Nine years ago today...

I kissed my husband on a dare.

But first let me start the story a few weeks before, on a hot April day in 1997. And I remember it was hot because I'd been at the Renaissance Faire all day with my friend Kellee. She and I went to the Ren Faire, dressed in full peasant girl garb...which is boiling hot when you're in San Bernardino in April. After that, we were planning to go to a beach party in Huntington Beach. We were the kind of girls who liked to have all the attention on us so we decided to be cute and go to the party in our costumes.

When we arrived, the party was just warming up. And Erick was there with a mutual friend, Keo. He and Keo had been friends for years. I had recently met Keo through this group of friends. When Erick saw two peasant girls walking towards the group, he asked Keo "Who's the wench?"

I was in the beginning stages of a lukewarm relationship with a guy named Tool who was probably a good 2 inches shorter than me and looked like he hailed from The Shire (embarrassing but true). Erick was in the beginning stages of a lukewarm relationship with a young divorcee from Idaho whom he had not yet met in person (embarrassing but true). So out of loyalty to our lukewarm relationships, we did not consider ourselves "on the market". I certainly noticed him. He was without a doubt the best-looking guy in the group. His facial features and his hair reminded me a lot of Bono. When he laughed, you could tell that he enjoyed life. And when he smiled, he had subtle dimples that made him seem boyish and sweet. When he and Keo were leaving the party, I went up to say goodbye to Keo and introduced myself to Erick. We shook hands and I know I made eye contact because that was my way of making sure I was noticed.

Through Keo, Erick and I did connect online. We chatted enough to become friends within a few days. At this time, Erick's band was signed to a record label so plans were made for the whole group to go to Mr. K's Karaoke to celebrate. Which at the time was a hot-spot in Huntington Beach. I had no idea that in this place, Erick WAS their Bono. This was where I learned he could sing. And not just sing well, but sing so well that he would bring down the house. Even though I was there with my lukewarm hobbit of a boyfriend (we'd been together for about two weeks at this point), Erick said he'd sing a song just for me.

Now don't judge the song. He sang Possession by Sarah McLachlan. To this day, we laugh at the choice because we later realized it's a song she wrote about a stalker she had. But he chose it because it seemed sexy and his voice rocked it. So I was wooed nonetheless. Tool on the other hand was none too pleased and he decided he was going to sing a song for me as well. I have no idea what song it was. All I remember was it was R&B and it was out-of-tune.

Just before Tool and I left, Erick gave us copies of the new cd he'd just recorded. I remember that after we left, we went to see Rocky Horror Picture Show. Then we and a bunch of friends went to Tool's apartment where I can distincly remember sitting there, reading the lyrics to Erick's songs and saying out loud "Hey! He's a Christian!" I was a new Christian myself and most of the people in our group were not Christians. I was so excited to learn this. I wanted to call him or hop online to find him so we could talk. But Tool decided he wanted to surf so he drove us to San Onofre in the middle of the night so he could catch the waves at dawn. San Onofre is far so needless to say, I did not get home until late afternoon the next day thanks to that moron. I was already liking him less and less.

Fast forward a week or so to May 10. I have no idea where Tool was but he wasn't with me. I was at a party. At some point during the party, I confessed to my friend Kellee that I was pretty much over Tool and had feelings for Erick. In typical juvenile fashion, she dared me to kiss him. I was always a girl who was up for a dare. So I went into the kitchen where Erick was. The light was off and he was just going in to grab a drink. I just came right out and told him that Kellee dared me to kiss him because she didn't think I would and -

He interrupted me and kissed me first.

I don't remember what we talked about or what anyone's reactions were. The only other memory I have of that night was that we sat on the porch. It was really late. The kind of late that you know you're gonna see the sunrise before you fall asleep for the night. I was sitting on the porch wall. He was sitting in a chair across from me and we had our foreheads pressed together as we talked. It was a warm night, all you could hear were crickets and us talking softly.

And that was the start of how Erick and I became an "us".