How We Met And Got To Now
Over the past couple of weeks, I have been getting questions about Sarah and I, and about how we met. Our story from when we met till now is a little long, and covers over a 9 year period. My memory has a basic knowledge of the events that has occurred, but many of the details have been lost over time. Lets start from the beginning.
In October of 2001, I attended a San Bernardino County 4-H Leadership Day/Officer Training. While at this training, I had learned of a state wide conference that took place in June, where you go up to Sacramento for 5 days to learn about our State Government, meet your representatives, and do a community service project in our local area. I talked to my parents and they allowed me to sign up. On Friday, June 14, 2002, myself and 7 other youth, my dad, and another leader, flew up to Sacramento for this conference, which is called California Focus. The conference begins with an opening ceremony, and part of this opening ceremony is the parade of county flags. Each county was responsible to bring a county flag, and have someone from your county be in the parade. I volunteered in a heart beat, and since no one else wanted to do it, I got the job. As the entire conference delegation was finding their seats, those in the parade of flags had to set up in the back. While we are standing there bored as they begin the conference, we started talking, and that was when Sarah and I would meet. I don't remember how the conversation happened, but I would guess it was the standard Hi! Who are you and where you were from? I don't really remember if we had other encounters during the conference until the last night, for we had to be with our county delegations most of the time. The last night of the conference there was a dance. I would be hanging out with my county delegation, and at times would leave out of the main room of the dance to take a breather from the hot air filled room. I sat down for a little bit. Sarah went out to see me again. She tried to ask me to dance. I told her that I didn't want to dance, for I had a girl friend at home, and felt it was wrong to dance with someone else. We decided to just talk for a little bit and chill until near the end of the dance were we both went back in and went our separate ways. I don't remember if we said goodbye or not the last day, but I think we did. My memory is shot. We didn't exchange any contact information, for neither one of us had phones, and internet wasn't big yet for communication. We wouldn't see each other for an entire year. The year went really busy. I had made plans to return to California Focus the next year, but I also got into a group planning to go to the National 4-H Government Conference, Washington Focus, in 2004. This will be important later on.
In June of 2003, I had returned to California Focus, and low and behold, Sarah had returned as well. This year, the conference was held at the Holiday Inn, Downtown Sacramento. This time around, we hanged out some more. I remember hanging out with Sarah and others in Old Sacramento, inside the State Capitol Building while watching the protesters outside, and on the night of the dance. I also remember we walked around together while exploring the old cemetery in downtown. On the last night, there was once again a dance. There also was a game room. Some of my county delegation was hanging out in the game room, so I chilled in there. I remember some people running around with rubber band guns shooting each other. Sarah showed up, and we chilled and did something. Not sure what we did but it was a good night. The next day we said our goodbyes, and I know we wouldn't know when we would see each other next, for we both weren't going to be at Cal Focus the next year.
An entire year had passed. This time I believe we would talk every once in a while, rarely, via e-mail. Each delegate received contact information of everyone who had attended the conference, so we can keep in touch with our friends. Washington Focus, Global Journey, was my next big step with citizenship in 4-H. This was a trip I had been working with others to save money for, two years in advanced. Washington Focus, Global Journey, was a 12 day trip. I would travel with 30 others from California to Washington DC for Citizenship Washington Focus, CWF for short, (Almost same format as California Focus) for 5 days. Many other states would participate in this week. Along with DC, our state added more to the trip. We would travel to Gettysburg, Philadelphia, and New York City. The southern California delegates flew from Ontario Airport, and the northern California delegates flew out of Sacramento. Both groups flew into Denver Airport, and we would fly together to Baltimore. When we landed in Denver, I wasn't expecting what happened next. We walked around, and found the northern California group, and as we got closer, I noticed that Sarah was with them. I had no idea. We said our hellos, and got real excited for the trip. The plane was assigned seating, but my dad was sitting next to me. She begged my dad to switch seats with her so we can catch up. He allowed us to. We ended up playing card games for most of the flight. She taught me egyptian war.
