Stalkerish? Maybe a little. I sat in the bar and ate my lunch and had a few glasses of Pinot Noir. I sat one seat away from Steve Sullivan and he spoke to me a little. Nothing about hockey. I stared stupidly at Shea Weber which made it almost impossible to eat my food. The players left, and I kept grading papers. This strange British guy was sitting next to me and I ended up talking to him for over an hour. Turns out it was John Waite. As in "I'm Not Missing You at All." Very nice fellow.


Went home and changed clothes, packed another change. I was going to the Preds Playoff game with my Mom, then after the game out with Honey and her cousin from California. I had only been single a few weeks and this was my first real time going out, partying hard and enjoying my singleness. Mom picked me up, we went to Big River for some food and sangria, then went to the game. Preds lost. I drank alot. I went back to Mom's car, changed shirts and shoes--into my AWESOME pewter heels--and then stumbled across the street to the Bluegrass Inn on Broadway. Given that I was already drunk I was fairly social. That's not me in my sober state. I see a group of three guys standing near the bar in Preds gear. While I'm ordering a drink I start commiserating with them about the loss.


Fast forward a few minutes and me and my two friends are around a table with these three guys, talking hockey and various other things. The band is Hillbilly Casino and they are rocking it out. I think I have this one guy locked in. Keep in mind that I'm not looking for a boyfriend or a relationship. I had just gotten out of a long relationship and it had been close to seven years since I dated because before the previous relationship, I had been in another long relationship. I hadn't "dated" dated since I was 18. I just wanted to meet someone, go on a few dates and get back into practice. After an hour or so the group was bored and wanted to go to The Stage. Bar tabs are closed, people start migrating and along the way I lost the group, except one. We both walk into The Stage together and go to the bar to order drinks. I buy him a Coors Light. We talk while waiting for what seemed like forever to get our beers.

We finally locate the rest of the group and we can't find the guy I had been talking to or Honey's cousin. Finally Honey spots them upstairs, on the balcony making out. Okay. So much for ever going out with that guy. I like to think that my standards are a bit higher than that. I'm really drunk and at this point and standing, let alone moving, in my four inch heels is getting difficult. I'm not even sure how many times I fell on my ass while standing perfectly still. This nice, tall guy kept helping me up and we kept talking.  Discovered he was from South Dakota.  Finally the time of the night came and the bar closed down. We were all standing out on the sidewalk and decided to go across the street to the Trailer Park Cafe and eat before heading home. At this point, me and the really tall guy had totally hit it off. We take a picture together at the Cafe. We flirt.


The night comes to an end, and Honey being the doll that she is offers these strangers a ride home. She had recently found out she was pregnant, so made the perfect DD for us that night! Then she started worrying that maybe having strangers in the car was a bad idea. We assured her it would be okay. On the drive the tall guy kept talking about this song "Goodnight Moon" and was astonished we hadn't heard it. When we pulled into their driveway he ran inside and brought out his guitar and played it for us. Admittedly, I don't remember it really. I'm pretty sure I was 90% passed out at that point. I do remember his dog coming out and sticking his head in the door. That was the first time I met Fudgie.

The evening concluded and the tall guy got my number and asked if he could call. I said sure. I didn't really expect him to. Honey drove me home and I crawled in my bed as the sun came up. The next afternoon my phone rang. It was the tall guy. I was hungover and beat and didn't really want to do anything that night. He had something going on Sunday, so we agreed to meet on Monday night. I honestly couldn't really remember what he looked like. I searched him out on MySpace.


Monday night we agreed to meet at Mellow Mushroom in Franklin. I lived downtown then, so I walked. When I got there I saw a tall guy get out of a pickup with South Dakota plates. We went in and after a beer or two loosened up and had a really great time. Turned out he was a dog lover, so I invited him over to meet Rocky. We sat in my kitchen talking for a few more hours and Rocky wasn't sure what to make of him. He left my place around 2:00am. It felt like I was walking on clouds when I went upstairs to bed. I knew I could really like this guy.


