It’s hard for me to recall meeting
Uno. I feel like I have known him
my entire life. While that
may sound romantic, bordering on cliché, it’s actually quite true in the
literal sense. We are the product
of a wonderful, small southern town built on close-knit communities. It’s the kind of place where news
travels fast even without the help of the Internet and you can’t go to Wal-Mart
without seeing someone you know.
Our families have been friends for three generations, and our parents
and grandparents know one another well.
I’ve always known who Uno was, so I couldn’t tell you when I first laid
eyes on him, but I can tell you the story of how we grew from family
acquaintances into a couple.
Uno
is four years older than I am, so though we went to the same high school, we
were never there at the same time.
I did, however, share those halls with his two wonderful younger
brothers, who I count among my good friends. Because of them, I knew about Uno, but never had the chance
to talk to him, since he was off at college. In the spring of 2005, at the end of my junior year of high
school, I was directing a play at my high school. Uno’s middle brother was in the play, his youngest brother
was part of the stage crew, and the play happened to be showing on a weekend
when he was home from school.
After the performance, as the auditorium was clearing, Uno turned away
from chatting with his brothers as his family filed out of the room, smiled at
me and said, “Good show, [Nano].”
I thanked him and thought he’d gotten awfully handsome since he’d been away. But it never crossed my mind that anything
besides a great time and a nice bullet point for my college applications would
come of that school play.
A
day or two after the play closed, my phone rang. It was a number I didn’t recognize. Uncharacteristically, I answered this
strange call, and much to my surprise, it was Uno. “I really enjoyed seeing your show,” he said, “and I’d like
to take you out sometime, if you’d be interested.” My 17-year-old brain short-circuited with excitement at the
thought of getting to spend time with this smart, charming, sophisticated
college boy. The next day, Uno
picked me up, and we shared some Thai food and enjoyed a bluegrass concert at
the local city park. The
conversation flowed easily, and I remember having a hard time quelling my
laughter and smiles. To my
delight, that day was the first of many happy days we spent together that
summer, and by the time Uno had to return to college, I was head-over-heels in
crush.
Uno
and I talked often and spent quite a bit of time together over the next two
years. Even as I moved away from
our hometown myself and he started a graduate program, we managed to keep in
touch, and my enchantment with him grew with each Christmas break rendezvous
and three-page-long email. Being a naive teenager, what I
did not manage to do over these two years, despite my excitement, was tell Uno just how much I liked him. After my freshman year of college, school, moving, new jobs and busy
lives for each of us got in the way, and we started talking less frequently and
eventually lost touch altogether.
Looking back, I remember being disappointed in myself for not being
bolder and missing our time together very much.
Fast
forward four years, through my own college graduation, six months on the
Appalachian Trail, medical school applications and a move to a brand new
city. I was a few weeks into
medical school when I received a very fateful email. As much as I hate crediting Facebook with my current happiness, I cannot tell a lie, and it was a Facebook friend request that
brought Uno and me back together after four years. He sent me the request, I accepted, and I sent him a message asking for updates on his life.
I received a "classically Uno" three-page-long response in return, and the excitement I
had felt during the “early years” of Nano and Uno quickly returned. We emailed back and forth every day
after that, and about a month later, when Uno was in my city for a job
interview, he took me out for pizza.
Over greasy cheese and crust, I laughed and smiled just as much as I had
when we had first gotten to know one another. We were inseparable after that, and before I knew it, not
only did I have my friend back, I was in love.
I
have heard it said that if something is meant to be, it will be. Against all odds (with some help from
modern technology), Uno and I managed to find one another. I truly believe that God has blessed my
life by allowing it to intersect with Uno’s, and this is a
story I will never tire of telling.
Nano and Uno - The Early Years
(at Nano's high school graduation)
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