Story Time.

Ok, it's story time with Emily.

Got a cup of coffee? Or tea? Ok, good.

Remember the guy in the picture from my last post?

Meet Daniel.

(He likes coffee just as much as I do! Probably more...I know!)

Here's how the story goes...

September 22: I left Spartanburg after a long day of teaching to drive to Augusta, Georgia to play with the Symphony Orchestra Augusta for the first time. I arrived in Augusta, checked into my hotel, grabbed dinner, went to rehearsal, trudged back to my hotel, and passed out...

...until 5:30 the next morning - when I woke up in a panic and realized that I hadn't brought black shoes. Why not just buy some, you say? Well, the entire orchestra had to be on a bus at 6:30 that morning to drive to Swainsboro, Georgia for two concerts. Gold sandals it was. Oops. I definitely fell asleep on the way over - in some embarrassing fashion as you can only do on a bus. (I later found out that Daniel was sitting rather near me. I hope I wasn't snoring. I'm not actually sure if I snore at all...) After our morning concert, we had an extremely long time to do absolutely nothing until our evening concert. So I made some new friends, right? Umm, this is where my inherently shy nature comes in, and I read a book...for about seven hours.

October 2: I get a random friend request on Facebook from this guy named Daniel. Um, have we ever met? I see that he's in the orchestra, so I add him. I later get a post on my wall: Hey there! Sorry to not see you in Augusta this week... Um, did we meet? I text my pianist, Julie: This random guy from Augusta added me on Facebook. Response: Ooooh, is he cute?? Response: Uh, yes... :)

So, Daniel and I started exchanging messages and chatting on Facebook, and we discovered that we have a lot in common. We had such long (fun!) conversations that I began to suspect that he was interested, but if you know me at all, you know that I can overanalyze just about anything. To death. What if he just wants to be friends?? And now I'm interested in him. Ahh! Panic.

Fast forward to December 2: I left Spartanburg after an extremely long last day of school to drive to Augusta to play in the December pops concert. Oh man, I was super nervous. As in, terrified. What was I going to say?? (Hi. Nice to finally meet you in person? Lame.) Again, panic.

After I survived my near heart attack on the drive down, the weekend (and I'm sure you could see this coming) ended up being amazing! We went out for coffee (ahem, lots of coffee), took a walk by the Savannah River, and just talked for hours. He admitted that he liked me, asked me if that was weird (um, no!), and we decided to date. (By the way, Daniel, if you actually read this, thank you. Had you left that conversation up to me, it probably would not have happened. I'm a chicken.)

The only downside? He lives in Milwaukee. Wisconsin. (Yes, he flies to Augusta to play in the orchestra.) So, I don't love the distance (who would?), but I definitely think he's worth it! :)

By the way, he's the principal timpanist. Here's a picture:

(Sorry, Daniel. I know I stole this.)

The end.

(Well, for now.)

:)

p.s. I would like to apologize to all my friends who bore the brunt of my freak outs about Daniel. I'm really sorry...I know that I'm crazy.