First, we went to Gettysburg for 2 days. Afterwards, we traveled on down to Washington D.C. for CWF for 5 days. During this time, Sarah and I would just catch up, and hang out as much as possible. She ended up being with the southern California group for most of the trip. While we were in Washington D.C., there was going to be a dance, just like at Cal Focus. This time, I wanted to be there, so she and I can dance. My group had other plans. My group wanted to travel to Alexandria in Virgina to do a ghost tour. They said we would be back before the dance would be over, so I went along. The trip ended up a disaster. Took us almost an hour to get to Alexandria via the subway system. We got there and the ghost tour was over. We headed back. The subway station is about 2 miles from the National 4-H Conference Center. We would take a bus to the station. We got back around 11:30pm, and the buses had stopped running, so we had to walk back through Chevy Case to get back to the Conference Center. I had missed the dance, and that really upset me. The next day, we left Washington D.C., and we headed up to Philadelphia. We spend 1/2 a day there. Sarah first went with her county people, then later we met up at Independence Hall. We got right back onto the bus, and headed up for New York City.
We were in New York City for five days, and Sarah and I would get close. We started holding hands, and being with each other everywhere. The hand holding started on our way out to see the Statue of Liberty. On the third night, our group saw the Broadway show Beauty and the Beast. I remember us not having tickets next to each other, but I believe we somehow was able to switch them around. After the broardway show, we walked back through Times Square up towards our Hotel. It was a cold night. She was wearing a nice dress and I was wearing a suit. I took my suit jacket off, put it over her to keep her warm, then kept her real close the entire walk to keep her warm. This would become our favorite moment while on the trip. During the next day, many people started talking about Sarah and I, and we were waiting for a train in the subway, and something just clicked to were I told Sarah I didn't want to hold hands anymore. For some reason something snapped in my head to were I didn't like them talking about us. Along side with being tired from a long trip and that, I had a small cranky burst. For many years after that day, I would think about that day and regret it, and still don't know why I truly did that. After a little bit, we forgot about that moment in the subway station, and had a great time. By time we were at the United Nations on the day we left, we were tired. Sarah passed out on the bench when we were waiting to leave for the airport. We headed to the airport, and we flew on home. We flew into Denver, and the groups slit up to head back to our parts of the state. I still remember that moment we said goodbye. This time, we had no clue when we would see each other next, for there were no more government conferences to go to. We hugged goodbye, and for me that hug felt like time had froze for a good 5 minutes. After that we would go our own ways, not knowing what the future would hold for us.
Strangely we would not talk to each other for an entire year. We went back to our lives, and didn't try talking to one another. In June of 2005, my sister and mom went to California Focus. On their way home, they had someone load up their luggage into the car that took them to the airport. It had seemed that one extra bag was put into their van that shouldn't have. My mom ended up bringing home that bag. They looked at who it belonged to. At first the name didn't compute. A few hours later, I started thinking there was something familiar about the name. I looked up the old California Focus contacts I had, and this luggage belonged to someone with the same last name as Sarah's. I got her e-mail from that old list, and sent her an e-mail. Sure enough, my mom and sister brought home her brother's luggage, who happened to go to California Focus this year. We got info to send the suitcase back via mail. Sarah and I started talking again. We talked through e-mails and through yahoo messanger. We also exchanged phone numbers and began text messaging each other. I would have a major crush, and we would text all the time. Now one weakness I always had was to make a move. At the time, I was hanging out alot with a person by the name of Tiffany, along with Jane and Scotty. One time Tiffany, Jane, and I was at the Olive Garden in Victorville, and Tiffany had enough of me playing around. She told me I should just ask if Sarah had feelings and if not stop talking to her. Tiffany took my phone, and messaged Sarah pretending to be me. I tried to get my phone back, but wasn't able too. Tiffany was very upfront and sent it off. And I didn't want that to happen. At that time, from the text messages I could tell that Sarah was overwhelmed and said no. At this point, I really really got pissed at Tiffany because I knew it wasn't the right time for something like this, and she had blown it. Sarah and I wouldn't talk as much for awhile. Then slowly things would just normal. Tiffany had caused other major issues with my friends and I, so Jane, Scotty, and I no longer was friends with Tiffany. I don't remember when this happened, but it did.
