A penny for your thoughts....

In 2006 I was in New Jersey doing an observership at one of the hospitals there. It was as this time I got my famed email from a friend introducing me to Stephen. The weeks that followed her email, I will say I emailed Stephen maybe about 5 or so times, if that much.

Stephen had quickly become a faded memory for the most part, except for those late nights when he would pop up on line and say hi. His hours were really not too cool for me, especially since my dorm room had no internet and I had to go down to the hospital to use the computers. Yet one fate filled night I stayed online beyond my 10o'clock retiring hour. Who should pop up? After about an hour of chatting for some reason I asked Stephen for his number.

Now I am going to stick a pin in this story for now...Just to give some background information. I was broken hearted in 2004 and swore off of relationships for the rest of my life. Therefore, by the time I met Stephen I had sufficiently healed from a heart break and was quite successful in remaining single during those two years. As a result of this, Stephen initially was merely a break in my daily routine. A refreshing break at that, so asking Stephen for his number was far from me being interested romantically. It was just a natural evolution of the aquaintence.

So back to the moment of asking for his number. Stephen gave me his number and I called and for the very first time I heard his voice. I liked it, it was soothing yet so surreal. I can still remember the dark computer room with the only light being that of the computer screen. I sat in the corner of the room and talked to this stranger (he really was) for almost 8 hours straight.

The irony is that two things from that conversation I remember. First is me telling Stephen about my LOVE of The Care Bear Movie as a child. The second was me telling him how much I abhored relationships and how I did not believe in love. The latter came up because of a song that I could never get right.

"A penny for your thoughts, a nickel for your kiss, a dime if you tell me that you love me." Or is it a dime if you tell me that your mine? Just like the email was a turning point in my life. This night where we had our first telephone conversation proved to be a catalyst in our relationship.

In a matter of less than 8 weeks Stephen went from A's friend, to a guy I chat to, to this guy named Stephen.

The funny thing is despite an 8 hour call he never did earn his penny.