FRIDAY, THE LUCKY 13TH
Round One
of Forever
Her Path
TO THEIR FIRST ENCOUNTER
I moved around a lot during college. I met a lot of people during that time and got close to some people. I ended up getting hurt in some serious relationships, but I believe they were for a reason. My family and friends helped me a lot during those hard times, they really showed me that life moves on and for the better. I had just got out of a 5 year relationship in 2022. It was towards the end of my 25 years. I finally got my mental health a little bit better than it was during those 5 years. I moved out on my own into a house living with 3 other people. While still working full time waitressing, bartending, and starting to train for the front desk at a hotel, I was at a point where I wanted to go out and hang out at my best friend Bina's place of work. I was out almost every single day playing billiards and enjoying my time being alone. I ended up not having a car at the end of April 2022, but my friend Joseph (TJ) wanted to set me up on a blind date with one of his friends. On May 13th, the blind date was nice and drove us to dinner and Round 1 to go bowling. Towards the end of the night the blind date went outside to talk before we left. In the middle of talking I had to use the restroom. When I was walking towards the front door I noticed a group of people hanging out at the bowling lanes. One tall man caught my eye and he had half sleeve tattoos on both of his arms. I walked up to him and said I liked his tattoos. I asked for the information of the artist and as he was looking for their Instagram his friends seemed like they were trying to help him talk to me. When he found the artist and showed me I said "Oh their stuff is really nice so what's your Instagram?" I took my shot and hoped he would reciprocate. Nathan gave me his Instagram and at the corner of my eye I see the blind date come back inside. I told Nathan I would talk to him later and walked towards the blind date. The blind date needed to use the restroom so I waited outside because I felt embarrassed and nervous standing inside waiting for the blind date to come back out. I hoped that the blind date did not see me talking to Nathan. The blind date drove me home and I talked to my roommates about what happened. I told them that the blind date was good, but not my type and then I told them I met someone else at the end. The next day Nathan messages me on Instagram. "Heya, I'm the guy from Round 1. Just wanted to say nice to meet you, if you got any questions on tattoos don't hesitate to ask :) Also sorry for my friends/coworkers. They got good hearts, just don't know how to act sometimes." I replied, "Lol it's all good honestly I just wanted to get to know you :)" We proceed to talk for the next few days and try to make plans to meet and get to know each other more. Our first date was on May 17th, we went to Round 1 and played billiards. Afterwards, we went to In N Out and talked in the car for a few hours. We tried to set another date up to watch Dr. Strange on May 20th, but my work got in the way. I was too busy with work for the next few weeks, but we were messaging each other almost every single day and playing computer games. On May 30th, Nathan asked if I wanted to hang out again. I said that I would be off early on Thursday, June 2nd. On that day I asked to make sure we were still good to hang out, but I had just got a new cat from my coworker so I wanted to stay home so that this cat could acclimate. We ended up watching Jujitsu Kaisen in the living room. We kept messaging, played computer games and saw each other more often. I finally got the feeling that I wanted to be with him everyday. I enjoyed our conversations and loved how he put me at ease. I never felt stressed out when I talked to him. I always looked forward to the days that we would go out and do things. We ended up going bowling and playing billiards at Bowlero almost once a week. I had him meet my mom and the rest of that side of my family on my mom's birthday. He met my dad and that side on my birthday. I think everyone liked him. Throughout the years I've taken notes of the many reasons why I love him. He has been and will always be the calm to my storm. I am so thankful for the way my life has changed since he has been in it. I cannot wait for the rest of our lives and see how we grow together.
His Path
TO THEIR HAPPILY EVER AFTER
The day is Friday the 13th, May of 2022. I am roughly seven years into my naval career working at Naval Munitions Command Seal Beach wrapping up work for the day. At the Torpedo shop a couple of coworkers had asked if I was going out tonight to celebrate a birthday for one of our guys. I had given them a "definite maybe" since the next day I was trying to make it to a festival in Pasadena to catch Morrissey and Bauhaus performing. I returned to my room and went through the usual routine of making it a stay in kind of night. The day carried on incredibly slowly with every minute feeling longer than the last. Having eaten, chores finished, browsing games, and no one online to talk to, the confines of my barracks room was killing me. Restless and tired of the silence I rushed to get ready and quickly text to find out where my coworkers decided to meet up at. They replied Round 1 in Anaheim was the choice. I could not leave soon enough and drove over there in no time. Even though being the last to show up it seemed like everyone was just getting started. I grabbed myself a drink from the bar and went over to the lanes with them to star in the worst performance of bowling on my end. After a lot of shared pitchers we were all on the same level of living bowling disasters but with the liveliness of all stars. Taking a step back I had almost not noticed someone walking up to me. As I turned to see who approached (riding on the floating delay of my buzz) I was starstruck by the beautiful girl that stood in front of me. Beautiful eyes looked up at me, hair was short cut with the sides buzzed down, make-up was done with gracious intensity. She greeted me with a "Hey i really like your tattoos." In my mixed state of awe and obliviousness all I could think to say was a quick "thank you" and if she had wanted the instagram of one of the artists. With my coworkers in the background trying to be coaches and advisors watching me fumble hard she had sweetly brought me on track that she was more interested in getting to know me. Both then and now I was not sure if I managed to tell her my name, but I will always remember that moment of hearing hers for the first time. We swapped handles and she had left with her friends almost as swiftly as she came. Flushed in disbelief, happiness, and awe I checked my phone to see her name again as if to make sure it had actually just happened. Her name hung there in my phone as real as ever. The rest of the night went on and we had fun at the arcade, but the entire time my mind was occupied with her. I knew I had to give it a shot and see this charming girl again. From the moment that thought had come to me I could have never known how happy I am to be now remembering these moments. All because of you I am in life with a weight of love I did not know I had. Taryn my love, my wife, my everything, thank you.
A LUCKY ENCOUNTER LED THEM
TO THEIR FATEFUL