December 2007 came around. Sarah had mentioned that she would be in Ventura visiting family for Christmas. I drove out to the Ventura area on Dec. 23, and we would see each other for the first time since we said our goodbye at the Denver Airport in July 2004. We met at a mall, had Red Robin for lunch, then headed out to the beach to explore some tide pools. Afterwards, we explored downtown Ventura. Went to the mission, and shops. Then we had an idea of going back to the beach for Sunset. We didn't have a towel to sit on, so we went into a thrift shop, and bought an old shower curtain for 5 bucks. On the way, we stopped at In N Out to pick up some food, then we headed to the beach and watched the Sunset. It was a nice day of seeing each other again. In what I believe was 2008, she moved from her mom's house down to her aunts house near Santa Clarita. I would go out to hang out with her for a day in the spring. We went to the Ronald Regan Library, then headed to Santa Monica to hang out and watch another beach sunset. Another time, she came out here to visit. Since my parents didn't allow friends over, we stayed at my aunts house "the farm" for one night and hanged out around here. Later on, she moved back up to her mom's for her mom was having a tough time. We would keep into contact via text message, yahoo messanger, phone calls, and social networking.
I was in Sacramento for the California 4-H State Field Day memorial day weekend of 2010. My sister and I drove up. Afterwards we were going to Yosemite. We stayed an extra day in Sacramento and chilled with Sarah. We played mini golf, and had some food. I also remember being up in Sacramento another time, and Sarah and I would hang out. At this point, we were becoming good friends again. She had a boy friend, and later on got engaged. They broke up later, and I would help try to get her to think about other things. Would meet up with her and her mom in Sacramento again for a dinner, I believe this was in July. Can't remember.
January 2011, she had asked me if she wanted to be my boy friend, and I said no. I really didn't know what I was feeling and I felt we should take things slow. I was up in NorCal, Lake Tahoe, and we hanged out for a few hours before I flew home, and it was fun. Read the other blog for those details. Things moved along, we were talking, and she is having tough times again, and so I felt she needed a break from life. I said I would take her to San Francisco in April. Originally, it was planned to be just Sarah and I. I was planning on possibly asking her to be my girl friend on that trip. Plans had changed and Scotty and Jane is now going on the trip, and it will be a double date situation. On Feb. 21, Sarah was up at her grandpas house outside of Redding, and was on facebook, so we were talking. While we were talking, I had this feeling that just made me ask her to be my girl friend, and of course she said yes. Now we will be seeing each other in 15 days when I am up there in Sacramento on 4-H Business. I know that long distance relationships can be hard, but it kinda works since im in Sacramento alot. I believe everything happens for a reason, and i know things will work out. So that is the story. lol.
In October of 2001, I attended a San Bernardino County 4-H Leadership Day/Officer Training. While at this training, I had learned of a state wide conference that took place in June, where you go up to Sacramento for 5 days to learn about our State Government, meet your representatives, and do a community service project in our local area. I talked to my parents and they allowed me to sign up. On Friday, June 14, 2002, myself and 7 other youth, my dad, and another leader, flew up to Sacramento for this conference, which is called California Focus. The conference begins with an opening ceremony, and part of this opening ceremony is the parade of county flags. Each county was responsible to bring a county flag, and have someone from your county be in the parade. I volunteered in a heart beat, and since no one else wanted to do it, I got the job. As the entire conference delegation was finding their seats, those in the parade of flags had to set up in the back. While we are standing there bored as they begin the conference, we started talking, and that was when Sarah and I would meet. I don't remember how the conversation happened, but I would guess it was the standard Hi! Who are you and where you were from? I don't really remember if we had other encounters during the conference until the last night, for we had to be with our county delegations most of the time. The last night of the conference there was a dance. I would be hanging out with my county delegation, and at times would leave out of the main room of the dance to take a breather from the hot air filled room. I sat down for a little bit. Sarah went out to see me again. She tried to ask me to dance. I told her that I didn't want to dance, for I had a girl friend at home, and felt it was wrong to dance with someone else. We decided to just talk for a little bit and chill until near the end of the dance were we both went back in and went our separate ways. I don't remember if we said goodbye or not the last day, but I think we did. My memory is shot. We didn't exchange any contact information, for neither one of us had phones, and internet wasn't big yet for communication. We wouldn't see each other for an entire year. The year went really busy. I had made plans to return to California Focus the next year, but I also got into a group planning to go to the National 4-H Government Conference, Washington Focus, in 2004. This will be important later on.
