May 5, 1998. She got up early, like she did every morning, like it was just another day, to walk her puppy before getting ready for work. As she made her way to the front door her roommate was coming back in from her morning jog.
"Have you been outside yet?" the roommate inquired.
"No, not yet."
"There's something out there for you."
She went outside their rowhouse and saw that her new boyfriend had chalked the sidewalk out front -- chalk balloons surrounding "Happy Birthday" in large letters. Her heart melted.
Who was this guy who would do such a thing? Their first date was but three days earlier. It seemed a bit early to consider him a boyfriend, but how else could she explain their first date, a Saturday lunch that lasted 12 hours, followed by a quickly scheduled Sunday get together that also lasted 12 hours? Why else would she have invited him after that to her birthday party where he'd be subject to her friends' scrutiny and wouldn't know another soul?
Maybe it was better not to think about it, and just go with the flow.
