5 years ago to the day...
I'm in the lobby cafe at the Rossiya at 9am on a Monday morning, having a coffee, trying to keep my nerves from gettin' the best of me. I'm in the far corner so I can get a good view of the entrance to the lobby. One of the guys from our Anastasia 'Romance Tour' comes over to me and we start chatting about how things are going after the 3 nights of socials...just making small talk to keep my mind off my first meeting with my 'girl'. Will she even show up?
One of the guys on our tour was supposed to meet a girl he had been writing to for several months...and she didn't show. And here's me. I haven't talked with my girl for more than 2 weeks (she doesn't have a phone) so I HOPE she'll meet me as planned. She's travelling from a small town outside Moscow, and it's a 2-hour bus trip. She's late...maybe there was a problem?
As we're talkin', I see a nice looking blond walk by the cafe window. My buddy asks if that is the girl I'm supposed to meet. Nah, it isn't her...but I kinda' wished it was. Same girl comes into the lobby and starts looking around, searching for somebody...maybe one of the other guys from the Anastasia tour who are milling about the lobby waiting for a bus tour of Moscow. She's still looking around and my buddy asks if I'm sure that she isn't the girl I'm supposed to meet. I take another look...definitely not.
Now this girl starts walking towards our table and when she gets about 5 feet away she says my name. Holly shit! It IS my girl! How come I didn't recognize her (but she knew me)? Any way, we give each other a big hug....meeting after all this time feels like old friends...no akwardness at all (other than me not recognizing her!).
The we are off on the bus tour, me fawning all over her, and her thinking...Why is this American, who I don't know, touching my arm, putting his arm around me? Wow, Americans sure are forward...
Tomorrow...the engagement and a REAL scary episode (no, not the engagement).
Stevo
