How We Met

My boyfriend Thomas is back in town for another film project (he makes documentaries, if I failed to mention it before) and we've been enjoying the snow around town when he's free; I figured this was an appropriate time to explain how I became involved with this tall Irish man. I met Thomas in the kitchen of my house and my housemates who witnessed the event say it was like watching two magnets or "love at first sight." Neither Thomas nor I are certain we believe in the latter, but perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself and should introduce the story chronologically.
Last spring one of my housemates Kate said a few of her friends from Northern Ireland were coming over to Pennsylvania to shoot a documentary. At the time I barely registered the names, but I agreed it wouldn't be any trouble if a couple of them stayed in our spare bedroom for the two weeks of their visit. One day at the end of May I was out shooting pictures when "the Irish" arrived and the house was bustling with people when I returned that evening. My sister had called me while I was parking my car, so I walked into my house on the phone, managed a mildly friendly wave to the crowd in my living room and kitchen and hurried upstairs to my bedroom to conclude my conversation on the phone. After my conversation with my sister wrapped up I headed downstairs to fix myself some dinner and possibly get to know some of our visitors. At this point everyone seemed engaged in conversation and after I fixed myself a plate of food, I sat down at our kitchen counter and waited for a chance to hop into one of the several conversations happening around me.
Anyway, one moment I was eating from my bowl feeling a bit lost in my kitchen and the next, a tall young man was chatting me up. Thomas came across the kitchen, pulled up a stool next to me, and introduced himself. We quickly got to chatting about our interests, traveling, studying abroad, and life in general. Everyone else in the kitchen seemed to disappear (figuratively and then literally as they moved into the living room without us) as we talked. A few hours passed and then the others invited us to watch a movie with them, Thomas accepted and I declined. It wasn't until I was alone in my room later as I started to process our conversation that I realized I was attracted to him. When I was talking to Thomas I was focused on the conversation at hand; my mind was in the moment and I could only reflect on his person and his responses as part of the larger picture of him when I was alone without the distractions of trying to be social.
Thomas was staying a few blocks down from my house, but with the rest of his team staying in our guest bedroom he was often in our living room in the evening recharging his equipment and having a bit of "craic" as they would say. After the first night I started hanging out downstairs in the evenings in hopes of having more conversations with our Irish visitors and even invited myself along to a market day when they weren't filming. A few days and late nights spent up to all hours talking in my living room and Thomas asked me to be his girlfriend. I said yes. It felt odd being "in a relationship" with someone I barely knew and knowing that in a few more days it would be a long distance one, but I was already pretty hooked on him. We had a couple of dates around Lancaster before he left and then it was a routine of nightly Skype chats until he could visit again and eventually I visited him. Now it's been nine months since we became a couple and we've only gone a couple a days without talking.
So that is our story--from my side of things anyway...