All-American University Drinks

I came into the office today to meet up with a friend from my start group who had recently returned to work after giving birth. When I saw her, she actually still looked pregnant, she was still carrying around so much weight, but of course I didn't want to comment, as how rude would that be, to say, "You still look fat!"?

Then she totally surprised me by pointing at her belly and saying, "I can't believe you didn't say anything!" I was dumbfounded. "You ARE pregnant again???"

Turns out it was a total surprise, that she only found out when she was already 17 weeks pregnant. As although all the signs were there (tired, nausea, weight gain, no periods), she had an excuse for all of them (baby wasn't sleeping, they'd been travelling and trying new foods, she was still carrying her baby weight, she was breast-feeding). But what a great surprise!

As we caught up over lunch, I was a bit horrified when she told me that giving birth to her first child (the pregnancy she just came back from) had collapsed her bladder, and she was no incontinent. Apparently it's something they can fix with surgery, but they don't want to do it until she's done having children, so for now she just has to live with it. But how come nobody ever tells you these things? My goodness, that sounds just positively awful!

Once we were back from lunch, I found myself exchanging FB messages with DM all day, as he apologized for not making the party on Saturday and asking what else I'd been up to. As the 5th message went back and forth, I just sort of had to wonder...when did we become friends?

Finally at the end of the work day, I was ready to head home, but then I saw on my calendar that there was an "All-American University Happy Hour" being hosted by MIT that evening. I'd heard about it through the Dartmouth Club of London, and although I was very tempted to just go home anyway, after seeing that the pub where it was being held was relatively close to my office, I thought I might as well stop in.

It was pouring rain outside, so I definitely re-thought my attempt to go out many times, but once I made it to the pub, I followed signs to go upstairs, and was immediately welcomed by a guy from MIT and two Dartmouth folks who I'd met about two years ago at a Dartmouth pub night.

I had lots of very nice conversations with quite a few people, and later on in the evening ended up chatting to a very nice computer programmer from New York who bought me drinks, told silly stories, and laughed at my jokes. He seemed incredibly awkward and shy, but also rather endearing in his obvious nervousness.

Finally towards end of the evening, I was getting ready to leave when he said, "I'll wait for you and go with you!"

And this was a critical decision point: He obviously was a bit keen on me, but if I just left without him, that would be the end of that. Yet, I still hadn't heard from the silly boy, and there had been no word from B for almost a week either. And he just seemed so....sweet. So I said, "Sure, just let me grab my coat."

He then revealled that he needed to go to Mansion House to get the District Line, but when I said I'd walk to Bank, he cheerfully announced that he would walk me there. And once we got to Bank, he didn't leave me at the station, but came onto the Central Line with me, pointing out that he could just change at Notting Hill Gate. No need to point out that he was adding at least 20 minutes to his journey home (and the guy needed to be in the office at 7:30 AM!), but I was just charmed at how obviously he wanted to stay and spend time with me.

And I will admit that as the journey continued, I was surprised at how many things there were to like about this shy computer programmer. He had studied French for years, and then after realising he wasn't keeping it up too well, started taking French classes once a week here in London. He just seemed fascinated by continuing to learn new things, and the exciting challenges of living abroad. Just like me. And I realised too that his enthusiasm for running (we'd been talking about the hash, although he seems like a MUCH more serious runner than I am) meant that he had quite a nice figure hiding under that suit, not like so many guys who just drink loads of beer and develop pot bellies. And so I realised that while with the silly boy there were lightning bolts of electricity, with this guy it was a slow, warm burn. The more I talked to him, the more I liked him.

We'd exchanged business cards, and excessively long parting touches as he left the train. So he's got my number, we'll see if he gets in touch. And regardless, there's just something wonderful about meeting a boy who likes you...