Picture it…2000. AOL is the Internet service provider. Me, a lovelorn high school student about to graduate and go off to college, aided by my big sister, created a profile on Love@AOL. A section off the main page of AOL where you could post a personal ad, for free, and meet people. I remember very clearly what profile picture I used, and I remember that I had to lie and say I was 18 so I could even have the profile posted. I said I was looking for men who were 18-21 years old. My AOL name at the time was JECfreak. JEC stook for James Eugene Carrey. I was majorly obsessed with Jim Carrey. Can’t explain it, but I was.
I got some interesting responses to my ad before Josh replied. In fact, one guy who I talked to on the phone a couple times, was…weird? For lack of a better word. When he emailed me a picture of himself, the first picture he sent was of his nipple rings. The picture of his face came later. Also, and here’s where I decided he was not my destiny, he told me that he liked to drink blook “from a willing donor”. After that, I did not continue the interactions.
Then came Josh. Before deleting my AOL account many years ago, I printed the first few months of emails he sent. I will never forget the very first one though. Or at least, his big opening line. He said, “I’m going to sweep you off your cyber feet.” He acknowledged that he was kidding, which is good, because…what a line! He actually lied about his age. He was 25 when we met, but he lied (like I did) and said he was 24 becasue that put him a little bit closer to the age limit of 21 I had put in my profile. I was only a month or so away from turning 18 when he emailed so we were only dating illegally for about a month.
We emailed back and forth for a couple of weeks. Then we graduated to talking on the phone, which I remember was so fun because those conversations lasted well past midnight. Then, on June 22nd, 2000, we met in person for the first time. We went to Chile’s for dinner. We both drove Ford Escorts at the time and he recalls that he saw me driving around the parking lot because he recognized my fuzzy rainbow steering wheel cover that I had described to him. His sisters joked that we met in the Ford Escort chat room. We did not.
I don’t remember specifically what he wore. Probably a polo shirt and shorts. I guarantee that polo shirt is still somewhere in this house. I remember I wore a blue t-shirt with a flowery/geometric design on it, and these bright, neon, highlighter orange colored cargo pants, and black (possibly beaded) flip flops. I don’t have those pants anymore but I bought a similar pair from Amazon one year to wear for our anniversary and they just didn’t fit properly, so I failed at trying to recreate that look. I’ll try again at some point. Maybe for our 50th anniversary. Who says a 68 year old woman can’t wear neon orange cargo pants? Because that’s how old I’ll be for our 50th.
That first date pretty much sealed our fate as a couple. We had a good time. We ate dinner, walked around the mall that was right there until our movie started. We saw “Boys & Girls”, which was awful. Then we went to the little neighborhood park down the road from his mom’s house (now our house) and we swung on a bench swing until I got motion sick. So we sat on a stationary bench. I won’t go into details about that. I’ll let that be a happy memory in my mind.
I had a 30 minute drive home to where I lived with my parents. So before I got in my car at the end of our date, he insisted on giving me $20 in case I needed gas on the way home. Oh! And how could I forget?! He also got me flowers! I seem to always forget that part, but I just asked Josh and he confirmed that he had gotten me flowers. I don’t remember what type, but the flowers and the concern about me getting home safely won my heart. That and he was (and still is) a good kisser. I mean, there really was a whole host of other reasons that I fell in love with him right then and there but on the surface, that’s what comes to mind. We have been an inseparable duo ever since.
FYI–he still has his OG AOL email account. I wonder if our initial emails are still buried in there somewhere. The ones I printed are only what he sent to me. I’d be curious to see what 18 year old Sarah sent to him.
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