A Chance Meeting: The Back Story

It’s 5:15am on February 14^th, 2011 – Valentine’s Day. We groggily wake up. The car is already packed, the end result of weeks of preparation. I don’t remember the last full night of sleep. Our overnight bag sits patiently in the corner. Today is the day our lives will change forever. Linh, my girlfriend, has been waiting to leave Florida since about two hours after she arrived. That was six years ago. Her wait is over, because today she moves to Boston, sight unseen, with her beau. Little did she know that I had bigger plans.

            This is the true story of our new life. Unsatisfied with Florida, we decided to ditch our jobs, say goodbye to our friends, and move to Boston. Neither of us have ever stepped foot in Massachusetts, but we were ready for a fresh start. Before I continue, however, introductions are in order.(After the jump!)

            Greetings! My name is Trevor and I’ll be your tour guide for the remainder of this blog. I’m 31 years old and a licensed attorney in the State of Florida. I have several hobbies, but I’m best at playing drums. You can listen to some of my work at www.facebook.com/thegisttheband. Except for a study abroad in Denmark, I’ve always lived in the muggy swamp that is Florida.

            Linh, my partner in crime, grew up in Houston, Texas and Rockville, Maryland. Her stint in Florida yielded two things, a Masters Degree in special effects and animation - and me.

This story begins in the winter of 2008, while I was trudging through the second year of law school. My band, The Gist, was performing a show at the klassiest dive bar in Florida, Area 7. (Yes, that’s klassy with a ‘k’.) To give you an idea, the TVs play 50’s porn and bar hags offer patrons body shots. It’s not a pretty sight. And of all the shows to attend, that’s the one a long time friend of the band decided to show up with friends in tow. One of those friends caught my eye.

I'm the one on the right!

This is a viking-ninja-pirate-drummer jolly roger logo Linh designed for my birthday. It's on  my kick drum and is totally awesome!

We saw each other from afar. I was the spirited drummer and she was the most beautiful woman there, but she left before we had a chance to speak to each other. Luckily, I convinced our mutual friend to give me the mysterious stranger’s number. With it, I got a name, Linh. (Lynn? Linn? Lihn?) We were a few dates in before I learned the correct spelling. I forgot to ask during our initial conversation and then it was too late to ask. Oops.

I called her the following day and said something along the lines of “Hi, I’m the drummer of the band from last night. Want to go out with me?” Luckily, she said yes. I picked up Linh the following Wednesday. It was a daring move for both of us as neither remembered how the other looked – something we joke about now. It was essentially a blind date.

            It’s Wednesday afternoon. I picked up Linh from her apartment and took her to the Body Exhibit, an international exhibit that was in Florida for a few months. It’s a collection of real human bodies in various states of autopsy. Visitors can see musculature, cardiovascular systems, and other workings of the human body. This sort of thing may gross out some people, but Linh and I found it fascinating. However, it did make me contemplate becoming a vegetarian. Linh made it known that this would be a deal breaker. She comes from a long line of omnivores and wasn’t going to put up with a vegetarian boyfriend. Luckily for me, I returned to my old ways by the time dinner was served. We went to my favorite Thai restaurant, Thai 84. Dinner was excellent, but that’s not the pith of the evening.

After dinner I took Linh to my favorite Irish pub, The Field. This was the highlight of the evening, and why our date was on Wednesday. You see, Hot Rod performs on Wednesdays. Hot Rod is a traveling performer that looks and sounds like Rod Stewart. Moreover, he’s a Scotsman that gets continuously drunker throughout the evening. He hits on the women, ribs the men, does high kicks and one-arm pushups on top of booths. Hot Rod is the best show in Florida. Seriously, you need to see him perform.

A typical Tuesday for Hot Rod.

While we were there – on our first date – a couple next to us asked how long we were married. This was the first of many times people would mistake us for a married couple. So, things went well, really well, and we’ve been dating since. Here are some pictures of our courtship.

  

This was taken moments after I said something obnoxious.