The Leg Pop

If you're new to reading the story of my love life, click here, here, and here...

When Oswald and I began dating, I was nervous. Nervous about being hurt. Nervous about falling in love all over again. Nervous that he could be "the one". Nervous about making a mistake. You name it, I was nervous about it.

We dated for several weeks, seeing each other every day for weeks at a time. We spent hours on the phone. We would be together all evening long, after we both got off work, then we would chat on the phone while we were driving back home and into the wee hours of the morning.

We were the kind of couple that probably made everyone else sick! But we were young and we really liked being around each other.

We went on several dates before I would even let him hold my hand. I told him that I did not want him to kiss me yet, but that I would be sure to let him know when I was ready for a first kiss. A kiss that would change my life. Our lives.

After three weeks of being together every minute we possibly could, Oswald took me on a date. We went out to dinner and picked up some ice cream at Dairy Queen. It was the middle of January 1, 2003 in Jacksonville, Florida. The weather was a little chilly that day, so ice cream seemed a little outrageous. I was driving and decided we should go for a walk over a bridge that I thought had such a pretty view.

Before we parked my truck, I looked over at Oswald and said, "I think I'm ready now."  We talked in code a lot...meaning we talked about our feelings without ever saying the real words.

"I don't know if I want to." He replied.

"What? Why not?"

"Because if I start, I don't think I will be able to stop."

So we got out of the car, ice cream in one hand and his hand in the other. I walked along the bridge shivering, yet surprisingly warm. We stopped in the middle of the bridge. He held me close to his body and rubbed his hands up and down my back.

He cupped my chin in his hands and lifted my face to the sky. I remember glancing up into those big brown eyes and knowing what was coming. But it still took my breath away. He gently pressed his lips to mine and held me close for what felt like forever, but was probably no more than a second. As his lips touched mine, my leg left the ground. Yep, just like the movies, I did the leg pop.

Coming up next: what he said to me that night before he left my apartment...