The Story of Us - Written by Brooklyn Boy
Monday, December 12, 2011 at 5:11PM
Written by Brooklyn Boy.
December 10, 2010.
I left work and walked down 7th Ave, on my way to a work event. Every 45 seconds I'd transfer my phone from hand to hand, press it hard against my face, and try to keep my fingers from frost bite. It took some convincing but I managed to corral two of my friends to join me for the event that night. My tact was to entice them with the all-you-can-drink wine bar. Plus I told them I'd take the hit for the cover.
Upon arriving we were cramped into a small elevator and hoisted to our floor. The elevator doors opened, we shed our coats and quickly took advantage of the bar. With glasses of wine in hand, we chose seats along the wall, and began commenting on everything, from the various outfits to guessing targeted attendees professions. Throughout the course of the evening, each of my friends, myself included, noticed an attractive, well put together gal in a gold sequined vest. We named her Sparkle Vest.
I quickly gathered Sparkle Vest was a part of the host team as she was moving around talking to everyone and sometimes addressed the guests from the stage. Interestingly enough, at the time of this event, my job was to recruit, train, and manage volunteers. Who would have guessed that when Sparkle Vest addressed the audience she'd be looking for... VOLUNTEERS. Bingo! That was my ticket. I knew when and if I built up the courage to talk to her, we could at least talk about volunteers. I'll be honest, the glass of wine may have helped with the courage part. Before I knew it I managed to find my way over to where Sparkle Vest was seated. I pulled up a chair (out of no where she tells me), introduced myself, and kindly offered my expertise in volunteerism. Somehow (thankfully) our conversation switched from volunteering to other more important things like family, church and mutual friends.
After our delightful conversation I rejoined my two friends who were still taking full advantage of the wine bar. I excitedly told them about the nature of my conversation with Sparkle Vest. My friend responded that Sparkle Vest had been making eyes back and forth with him all night! Oops. (Hannah laughed hysterically and denied making eyes at anyone that night when I told her my friends accusation.) But apparently, I had unknowingly stepped on already claimed territory! Now it was really on.
As my friends and I gathered our belongings and slowly headed towards coat check, I had the honor of introducing my friends to Sparkle Vest. My friends were more than chatty at this point in the evening and offered wonderful volunteer suggestions - insistent in their abilities to change the world one resume at a time. We still laugh thinking about some of the ridiculous comments made in that final conversation of the night. Leaving, I was bummed I hadn't initiated a contact information exchange, but I felt very confident that I could do a little internet searching (not in a creepy way) on Sparkle Vest and this gem would appear. At least via facebook. Regardless, this was just the beginning.
Later that night, back in Brooklyn, I found myself perusing Facebook and somehow found Sparkle Vest's profile. Stumbling upon her profile quickly led to a Friend Invite. Weird how that just happens! Although there was no dialogue that night or in the weeks to follow, we were now friends, at least. In fact is wasn't until a month after our online friendship started (Sidenote: She doesn't love the online nature of this part of the story, but it's worth mentioning that good ole' facebook messaging played a part in our beginning) that I bucked up and emailed Sparkle Vest. Get the ball rolling. My plan? Lets talk about volunteers for her next event ;) I guess it was my extreme hospitality and helpfulness that prompted her response. Unfortunately, I dropped the ball and for no reason at all, forgot to respond. I then received a simple follow-up message asking "Where'd you go radio silence?" Ouch! Seconds after the now infamous, Radio Silence, message landed in my inbox, I immediately responded back and asked Ms. Flora to join me one evening at the Ace Hotel for a beverage.
She agreed.
Since then we haven't been able to go a day without each other.
**Hannah wanted me to mention that after I responded to the Radio Silence message, all facebook messaging was halted and other normal communication commenced, i.e. phone calls and dates.
Reader Comments (2)
love it. all of it.
Radio Silence, hahaha ... love it! Such a sweet story :)