Chapter 4: the rollercoaster of preparation

Towards the middle of that next week, it became clear that Tim was definitely coming to visit on Saturday because he was working non-stop to get all his editing done and making good progress. I kept him company while he worked via skype. We sent little videos back and forth about what we were doing. He had just gotten his new piano and was so excited about it. I swooned some more over this clip.

We talked a lot about our families that week. I learned that most of the people in his Christmas video were his immediate family: he has six brothers and sisters. I tried to learn all their names and ages.

We switched back and forth between French and English in our conversation. We kept finding out even more things we had in common and were less and less surprised by it. 

Somehow, Anna was fine with me inviting Tim to stay at our house over the weekend. 

More than once I had a reality check that he was a stranger that I met on the internet, and this could seem very shady. 

It was totally shady! And unsafe. And weird.

My one recourse was that Tim had recently attended a photography retreat/workshop with some acquaintances of mine in Colorado, and I figured if they could spend a weekend in a house with him and come out of it unscathed, I was probably safe.  Still,  I put some mace in my bedside table and commissioned Anna to not leave me alone with him until we both agreed he was harmless.

And I made a lot of plans. I planned out as many activities for us as I could that involved public places,  so if our meeting was a total social trainwreck, we wouldn't be stuck at my house staring at the walls. I decided that no matter what I thought of him after I met him, we would still have a nice weekend. Even if we decided to never see each other again. 

It was definitely a hard and strange time of preparation, being excited to meet Tim but fearful of the unknown. Hoping for the best while preparing for the worst.  It was just odd what we were doing, how we were starting this friendship. I had never wanted to start a relationship online and felt embarrassed about heading that direction. This was the kind of thing people snickered about, including me. 

A whole week of this, and before I knew it my guest bedroom was prepared, it was Friday night, and Tim sent me this picture:

Seventeen photo-shoots finished in 5 days. All so he could come meet me. This was so endearing. I got the impression from his actions that he wasn't afraid of hard work or making a bold move to pursue me.

He said he would be in Kansas City by Saturday evening, and I was fully ready to give him a chance.

...

And then he went and tweeted this picture of himself.