In June of 2003, I had returned to California Focus, and low and behold, Sarah had returned as well. This year, the conference was held at the Holiday Inn, Downtown Sacramento. This time around, we hanged out some more. I remember hanging out with Sarah and others in Old Sacramento, inside the State Capitol Building while watching the protesters outside, and on the night of the dance. I also remember we walked around together while exploring the old cemetery in downtown. On the last night, there was once again a dance. There also was a game room. Some of my county delegation was hanging out in the game room, so I chilled in there. I remember some people running around with rubber band guns shooting each other. Sarah showed up, and we chilled and did something. Not sure what we did but it was a good night. The next day we said our goodbyes, and I know we wouldn't know when we would see each other next, for we both weren't going to be at Cal Focus the next year.
An entire year had passed. This time I believe we would talk every once in a while, rarely, via e-mail. Each delegate received contact information of everyone who had attended the conference, so we can keep in touch with our friends. Washington Focus, Global Journey, was my next big step with citizenship in 4-H. This was a trip I had been working with others to save money for, two years in advanced. Washington Focus, Global Journey, was a 12 day trip. I would travel with 30 others from California to Washington DC for Citizenship Washington Focus, CWF for short, (Almost same format as California Focus) for 5 days. Many other states would participate in this week. Along with DC, our state added more to the trip. We would travel to Gettysburg, Philadelphia, and New York City. The southern California delegates flew from Ontario Airport, and the northern California delegates flew out of Sacramento. Both groups flew into Denver Airport, and we would fly together to Baltimore. When we landed in Denver, I wasn't expecting what happened next. We walked around, and found the northern California group, and as we got closer, I noticed that Sarah was with them. I had no idea. We said our hellos, and got real excited for the trip. The plane was assigned seating, but my dad was sitting next to me. She begged my dad to switch seats with her so we can catch up. He allowed us to. We ended up playing card games for most of the flight. She taught me egyptian war.
First, we went to Gettysburg for 2 days. Afterwards, we traveled on down to Washington D.C. for CWF for 5 days. During this time, Sarah and I would just catch up, and hang out as much as possible. She ended up being with the southern California group for most of the trip. While we were in Washington D.C., there was going to be a dance, just like at Cal Focus. This time, I wanted to be there, so she and I can dance. My group had other plans. My group wanted to travel to Alexandria in Virgina to do a ghost tour. They said we would be back before the dance would be over, so I went along. The trip ended up a disaster. Took us almost an hour to get to Alexandria via the subway system. We got there and the ghost tour was over. We headed back. The subway station is about 2 miles from the National 4-H Conference Center. We would take a bus to the station. We got back around 11:30pm, and the buses had stopped running, so we had to walk back through Chevy Case to get back to the Conference Center. I had missed the dance, and that really upset me. The next day, we left Washington D.C., and we headed up to Philadelphia. We spend 1/2 a day there. Sarah first went with her county people, then later we met up at Independence Hall. We got right back onto the bus, and headed up for New York City.
We were in New York City for five days, and Sarah and I would get close. We started holding hands, and being with each other everywhere. The hand holding started on our way out to see the Statue of Liberty. On the third night, our group saw the Broadway show Beauty and the Beast. I remember us not having tickets next to each other, but I believe we somehow was able to switch them around. After the broardway show, we walked back through Times Square up towards our Hotel. It was a cold night. She was wearing a nice dress and I was wearing a suit. I took my suit jacket off, put it over her to keep her warm, then kept her real close the entire walk to keep her warm. This would become our favorite moment while on the trip. During the next day, many people started talking about Sarah and I, and we were waiting for a train in the subway, and something just clicked to were I told Sarah I didn't want to hold hands anymore. For some reason something snapped in my head to were I didn't like them talking about us. Along side with being tired from a long trip and that, I had a small cranky burst. For many years after that day, I would think about that day and regret it, and still don't know why I truly did that. After a little bit, we forgot about that moment in the subway station, and had a great time. By time we were at the United Nations on the day we left, we were tired. Sarah passed out on the bench when we were waiting to leave for the airport. We headed to the airport, and we flew on home. We flew into Denver, and the groups slit up to head back to our parts of the state. I still remember that moment we said goodbye. This time, we had no clue when we would see each other next, for there were no more government conferences to go to. We hugged goodbye, and for me that hug felt like time had froze for a good 5 minutes. After that we would go our own ways, not knowing what the future would hold for us.
