September

Sommer and I met on August 27th.  Doing simple math, or calendar reading, this means our first full month getting to know each other was the grand month of September.

September was.....interesting.

On Sommer's side, her brother, Walker, who is a U.S. Ranger (Rangers Lead the Way), shipped off to Aphgan....Afgahn....Afghanisto...far away.

Lt. Walker Bauer: Far Right.
Not Pictured: Bad Guys who don't stand a chance

Also, Sommer's awesome grandfather, Andy Bauer, who I sadly will not get to meet on this earth, passed away.

Sommer (in her announcement that her Grandfather had passed): "Heaven gained an extraordinary man on Saturday [9/22/12]"

As for me, I went on the Stupendous Ben-Ezra-Gardner-Worent Camping Trip of 2012

Can Gabrielle and Jonathan W. stop kissing?  Ever?  Seth's Funny Face is rather judgmental.....Also, I am so friggin' tan!!

I also went to Lambeau Field to watch the super amazing 49ers defeat the Packers for the first of two times this season and post-season.

Me at Lambeau with my $5 shades....such a stud...even straight men hit on me sometimes...

Not to sound incredibly arrogant, but if Sommer hadn't met me, her September would have been pretty darn sucky.

Mine was pretty sweet though.

Since there was so much going on, we never had a chance to make grandiose plans, and instead had to content ourselves with going on more walks, sometimes with Cooper, sometimes without.

Cooper not barking

This actually turned out to be a good thing, I think all of our time spent just talking and walking laid a fantastic foundation for the relationship that would follow.  A couple stories from September:

***Jonathan Proves He is Not Suave***

So I told Sommer that I am not a suave person, then proceeded to do my best to prove this to her.  We went for a walk at the riverfront and I really wanted to *gasp* hold her hand.  Pretty exotic and out there right?!

So instead of suavely just grabbing her hand and being all cool I went for the "other" method of asking her if I could hold her hand like an 8-year old on a play date.  This could be taken as gentlemanly....hopefully, but I did set the standard of letting her know that I would be talking to her before I did anything new.  I think she appreciated this when.....well......that is later in the story........

***First Movie (alternate title: Sommer Almost Loses Her Hand)***

First movie, I let Sommer pick.  She picks a safe movie, The Odd Life of Timothy Green.  It was cute.

This was the night that I learned a very important fact about Sommer, she doesn't mind being late. Previews are overrated anyway. I also learned that we can have incredibly awkward moments just as if we were still in junior high.

As we sat and watched the movie I kept wanting to hold her hand.  She had it resting on her leg.  It seemed like she was offering it to me, but maybe she just sat and watched movies with her hand resting on her leg like that?

Side note:  Every time I type out the word "just", I type "jsut" and have to fix it.....EVERY TIME!!!!!  LEARN TO TYPE JONATHAN!!!!

I eventually reached out towards her hand and was gratified that she reached back immediately, as if she had been waiting for me.  It was very sweet.  Unfortunately we ended up with my hand on top of hers and her hand being pressed (or crushed) into the hard plastic edge of the cup holder.

Now, if you had been dating a while it is a simple matter for Sommer to whisper, "ha ha, I need to adjust (doggone it! I just typed adjsut!) my hand" or for me to whisper "hey, do you need to fix your hand so you aren't cutting off circulation?"

Instead we had an awkward time as I wondered how Sommer's hand was doing and she wondered how long she could handle the pain.

She was a trooper and made it a decent while before whispering that she needed her hand back, which I totes understood, yo.  Totes...

As we left the theatre (how fancy!  theatre!) she quickly grabbed my hand, kinda to let me know that she didn't pull her hand back for any reason except out of fear of losing it due to blood loss.

***The Pumpkin Fest***

I ran my first official 10k in September.  September 15th to be precise, just about one week after the 49ers defeated the Packers in their opening game.

The Running Team.  I swear I meant to smile, Ross just snapped the picture when I wasn't ready.  Also, Bock didn't run, using his kids as an excuse.  Lame.  Also, I didn't get a cool shirt cause I was late to the the team, it is pure luck that my blue shirt is the same shade as the ones Amy had made

Sommer had said she would try to meet me at the finish line.  Bear in mind that this is the 4th-ish time seeing her and I would be rather sweaty from running 6.3 miles.

Sidenote:  For my first 10k, I was very proud of my time.

The meeting was as awkward (I've used that word a ton in this post, seriously, I'm so not suave) as you might think it was.  Beth and Sarah were there as well (I know Beth from New Life) and since Beth is almost as much an extrovert as Gabrielle we were able to push through the moment and Sommer and I agreed to meet up later.

