May the 4th

If you know my husband, you probably know I'm married to a geek. He works in IT and loves all things sci fi. I guess I'm a geek by proxy, although truth be known, I was interested in some of it before Steve, since my brother is also a geek. Anyhow, that is how I know today is a holiday. If you have any geek friends on FB or Twitter, you know this or you've at least seen "May the fourth be with you." Since the catchphrase from Star Wars is "May the Force be with you," today (May the fourth) is Star Wars Day. So in honor of that, here's a nice little story about how Steve knew I was the One.

Our first date was May 14, 2005. I graduated with my bachelors degree that day, moved in to my friends' basement, and got ready for a date with Steve. He had to work, so I had dinner at my future in-laws' with Becky and Zech and then went to register with them (they were engaged - for the record, I HATE registering. Shopping is not my thing and registering is worse because you don't go home with anything and you have to pick out what you want that you think someone else would be willing to buy for you. It's even worse when it's for someone else's registry. But I digress.). Steve met us at Target and then I rode with him to the bowling alley. I was nervous and when I'm nervous I either don't talk or chatter endlessly, depending on how well I know you. So I didn't say much. As the night went on, I felt more comfortable and started talking a bit more. By the time we left the bowling alley, I thought this relationship could have real potential (haha! I'm psychic!). The two of us drove around for a while, just talking. Contrary to all dating advice out there, Steve and I basically laid our cards on the table. We were both recently (within the last 9 months) out of serious relationships and were ready to settle down. Neither of us wanted to play games. We talked about our past relationships. We talked about most things. We ended up at Denny's, where we kept talking. When we went back to his parents' house, I asked if I could borrow his Star Wars DVDs.
According to Becky and Linda (my mother-in-law), this is a big deal. NO ONE is allowed to borrow Steve's Star Wars. Talking about it later, Steve said it wasn't that big a deal, no one ever asked to borrow them. But it was a big clue that he was seriously interested. Why did I want to borrow the DVDs? Because in January I visited Tikal in Guatemala. We were told a scene for Star Wars was filmed there in the '70s and I wanted to find it in the movie. I have a picture very similar to the one below, minus the spaceship, and the trees are taller (it HAD been 30 years). It's Yavin 4, featured in Episode 4.


Anyhow, I found it and pulled out my very similar picture, temples visible in the distance and all, when I returned the DVDs to Steve later in the week. I excitedly showed him my picture, exclaiming, "Look! I've been there!" (Even if you're not a SW fan, you have to admit this is pretty cool.) Aside from our similar views and temperaments, this and the fact that I got a Monty Python reference made Steve sure I was the right girl for him. So sure, in fact, that he proposed five weeks later. Here we are, six years, three daughters, one house, a masters degree, three jobs, three cars, and a minivan later. I'm happy with my geek and more than willing to celebrate May the fourth.
Oh, did I mention we had our first kiss after seeing Episode 3 in the theater? It was Steve's birthday and...
Happy Star Wars Day!