Part Two: What I Thought was Goodbye (April 2008)

Disclaimer: Stephanie is typing this, but I (Philip) am sharing my memories for her to type. (Philip made me put that.)

Remember: Stephanie was sitting by herself when Philip walked up to her.

(Philip's side)
I saw her sitting there all alone and remembered that Ryan had mentioned that she was going to move to Colorado after she graduated. This made me happy. I wanted to go talk to her and had intentions of talking about the possibility of hanging out in Colorado. (Historical setting: I had just gotten out of a 3 year relationship with a girl and was excited about the possibility of being better friends with Stephanie in Colorado.)

I walked up to her and said "Hey, I hear you are moving to Colorado." The response I got was not what I expected. All Stephanie said was, "yeah," leaving the conversation at that and not really wanting to say anything else. Me, being the bigger person, decided that I would keep trying to talk to her even though she didn't want to talk to me, and asked why she was moving to Colorado. She explained to me the work she was going to do with Denver Rescue Mission and that after that she might be interested in seminary somewhere. I told her that I was going to move up there eventually and wasn't too sure what I was going to do. I'm pretty sure I mentioned working at REI or something like that just to seem outdoorsy.

At this point she really didn't have much to say, so I decided I would just leave knowing that that was the  end of our friendship. I've recently come to find out that she does not even remember this conversation happening. (You will hear Stephanie's side next.)

(Stephanie's side)
I will admit, I did not remember this conversation until he reminded me of it after we got together. He told me about how nervous he was to come up and talk to me. I thought that was cute. He gave me a really hard time for not even remembering that conversation. I felt bad. Since he first reminded me of it, I have come to remember a few more details of the conversation. I remember talking about Denver Rescue Mission and how he wanted to work at REI. (This did make me think he was outdoorsy, and I do like outdoorsy guys). I still did not see him in a romantic way at this point. My loss...big time. I didn't necessarily expect to ever see him again.

Remember, I had also just gotten out of a relationship and was very excited about moving away and starting my own new adventure in Colorado. (Philip wants me to remind yall that the relationship he had just gotten out of was 3 years and mine was only 2 months.) I guess he just bounces back quicker than I do. (He is laughing.)

Little did I know what would happen that winter...