140 Characters

I originally joined Twitter to follow my brother as he's a funny guy, and who partly wishes he could be a stand-up comedian. I never intended to tweet, and I absolutely never expected to fall in love. Yes, that's right, the be L word. But here I am six months later, over 5,000 tweets deep and head over heels for a fellow twitter. #SorryNotSorry

Prior to Twitter I was a serial singleton. I had one boyfriend for part of college and then spent the last five years single:  partying, dating, consistently being a wheel in all my groups of friends, and never successfully finding anyone for myself. Now, not everything about being single was bad. Like most single people the mentality ebbed and flowed over the years. 

You go through all the "I don't want to be single" motions:  Try to lose weight to an "ehhh" degree of success, get set up by friends, get set up by coworkers, experiment with Match and eHarmony, pray, drink. I, myself, was at a particular disadvantage as I was working and going to law school. Very little free time and always in class during happy hour. When was a girl to realistically date?

When I joined Twitter I was in a holding pattern. I was lonely and tired of being single, but I was apathetic about putting in energy to find anyone. I was worn out and didn't have any time. Twitter became my outlet. Perhaps this is a sad admission? But I am the internet generation--a progeny of social media. My "Twamily" was new and shiny with witty things to share.

However, suddenly I found myself thinking a fellow Twitter friend "cute." Based on what? His one photo? His witty comments under 140 characters in length? His potential occasional flirting with me? Yes. Based on just those things. I caught myself thinking, "Are you really this desperate? He's hundreds of miles away. You'll never meet him in person. Just stop it woman." Then again....also thinking, "Ah, fuck it. It's just flirty banter, whats the harm? Might as well be giddy and feel good. You'll never meet him in person."

I was wrong. So happily wrong. 

So here I am, embarking on the craziest adventure of my life. I'm in my first relationship in five years and he's 750 miles away. How did I get myself in this crazy, awesome, heart pumping mess?

Lo and behold, he and I got to be friends via Twitter. And then Facebook made it official, right?--so the stalking began! (see:  a progeny of social media). Turns out, he WAS cute. Swoon. I couldn't stop staring at his smile. It sucked me in, and made me wish I was part of each photo.

Our banter quickly picked up and it was clear something was between us. Over the course of a week we talked online every day at work and every night until 2 a.m. or later. I was smitten. I don't know how to explain that instant connection, the feeling of "just knowing", especially when it was all electronic, but it was there and oh man was it strong. I've never had better conversations with anyone nor felt more comfortable and open, and here he was a total stranger. I had never met him! It was insanity. It didn't make sense! Yet, I felt happier than I had ever been.

A week--that's all it took before he asked to meet me. We had no mutual connections. No one could vouch for him. The ridiculous dangerous possibilities were abundant. What was I doing? How crazy could I be? Yet, nothing felt wrong about this idea. No red flags popped up in the back of my mind. I was eerily calm. I said yes. 

For two days I was in a hazy blur of excitement and anticipation as we planned his first trip to Indianapolis. It was fast, it was crazy, and probably a bit stupid; but with the comment "Maybe I'll kiss you before you even hear my voice. Now wouldn't that be a story to tell our grand kids?" Sold. I was in love. 

It has been eight weeks since he came to visit (which was amazing, by the way). Eight dreadfully long weeks. But I'm finally in New York. My hand is where it belongs--being held by @joshuetree's.