René's version and some facts about Gaby

About 2.5 years ago, in the summer of 2006, I was enjoying my bike and my not-even-a-year-old drivers' license. Through the motor-forum I met Henrik, who had his license roughly as long as me. Every now and then we would drive around together, exploring the region.

So some day that summer, I was invited to his birthday-barbecue party. At that party, there were quite some people, and they somehow all seemed to know each other, even though it was a very diverse group from all over the country. It turned out that at the forum, they all posted in some topic, the "are you single or not"-topic. They were all nice and the party was lots of fun. One of them was Gaby. But there were just so many new faces, and people I talked to, she didn't get her chance to stand out... yet!

After that party, I also started posting in the "singles-topic". With that I also started attending quite some of the get-togethers they planned. The group-dynamics were quite different from what I was used to. People liking each other very much, people not liking each other, all in one group. I was used to people in my group just getting along fine, rarely more, rarely less. So it took me a while to figure out how on earth this group "operated". Now I realize I'm drifting off. So let's get back to what I was going to say.

Skipping back a bit, some day, probably in August, there was going to be fireworks in Scheveningen. I had never been there, so Gaby invited me to come see. I went... but I didn't see anyone I knew. I enjoyed the fireworks, but was a bit disappointed I couldn't find anyone. After the fireworks were over, I decided to hang around the bike-parking for a bit, to see if I would find anyone I knew. After a while, I finally recognized Gaby. She was with more people, most of whom I didn't know. However, there were just a couple I saw before. We sat at one of the beach clubs, having a few drinks. All in all, it became quite late. I would've had to drive back to Nijmegen, were it not that Gaby invited me to crash on her couch. I accepted and we went to her house. We sat on her balcony, drank a bottle of rosé, and generally had a lot of fun.

Over time, I visited some get-togethers. And I crashed on her couch a couple of times more. One of the events was the Winter-Efteling (we went to a theme park all dressed up for winter). I hung out with Gaby and some others for most of the day. We went in almost all attractions together. We had so much fun, and I started realizing that I was starting to really like her.

Not long after that, it was really time for her to come visit Nijmegen as well. December 23rd, just before Christmas, she came by. We drank wine, talked all night, listened to some really crazy Christmas songs. It was a great night. When it was time to get some sleep, I offered her a choice, grab a spare bed and sleeping bag or push me to the side and claim half of my double bed. She chose the latter. We talked a bit more and then... I gave her a kiss!

Her reaction was golden, although not at first glance. She said "what are you doing?" Luckily, it was just sheer surprise. We finally knew that we were liked back.

However, being the careful person I am, I was still a bit uncertain. So we met up again, a week later, at her place. After that, I was sure. She was the one.

She lacks

She loves

She dislikes

Why I love her