Sommer and I had a delightful time wandering the rather boring Pumpkin Fest later that afternoon.  Not super delightful really, but it was ok.

The fun would be later that night when we met up at Sarah's house to sit around a fire and chat.

Merely a generic campfire picture I added for flavor....but check out the tool who isn't wearing a shirt.  He is all like "I'm at a campfire and I'm not wearing a shirt!"  I hope he burned his nipples off.  Nipple-less tool........This is the type of writing that you can't find anywhere else...except every other blog on the internet

It was that night, sitting around the fire, talking about embarrassing moments (I told my butt surgery story...for realz), when I first thought to myself that there might just be something here with this Sommer chick.....

Also, she was (and still is) freakin' hot....

Up Next: "October" or "When Jonathan and Sommer Get Serious While Getting Piggy Back Rides from New Life Youth"

First Date...for Realsies

Sommer cried on our first date....

I sweated like only my brother Seth can in 90 degree weather.....

But I get ahead of myself.

After making me wait a day or two Sommer got back to me and we made plans to meet at 7:30 the next Monday (August 27, 2012...nailed it, Sommer!) at Eli's in Morton, get a beverage, and go for a walk.

This was during the same time I was making plans (that would later fall through) to meet another girl for coffee at 3030 the Saturday beforehand.  Yes, my first dates all must involve coffee.

This is the closest I have ever come to being a "playa", as the kids are calling it, or "player" if you are white and over 40.  I even bought myself a pimp hat to look the part....but I digress!

I was "training" to run the Pumpkin Festival 10k in a few weeks.  Apparently that training consisted of drinking whiskey and beer Saturday night at Erin Feis then running 6 or so miles on Monday an hour and a bit before meeting Sommer.

I ran.  I ate dinner.  I showered.  I dressed in some hawt as *bleep* clothing.  Fun fact, I wore a super awesome black polo shirt that totally showed off my biceps.  This shirt had failed me a few weeks before and needed to redeem itself.  I also wore my super cool sneakers that are fit for nothing but looking awesome on my feet.

As some runners know, even after you run and shower, sometimes your body temperature just stays elevated for a bit...leading to sweating...even while doing nothing.

This was the state that I found myself in as I sat in front of Eli's waiting for the first hopefully-single hot chick to walk up those stairs.

I wiped sweat from my "clean shaven" brow.

I wiped again.

For the love.....

Wiped away sweat again....Hey!  Hot chick pulling up by herself!  Quick, wipe sweat away again!

Sommer walked up the stairs to me and looked inquisitively at me...I like to believe hopefully, but you never know.

We introduced ourselves to each other and walked inside.

I began to sweat again.

Sommer began tearing up.

Her contact was bothering her.  She was wiping away tears.  I was wiping away sweat.  This was going great.

"Sommer!"  called the coffee lady (Jaime), "Happy birthday!"

You have got to be kidding me.

It clicked with Jaime very quickly what was going on and she stopped talking.  I explained to Sommer that I was running earlier and that is the cause for my sweating and I swear that I have showered, just not cooling down.  Somewhere in there I slid in that it was over 6 miles.....while carrying puppies that I rescued from a burning orphanage.....I flexed.......she swooned.

We started walking.

We walked out Jefferson until the road ended then headed back.  We clicked pretty well right from the beginning.  We measured the distance we walked on the way back and discovered that it was 1.82 miles.  So we had walked 3.64 miles.  Not too shabby.  My awesome shoes that were only fit to be looked at and not really walked in were starting to fail me.

We got back to Eli's and someone that we both knew (Alyssa) was sitting there.  She, of course, told Sommer happy birthday before talking to me at all.  This kinda surprised Sommer that Alyssa knew me, but I think that the sad tale of Alyssa editing me out of a news video (or something like that) made Sommer's heart melt a little.

(Sommer likes to laugh at me at this next part and say, "This is your favorite part!"  and it is!)

I thought the date was a success and was working up a good way to let Sommer know that I wanted to see her again when Sommer said to me, "want to walk the other way now?"

Heck yes!

So we continued to walk and talk and walk. At one point I thought that I had a rock in my shoe and I stopped to get it out...only to realize that it wasn't a rock, but in fact the beginnings of a blister.

My shoes we not made to walk 5 miles in.

Neither were Sommer's.

Later we would confess to each other that our first date gave both of us blisters.

Finally Sommer couldn't handle the pain anymore and said that she needed to turn around because her shoes were not made for walking this much.  I understood completely.

