The first date - 10 Years

Tonight will be the 10 year anniversary of Sara's and my first date, November 14, 2003.  On Monday of that week, I had called her up to ask her out on the lower stakes Wednesday, but she had a conflict.  She went to a women's group that met regularly and they were talking about wolves and being thankful, as I recall.  So, we made plans for Friday instead.

The date was long and meandering.  It started off at Himalaya's an Indian restaurant off of Pearl St. in Boulder.  And that was all I had really planned.  One of Sara's Rare Air teammates was having a little birthday celebration at Southern Sun in South Boulder so, after dinner, we headed over there for drinks.  In my memory, it was both awkward (it's a little strange for many of the people you know in common to see you on your first date together) but also relaxed (we were in the same social scene so interacting with everyone wasn't really that hard).  My guess is that we both felt a little strange but that it wasn't very apparent to anyone.  After one beer, we decided to head out.

My roommate at the time, Nat Logar, had mentioned a show at the Fox Theater on college hill that might be interesting.  It was a band called the Polyphonic Spree.  They were (and are) a 12+ person, psychedelic band that wears flowing white (now rainbow) colored robes.  Eager to impress Sara as someone who is interesting, I thought, "what could be more interesting than being into some retro-hippy, early 70's music?"  So I suggested we head over.  It was...interesting.  Go ahead and press play and listen to it while you read the rest of this blog entry:
The experience was surreal.  First, we were surrounded by a lot of people who were clearly on some great psychadelic drugs.  And why not?  This was the perfect place for it.  Super happy music, colorful lights everywhere, and a lot of other people also on drugs.  People were dancing and swaying all around us with bright, colorful, flowing clothes and scarves, eyes mostly closed with smiles big and small.  The atmosphere was such that at moments I felt a clear contact high.  Overwhelmed by the sites and sounds, my perception of the world effectively changed.

But, at other moments, I was also clearly aware that (a) I did not fit in with my dark colored sweater pulled off in the overwhelming heat and thrown over my shoulder and (b) what the hell was Sara thinking about this whole experience?  Was I trying too hard?  Was I giving an impression of me that wasn't accurate?   Well, I decided that I'd just enjoy it, because at that point, why the hell not?  If the date didn't go well, at least I would have enjoyed the show.  Funny thing is, we never (that night or in the 10 years since) talked about our own experiences at that show.  This may be the first time Sara knows what I was thinking at that show.  We walked out and someone handed us a free poster.

You may recognize this.  I managed to hold on to it and later frame it for an anniversary gift.  It hangs up in our bedroom.  Interestingly, our actual poster says "The Beginning Stages Of..." on the bottom which I always took as a sign.

The show ended around midnight and we headed back to my house which was only a few blocks away.  We went to my room and....played guitar.  For me, this was the moment where I felt like we really connected.  Both of us played guitar and it was clear that we had a very similar musical and cultural background.  We played each other songs and occasionally there were less popular songs that we both knew how to play or knew the words to.  We hung out until two or 2:30 in the morning and then, without a kiss, we said goodbye and Sara headed home (maybe I drove her?  I don't remember).

And so this was the beginning of the beginning stages of Champ and Nanos.