Mallory

  Four years ago, a girl named Mallory got an e-mail from a boy named Chris.   It all started with my favorite activity: procrastination. A month or so prior, Missy, one of my lovely bridesmaids, had set me up with a match.com account. And, up until Chris sent me an e-mail, I was not impressed. However, with finals fast approaching there wasn't much better to do than look through some of the e-mails that had come in. Chris' sincerity and honesty caught my eye quickly and, with a deep breath, I shot him a quick  message. Much to my surprise, he was online and sent one back right away. We exchanged messages for close to an hour, and not long into out conversation we discovered that Chris knew several people from my hometown; including some girls I swam with in high school. So, as we talked and found more and more things that we had in common, I got to work "investigating" and called up one of the girls who knew Chris. She told me he was a great guy (it wasn't a lie!) and gave me the "okay" to meet him in person for our first date.   About  a month after our first conversation, I was back in Grand Rapids for a friend's birthday party. Knowing I would be in town, Chris asked if I would meet him for lunch before I headed back home for the rest of the summer. I agreed, and we had lunch at Old Chicago Grill. Our first date is kind of a blur for me. I remember wearing a new dress, ordering a salad (that I barely ate), and talking so much that I was sure I would never hear from him again. Lucky for me, Chris was into girls who talk non-stop for hours on end, and he called a day later to ask when he could see me again. Unfortunately, that wouldn't be for 3 months, and once again I was sure there was no way it would work. Three months is a long time, and there was no doubt in my mind that he would meet someone else. But, his text messages kept coming, we continued to talk on the phone, and before I knew it the end of August had arrived and I was moving back in to my apartment at Grand Valley.   A week after I moved back, Chris asked me out on what I call our "Second First Date". This one I remember much better. We met at Olive Garden for dinner and saw what we still refer to as "the really bad movie". We talked, laughed, and I left floating on a cloud. We met for more dinners, movie nights at each other's houses, and slowly fell in love. All thanks to a sneaky friend, lots of text messages, and a ton of patience.