Strangely we would not talk to each other for an entire year. We went back to our lives, and didn't try talking to one another. In June of 2005, my sister and mom went to California Focus. On their way home, they had someone load up their luggage into the car that took them to the airport. It had seemed that one extra bag was put into their van that shouldn't have. My mom ended up bringing home that bag. They looked at who it belonged to. At first the name didn't compute. A few hours later, I started thinking there was something familiar about the name. I looked up the old California Focus contacts I had, and this luggage belonged to someone with the same last name as Sarah's. I got her e-mail from that old list, and sent her an e-mail. Sure enough, my mom and sister brought home her brother's luggage, who happened to go to California Focus this year. We got info to send the suitcase back via mail. Sarah and I started talking again. We talked through e-mails and through yahoo messanger. We also exchanged phone numbers and began text messaging each other. I would have a major crush, and we would text all the time. Now one weakness I always had was to make a move. At the time, I was hanging out alot with a person by the name of Tiffany, along with Jane and Scotty. One time Tiffany, Jane, and I was at the Olive Garden in Victorville, and Tiffany had enough of me playing around. She told me I should just ask if Sarah had feelings and if not stop talking to her. Tiffany took my phone, and messaged Sarah pretending to be me. I tried to get my phone back, but wasn't able too. Tiffany was very upfront and sent it off. And I didn't want that to happen. At that time, from the text messages I could tell that Sarah was overwhelmed and said no. At this point, I really really got pissed at Tiffany because I knew it wasn't the right time for something like this, and she had blown it. Sarah and I wouldn't talk as much for awhile. Then slowly things would just normal. Tiffany had caused other major issues with my friends and I, so Jane, Scotty, and I no longer was friends with Tiffany. I don't remember when this happened, but it did.
December 2007 came around. Sarah had mentioned that she would be in Ventura visiting family for Christmas. I drove out to the Ventura area on Dec. 23, and we would see each other for the first time since we said our goodbye at the Denver Airport in July 2004. We met at a mall, had Red Robin for lunch, then headed out to the beach to explore some tide pools. Afterwards, we explored downtown Ventura. Went to the mission, and shops. Then we had an idea of going back to the beach for Sunset. We didn't have a towel to sit on, so we went into a thrift shop, and bought an old shower curtain for 5 bucks. On the way, we stopped at In N Out to pick up some food, then we headed to the beach and watched the Sunset. It was a nice day of seeing each other again. In what I believe was 2008, she moved from her mom's house down to her aunts house near Santa Clarita. I would go out to hang out with her for a day in the spring. We went to the Ronald Regan Library, then headed to Santa Monica to hang out and watch another beach sunset. Another time, she came out here to visit. Since my parents didn't allow friends over, we stayed at my aunts house "the farm" for one night and hanged out around here. Later on, she moved back up to her mom's for her mom was having a tough time. We would keep into contact via text message, yahoo messanger, phone calls, and social networking.
I was in Sacramento for the California 4-H State Field Day memorial day weekend of 2010. My sister and I drove up. Afterwards we were going to Yosemite. We stayed an extra day in Sacramento and chilled with Sarah. We played mini golf, and had some food. I also remember being up in Sacramento another time, and Sarah and I would hang out. At this point, we were becoming good friends again. She had a boy friend, and later on got engaged. They broke up later, and I would help try to get her to think about other things. Would meet up with her and her mom in Sacramento again for a dinner, I believe this was in July. Can't remember.
January 2011, she had asked me if she wanted to be my boy friend, and I said no. I really didn't know what I was feeling and I felt we should take things slow. I was up in NorCal, Lake Tahoe, and we hanged out for a few hours before I flew home, and it was fun. Read the other blog for those details. Things moved along, we were talking, and she is having tough times again, and so I felt she needed a break from life. I said I would take her to San Francisco in April. Originally, it was planned to be just Sarah and I. I was planning on possibly asking her to be my girl friend on that trip. Plans had changed and Scotty and Jane is now going on the trip, and it will be a double date situation. On Feb. 21, Sarah was up at her grandpas house outside of Redding, and was on facebook, so we were talking. While we were talking, I had this feeling that just made me ask her to be my girl friend, and of course she said yes. Now we will be seeing each other in 15 days when I am up there in Sacramento on 4-H Business. I know that long distance relationships can be hard, but it kinda works since im in Sacramento alot. I believe everything happens for a reason, and i know things will work out. So that is the story. lol.
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