Chris and I originally met in Washington, D. C., in the summer of 2000.  We were both attendees of the annual convention held by the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA).  We were introduced by mutual friends, and happened to “bump into one another” a few times during the course of the conference. 

The following year, the NABA conference was held in Dallas, Texas.  At the time, I was a resident of Dallas, and an active participant in the host chapter’s planning activities.  On the first day of the convention, I was busy working with the NABA team to decorate the hospitality suite.  During the process, our chairperson went down to the main lobby to pick up a delivery and also to seek out more help for our given task.  Shortly thereafter, she walked in and announced that she had found someone to help us finish the decorating task.  Much to my surprise, I turned to see that our “helper” was Chris.  It was a complete shock! I had not seen him, nor spoken to him in over a year. 

My first thought was to disappear!  After I realized that I didn’t posses any magical powers, I decided that I had two options.  Option one:   Assume that he remembered meeting me from the prior year, give him a big hug and ask “How have things been going in Chicago?” Option two:  Pretend like I’d never met him, extend a hand and introduce myself.  I decided to go with option two!  Big mistake…Chris immediately realized that I was pretending and doesn’t let me live it down to this day!

From that day forward, our friendship has blossomed.  Because of “free nights and weekends” along with a lot of “frequent flyer miles,” we were successfully able to sustain a long-distance relationship for over two years before I relocated to Chicago.