We met the next night at Brewhouse West. I was still wary of going to his place or being somewhere not public, despite inviting him to my house the night before. We had another great time and basically closed down the bar again. On the way home I called Cheryl because I knew I was in trouble. I didn't want to be in a relationship, I wasn't ready to face my future. But I knew I had met the man I was going to marry.

I can't remember if it was the next night or Thursday, but he had a hockey game. He played men's league. I'm pretty sure it was Thursday. I went to his game. His team won, and it was the league's playoffs. His team won the "championship" for that year. The team went out for beers at Blackstone and I went with him. One of the guys on his team kind of blew me off and said, "We'll see if you're around next season." After that we went to one of his friend's house and he played guitar and sang.

Saturday night he had an acoustic gig at the now defunct Caffeine on Demonbruen. I talked Cat into going with me. She could tell right away that I was smitten, and tried to talk me down from my feelings a little. It didn't work. We went back to his friend's house after the show, and when I went to leave he walked me to my car. There, that night, we had our first kiss. We continued to hang out, watch the Playoffs and eventually Stanley Cup Finals together. We bonded over our shared passion for hockey. We just really clicked. We were practically inseparable for weeks. Rocky even got along with Fudgie, and eventually warmed up to Kirby. So much so that he's Kirby's dog now, not mine. We went on an ill-fated road trip that took us through St. Louis and back just four weeks after we met, and gave us plenty to laugh about for years to come. A couple months later we road tripped from here to Gillette, WY with several more comic mishaps. He stayed there for a month, came back to help me move into my house, then went back for another month. I flew out to Omaha to meet him and help him drive back to Nashville. A week later we lost Fudgie. In another month we had found a building and started Team Witt with $2000 cash and a prayer. We truly crammed a year's worth of dating into a six month period of time!

Sometime in April or May of the following year we decided to "officially" move in together, because he stayed at my place 99% of the time anyway, since it was significantly closer to the new shop than his sister's house where he had been "living." In mid-June we decided to get married, and about six weeks later on August 9, 2008 we did. (I'm not sure of the exact date of our "engagement" because we didn't exactly go about it in the traditional way, you see. In typical Jenn and Kirby fashion we were having a conversation about something else and it just kind of came up and we decided, over the course of the discussion, to get married. We then discussed when the most convenient time would be for our families, checked to see if the church was available, and then I planned the wedding in the span of one week.)


But it all started on April 20th, and so many things had to go right for us to meet that night. Normally, I wouldn't have been that drunk and so wouldn't have wanted to talk to strangers. Normally, I would have just gone home after the game except Honey's cousin was in town and wanted to go see Hillbilly Casino. The game just so happened to fall on a Friday night they were playing. Kirby had actually met another girl at a party the weekend prior and invited her to the game, and she agreed to go. But then she backed out, and he ended up taking Gerster.  Gerster is a fan of Hillbilly Casino, too, and convinced the guys to go there after the game. I find it hard to believe that our meeting, in that place on that night was anything short of fate.

I've had alot of important days in my life. Big accomplishments and lots of joy. I know I will have many more in the future. However, out of everything that's happened to me so far, the night I met Kirby has been the most important and the best--even more than our wedding day. Our wedding day just made "official" what I knew four days after I met him, on our second date. That he was "The One." That my life would never be the same. (The guy who had originally gotten my number and then made out with Honey's cousin? Kirby's best friend Danny, who was the Best Man at our wedding. My Matron of Honor? Honey!)


So, today I celebrate the day three years ago that I met Kirby. I love you!

**Also, after my post a few days ago about my dad's cancer, he informed me that April 9 was the day he was diagnosed and April 20 was the day we got the pathology results declaring him cancer-free! So, April 20 continues to be a very lucky day in my life, one that's certainly worth celebrating!