He literally had me at "Hello" (the 1st encounter happened in Chicago)
I’d had a business trip in Chicago and decided to extend the trip a few days to see what the city was all about (I’d never been before). My sister (a.k.a. Newfoundjoye) met me out there and we decided to explore Chicago together. We’d had a pretty great trip, including going to the Blackhawks game and sitting in the plush box seats that my client hooked us up with. On our last day in the city, we headed down to the Navy Pier to see what it was all about.
We came into the little shop area and my sister was checking out souvenirs inside of one of the little stores. I was on my way into the store when I saw this tall, gorgeous guy coming my way. Naturally, I had to stand there for a second too long and be obnoxiously obvious (I’m definitely not smooth on any account), but I snapped back to reality in time to walk into the shop and at least act like I was looking at some souvenirs (Ooo, look at these key chains) - and not checking him out. He was just the right height (over 6ft) and looked Italian or Greek, with dark brown eyes, dark hair and a face sculpted by the gods. I’m talking gorgeous people. Yes, I saw all of this in about 2 seconds, and no, I didn’t continue to check him out after he walked by the store…at least not as obviously!
After a few minutes, Newfoundjoye and I realized that we just weren’t going to buy anything, so we headed out to the left. Mr. Gorgeous was off to the right talking to another guy (I just happened to notice him when I walked out…stop judging me!!). He saw us come out of the store and moved in our direction until we all were walking along together.
After half a second, he and his friend were about to head in the opposite direction from us, so we all came to a bit of a stop in the middle of the walkway and Mr. Gorgeous looks at me and says “hello.” Feeling like a ridiculous little school girl (as I got lost in his eyes and other cliche romantic things that makes women squeal and giggle), I tried to quiet my quick beating heart so I could hear if he said anything else, but that was it. Besides the smile he flashed at me. I didn’t know what to do other than smile back at him, return the greeting “hi” and then wait to see what happened next.
We stood there and I am pretty sure hours passed, but my watch lied and said it was merely seconds and nothing more happened. So, I turned back to the walkway and continued on with Newfoundjoye. Mr. Gorgeous didn’t say anything more. We got lost in the multitudes on the Pier and I never saw his amazingly beautiful face again.
It's in the Way He Walks (the 2nd encounter happened just earlier this week)
For some reason, I’m always with Newfoundjoye when things like this happen to me; but we were about to go and pick up a few Christmas gifts from a store one night. It’s been exceptionally chilly in the area lately and the wind is brutal and biting. It was a nippy night and my hair was whipping around my head (not back and forth) and when we made it through the automatic doors of the store, I was pretty sure I had what I like to call “tornado head” happening.
As we walked through the entrance, I looked at Newfoundjoye and asked, “Does my hair look OK?
She glanced at me and said “Yeah, it looks fine.”
I know she was telling the truth, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that my hair was a mess all over my head and I said, “Are you sure? I feel like I look awful!”
Next thing you know, I hear a deep voice say something that I didn’t quite catch and I look back and see only the back of this tall guy dressed nicely (I love when guys wear scarves and hats in the winter), walking out the door of the store. I didn’t see his face, but he was wonderfully tall and I admired his confident walk. The way a person walks says a lot about them.
Newfoundjoye says, “Aww! That was nice.”
I turn to her and ask, “What?”
“He said, ‘I don’t think so.’”
Wait…what? Newfoundjoye explains that Mr. Tall & Sexy must’ve overheard me saying that I looked awful and he said that he didn’t think I did. Then, Newfoundjoye confirmed that not only was he tall and nicely dressed, but he was handsome (she saw him before he walked by us) and he even looked back, maybe to see if I was looking (which I wasn’t at the time).
Another missed opportunity?
DC Dating Divas often post about some of the DC Missed Connections that are posted on Craigslist and I definitely find those interesting. I mean, random encounters like mine happen to people on a daily basis. I’m not going to scour the Internets for the guys or anything; but isn’t it a little strange to briefly come in contact with someone that will probably never be part of your life in any way. What exactly is the point then?
Do you know the film “The Butterfly Effect”? I love that movie, but more for the premise of it than the actual movie. If you haven’t seen the film, you probably at least know the concept or have heard the question of if a butterfly flaps its wings in one country, does it cause destruction in another? This all plays into the chaos theory and atmospheric changes; but the basic idea is that the tiniest change in one existing situation can lead to other changes and ultimately that tiny change would’ve lead up to a majorly altered situation. So in the film, Ashton Kutcher has the ability to go back in time and change parts of his past, but then those small changes end up making his future completely different and not necessarily better. Yes, it’s all moral-infused like an episode of Full House when the slow music starts playing, but the concept is intriguing.
How would noticing Mr. Tall & Sexy instead of focusing on my tornado head have affected my world today?
As a Christian, I believe that my life is just one tiny speck in the grand master plan that God has (I’m pretty sure He calls it his Grand Master Plan, too). I can think about myself (who doesn’t want the world to revolve around them?) but a lot of the time, things that happen to and around me aren’t even directly intended to change anything in my life.
So, maybe for me I randomly bumped into these potential knights-in-shining-armor that turned into absolutely nothing but great stories to share (this one time…in Chicago…), but for them, maybe our brief encounter was something entirely different. Mr. Gorgeous might’ve been on his way out of the Navy Pier before our quick connection and by taking the time to stop and say hello to me, he might’ve avoided being hit by a car or something. Yes, that’s a little dramatic and egotistical to think that I saved his life…but you get what I’m trying to say. I can’t look at random encounters with people and think “that was pointless,” because in the grand scheme of things (God's Master Plan) my brush with them might’ve influenced a future event.
Basically, the brief encounters that we experience aren’t always for our benefit. We don’t see the big picture, but if we did, I’m sure it would all make sense. And sometimes the random experiences aren’t for us at all, they’re for the other person involved.
That’s not to say that I want this to happen to me again, because I’m pretty sure if some other ridiculously good looking, chivalrous man bumps into me as a potential Third Encounter…I’m not going to just walk away from him or let him walk away from me.
There’s only so much a girl can take!
