To recount, Victoria and I met at a New Year’s Eve Party by an awkward coincidence involving eating someone else’s food at a table where my future love sat. The previous post ended with me wondering if I would ever see this beautiful woman again. Over a series of encounters, starting with her showing up more at the church young adult group, I would get to know more about Victoria and just how intriguing she was.
The story picks up as I go as usual to a church gathering of young adults where I would find this woman. I noticed her but continued my usual conversations with other people. She did not sit at my table to begin with so we did not talk much.The gathering is large enough that there are many round tables in this room so each table would read the Word and talk separately. But later, at Friendly’s, where many would attend regularly afterwards, I sat with her and her friends Jordan and Sarah after Jordan beckoned me over. Here, I learned more about here and in particular that she needed very clean silverware which I got her after she did not like the look of hers.
The layout of the young adult church event.
After a series of encounters at various Young Adult events including an ice skating event where I was a goof to impress her, I finally got up the nerve to ask her to dinner. By this time, I was so intrigued about her. I had learned for instance that she was part of a group called CUFI, or Christians Untied for Israel, which united with Jewish people to defend the rights of Israel against the pressures of surrounding invaders. In fact, they go to Washington D.C. each year to talk to political leaders about Israel’s defense. Also, I would learn later that Victoria was no I-am-here-to-put-this-on-my-resume kind of participant of this group but as President of the Roberts Wesleyan College group, had and still does have a burning passion for Israel’s defense. Anyways, back to the story, I had asked her to dinner which she said would be too much but she said she would consider a walk which was still an accomplishment in my mind at the time although later it would make me question if she really liked me.
Our first walk was really me joining a run that she was on with her dog Lola at Sperr Park in Big Flats. She had already started because I was down at the Food Bank where I just started volunteering with the church group and I had to drop some people off at the church afterwards. So, I got there, saw her jogging, and just caught up with her. We talked a little about each other but we were also jogging so it was not as easily done as a walk. As we went, I saw that her little dog would get off track and pause to sniff stuff which would make Victoria and I stop to wait for her. I decided to run over to the dog and beckon her to keep going when she was doing this so she did not slow us down which I would later find out that Victoria thought was mean. I mean by looking at the dog I guess many girls would find me cruel especially on a first jog with a guy but I was just thinking of keeping a good pace at the time.
Lola
Despite my harshness with the dog, I managed to get another walk. Our next walk would be at Spencercrest trail near Corning Community College. This time it was a legitimate walk and so there was much more talking going on. Here, I really learned about this CUFI group that she was a part of and she learned more about the gyms that I liked to work out at. At this point, the meathead-insensitive-gym-guy stereotype was beginning to form as I had pushed her dog to keep running on the previous walk and I also have posted on Facebook about a good workout that I had with a friend which she saw. We talked about government and the function of Christian in politics and I guess I fell under the category of a Christian Conservative given some of my opinions. This turned out to be a good thing that I could happily agree to when she told me subsequently that her parents were hoping that she would find a Christian conservative. Things were starting to progress with Victoria at this point. We got to know each other a little bit and I had some brownie points with her such as knowing about the Balfour Declaration after World War I where the U.S. established Israel as an official Jewish state. Still, I was not sure about her yet. Was I supposed to have held her hand at some point? What should have happened by now? These thoughts started to enter my mind during our walks and with seeing each other more often. Does she see me as a strange guy, a friend, or something more?
victoriaquinn 