Ely Part II

Picture it, December 2011, Austin, Texas, nearly time for school to let out for the holidays. What were my plans? Well, I could go to El Paso and risk causing my family more grief about my single "situation". I could go to my brother's house in Colorado and do the same up there. Hmmmmm, no thanks! I did something completely different and went up to Saratoga Springs, New York to visit my beloved Judy and her family. Judy moved to New York the previous summer, to my heart's demise. Still, all considered, it was a good move considering her husband's cool new job and the beautiful community they moved to.
Once the arrangements were made I began to feel giddy. Judy has a way of inspiring such feelings no matter what is going on but this time we had a HUGE reason to feel excited. NYNY!!! AHHHHH!!!!! I'd never been and I was walking on air just thinking about it. The architecture, the food, the lights, the Christmas decorations, the shopping, the cathedrals, the park, EVERYTHING!!! I can't explain my anticipation.
One night while I was catching up on all things Facebook I noticed a familiar name. Friend request from, AH!! Ely Allington? Oh, my! I responded in the affirmative to his friend request, of course. I must admit, I was very curious about how he was doing. Was he married? In a relationship? Was it "complicated"? Was he still a practicing Mormon? Children? Was he still hot? Was he "interested in women" or men? I'd been surprised before on Facebook with how different people had changed in unexpected ways. The goth chick turned attorney, the super jock turned club kid, the preppy turned tattoo artist, the drug addict turned religious fanatic, the drop out turned business tycoon. Ely's sexuality was never in question but stranger things have happened.
Anyway, all things looked good as I glanced over his info. Not that many pictures but still very hot. Hotter than ever, actually. I dropped him a quick line, something like "Hey, you! How's life?" He responded, "Pretty good. How is life for Kristin?" We started a dialogue, thusly. At first it was all via Facebook. Then it spilled into an online game called Words With Friends, kind of a Scrabble game played between opponents over their smart phones. It often lasts for days, if not weeks. Suffice it to say Ely was kicking my trash which led me to my next move. I wanted to talk on the phone. I now knew he was smart enough to want to talk to. Shallow as it seems, I really did think exactly that way.
By this time I was already in New York. On the train, oh so early in the morning, heading from upstate to the city, Judy and I were talking all about school and our friends and chatting about our goals for the new year when I received a little message from Words With Friends.
"Ely beat me AGAIN!! Blast that guy!"
"Who's Ely?"
"Oh, he's, um, just an old friend. We play Words With Friends and he's always beating me. It's infuriating."
Maybe it's a false memory, I'm not really sure, but as I reflect on it I see Judy's face aglow with a knowing smile.
The city was more interesting, beautiful, and exciting than I could have dreamed. I feel like I need to spend a month or so there to really appreciate it on a meaningful level. But our day there was SO much fun. I will have to write a separate piece on that trip. For the purposes of this entry I will focus on Ely.
So he texted me on New Year's eve, two days before our trip into the city, to say happy New Year. I returned the wishes. We talked about maybe talking on the phone. I was excited to do just that but I thought it would be better to wait until I got home so as not to disturb the little sleepers in the bedrooms around me.
I got home in what one could call one piece even though I felt a little like I'd left a piece of my heart in New York with Judy and company. It was fun to be back with Megan. We exchanged holiday stories and talked about goals as well. I told her about Ely, just a little bit, seeing as how I wasn't sure what talking would yield.
We scheduled a night to talk. I sent him my phone number. He called. I was scared.
"Hello?" said his familiar and sweet voice.
"Hi!" said my excited voice, trying to mask nervousness.
I can't really remember everything we talked about, all I know is once we hung up I had a very large smile on my face and a giggle in my throat and butterflies in my tummy. As I tried to shake it it just wouldn't be shook. So I stopped shaking.
At school among the teachers we referred to him as "the suitor". It was half a joke half dead serious. It sounded funny but that's really what he was, a suitor. That's what he had already made plain in week two of our phone conversations when he admitted having feelings.
"So, we should take a trip for Spring Break. Seattle maybe?" I asked.
"Hmmm, how about I come out to Austin?" he suggested
"Oh! Okay. When?" I asked.
"What about next week? MLK weekend?" he asked.
"Sure! I'll take Friday off and we have Monday off already," I said.
"Great!"

And there it was. I'd be seeing him, face to face, again, after all those years. I was beside myself with nervous energy.

I went to pick him up that Friday morning from the airport. Did my hair look okay? Was I wearing the right thing? Too much make up? Not enough? Did I look too fat? Ugh. Scared. Just scared. Then there he was, walking toward me from the luggage carousel, nervous half smile. So, so cute. We embraced, finally. We collected his bags and went to the car.
The long weekend yielded many things; kisses, new brakes (a la Ely), wonderful meals, even better conversations, and that thing that happens so often in stories but never in real life where you just KNOW. He said so first. And it was funny because I thought it before he'd ever said it.
"Let's go to the jewelry store." he said.
"Seriously?" I asked.
"Seriously. It'll be fun." he said.

So we went. I tried on some pretty dreamy things. Ely bought be a gorgeous band with diamonds and emeralds on a white gold band. It was a "promise ring". When I went back to pick it up after it had been sized they gave me two rings. He had purchased the matching engagement ring also. And that, as they say, was that. We started planning a wedding.

We met in El Paso and went to my parents' for Presidents Day weekend. Ely asked my parents for their blessing and they lovingly agreed, after a long lecture about deference, commitment, God, religion, family, and compromise. YEAH!! We celebrated at Cattleman's famous Steak House with my parents, little brother and his family, too. It was so wonderful to have the approval of my parents. I'd never felt that from them before, as it relates to someone I was dating seriously. It felt amazing. Everyone was so happy for us!

We spent the rest of the weekend finding Ely's ring, suit, shoes, tie, etc. After scouring the city we found everything in the last place we checked. Thank you, Burlington Coat Factory! Who knew they sold titanium rings? Size 8, no less!! We were pretty excited.

The next day we went to Las Cruces, New Mexico to celebrate our engagement yet again at my dear friend Angie's home. Ely's old high school friends were gathering there. It was so fun. We ate Lebanese food to our hearts' content. It was awesome catching up and seeing Ely's friends so happy for us.

So....we went to our separate homes. OPERATION: WEDDING.

Stay tuned.