How I Met Andrew, Part 1

I was a junior at Washington and Lee University, barely 20 years old, when my dad retired from the Navy and took a job at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

I had spent ninth and tenth grades in Japan, and then eleventh and twelfth grades in Annapolis, Maryland.  We moved, mostly happily, whenever and wherever to Navy told us.

The move to Annapolis halfway through high school was tough for a while but I was lucky enough to attend a small, private prep school.  If I had been sent to Annapolis High School, I think the culture shock may have done me in.  I guess I was really lucky that my parents were perceptive enough to know this.  I met friends after not too long, made the basketball team and started taking Latin, which I loved.

During my first two years of college, Annapolis was "home."  More than any other place.  It certainly wasn't Japan or any of the other myriad of locales I had lived  prior to college.  And I loved coming home during college.  I loved to see my friends and stay on campus of the U.S. Naval Academy, which was where we lived.

But after my parents left Annapolis and moved to Chapel Hill just before my junior year, I suddenly no longer had a "home".  I stayed on campus at W&L that summer and went to summer school.  During breaks I went with my college friends to their home towns.  I had no desire to go to Chapel Hill where I knew not a soul.

Now, at the time of the move to Chapel Hill my sisters were younger and attended elementary and high school.  They both adjusted very well to Chapel Hill.  As a matter of fact, Ashley started the third grade upon her arrival and to this day considers Chapel Hill the only home she's ever known.

Allison started as a sophomore at Chapel Hill High School.  She joined the swim team and acclimated well.  So well, in fact, that she found a boyfriend quite soon after arriving.  Consequently, the boy's mother and our mother became friends.

One day my mother was lamenting to the boy's mother that her eldest daughter (ME!) rarely came to Chapel Hill to visit because she didn't know anyone her age.  The boy's mother said, "Well, I have another son who is almost exactly your daughter's age.  Let me see if he will call Christy the next time she is in town and perhaps introduce her to his friends."

And, what do you know?  The next time I came to town, for Thanksgiving in 1992, Andrew did call.  (Me to my mom who was holding the phone:  Who is is?  What!?  You set this up.  Oh, come on!  This is so embarassing!)  And he asked me out to breakfast.  Breakfast?

"Ummm...No, actually that's not convenient .  It's my break from college.  I get up really early every day, but not on break."

He then asked if I was up by lunchtime.

"Usually.  Tomorrow will be ok."

So, I was about to meet someone my age in my new hometown.

Now, let me digress a bit and explain what I have always been attracted to in men.  Number one, tall men.  And number two, dark haired men with a certain look.  The best way to describe the look is to say that three actors have it and absolutely make me swoon:  Andrew McCarthy, John Cusak and Edward Norton.  Clean shaven, thin and muscular, thick eyebrows, intelligent faces.  I have seen the look in a few men in my life and my knees go weak every time.

So...the next day the doorbell rang, I answered it and almost fell over!  There stood the most gorgeous man I'd ever seen.  6'3", dark hair, clean shaven, thin and muscular, thick eyebrows, intelligent face.  O M G!

So we went out to lunch and had a great, albeit awkward conversation.  After all, we were just babies!  Just 21 years old.  But here were definitely some sideways glances and easy smiles.  Our eyes lingered on each other's a beat longer than necessary a couple times.  There was a spark there for sure.  We ended up spending the day together.  Watched a movie at my parents' houise.  And then he left.  I thought we'd had a good time but he said nothing about calling me again. 

Probably has a girlfriend.  Shoot. 

I knew I needed to take action.  Before I left to go back to school the next day, I called him at the upholsterer he was working for at the time.  He was on a delivery so I made a crucial decision.  One that changed the course of my life.  Literally.  I asked the boss, the man who answered the phone, to tell Andrew that I called.  And I asked him to tell Andrew that I sent my thanks for lunch and that I'd had a great time.

Andrew later said that if I hadn't made that phone call, he'd probably never have had the nerve to call me a month later when I came back into town.

To be continued...