As we had walked it had gotten dark and quiet in Morton.  At one point some guy turned onto the same street we were walking and proceeded to walk behind us...not passing us, not slowing down, not crossing the street, just walking at the same distance from us.

We got back to Eli's and stood there looking at each other.

As I would tell Sommer later, I'm not a suave guy, but I had a suspicion that if I went to hug her she would be open to this.

However....

That stupid guy was slowly walking past us finally...at the exact wrong time.  He had gone the same direction as we were for over a mile and was about 10 feet away from us right at that amazingly awkward end-of-a-first-date moment.

Now I can handle rejection, poorly, but I can handle it....but not with an audience.

The date ended with me suavely saying..."So I'm camping this weekend, what if I call you Tuesday?"

Antonio Banderas I am not.

Sommer was good with me calling her on Tuesday, which I then changed to Monday, but whatever.

Up next: "Walk and Talk is Good for Jonathan", in which I buy a new pair of shoes.

First Date

So there I was, a single guy, perusing eHarmony.  I was all in, I had the iPad app, the iPhone app, and the website was bookmarked on my computer.  Each day I would get pictures and profiles of girls from all over the Illinois area.

On a certain day there was this (cute) girl named “Sommer” from Morton. She lives close by!  Score!

I started perusing the pictures and I came to one that was labeled “My small group, I can’t imagine life without these guys!” (Or something like that).  As I looked at the picture it dawned on me that I knew just about every single person shown. (Justin and Amy Smith, Matt Phillips, and Barb Bode to name a few) It would turn out that picture was taken on the day of Gabrielle’s wedding when they all had dinner together before the reception.

I immediately texted Gabrielle and asked her if she knew a girl named Sommer from her small group.

Gabrielle said yes. 

I specifically remember the follow up questions, since they are of vital importance:

 Is she nice?
Is she hot?

(I’m proud of myself that I asked in that order)

Gabrielle's response:

She is nice but quiet (everyone is quiet compared to Gabrielle though)
Not my type

Good enough for me!

I skipped all the eHarmony safeguards and sent her a message asking if we could meet for coffee since we knew all the same people.  I would find out later that Sommer had recognized me from when she helped Gabrielle and Jonathan move in.  I think she might have said something like: “I recognized those massive rippling muscles and beautiful eyes that I have been dreaming about ever since I saw you” or something similar…who can remember really?

So I sent a message, eager to see what would happen with this Sommer from the Bode small group.

She made me wait…..

Can’t seem too eager!

Make him wait…..

So I waited.

This would be an awesome place to stop the story for now, but I labeled this post “First Date” so I think I need to keep going…..

Nope, I don’t.

Next time:  First Date, Part 2

Prologue to Amazing

Sommer and I met on eHarmony.

Why eHarmony? Because Gabrielle, my sister who (with her husband Jonathan) lives with me and who knew us both, didn't love us enough to introduce us to each other. Sommer and Gabrielle went to the same small group. Sommer was at Gabrielle's wedding. Sommer helped Gabrielle and Jonathan move into my house! And yet we met online.

It makes me chuckle to think of it still. Meeting someone on eHarmony is seriously hard work. Actually, meeting “someone” is easy, meeting hundreds of “someones” is cake, meeting that special someone is difficult. eHarmony is most akin to a meat market. I would peruse pictures, discarding some, saving others, feeling like a jerk, with the full knowledge that women were doing the same thing to me. I would get messages from women who were not up to my lofty standards (maybe not so lofty). You email people, ask questions, see if there is a slight chance that you might connect and see what happens.

Sommer was the first person I actually met in person from eHarmony. There were several reasons for this, the first is that the first person I was going to meet had to cancel, second, the other person I found really interesting lived in Michigan, and thirdly (and most importantly) I was on eHarmony for about 3 weeks before meeting Sommer face to face. 

 I had read all about how long the process would take and had looked up a coupon for a six month plan, I was all set for the long haul.  I had a plan.  I had a timeline!  I would meet someone, slowly get to know them, take my time, and, if we hit it off, maybe in a year or so, once I knew it was safe, I would pop the question.

And then I met Sommer.

Up next: First Date!

Preamble

Hey, its a blog!  How two thousand and late!  No offense to people blogging of course. :)  I just thought it would be nice to have a place to write up my memories of Sommer's and my relationship.  Who knows how long this will make it.  Who knows if I will peter out.  I do know that I have a few fun stories to share and if anyone wants to read them, well, heck, they will be here!  And if you don't want to read them go read a good writer.

I can't promise that I will be a good writer at all, also, I can't promise fits of rage...or timely posts, but there will be some words here darn it!