To continue our love story...my birthday came up in April so Dan, Hector, Naomi (my roomie) & I went out to dinner at Old Town. We were sitting in the patio when a man at a nearby table collasped/fainted. It took a couple of seconds to realize what happened but Hector was over there in a flash. He made sure the man was okay and came back in a few minutes. I was impressed by his calm and quick thinking that made me see him in a new light. Naomi and I were talking about our quest to find Ichiban, a cheap Japanese restaurant and Hector offered to go with us. We went to have lunch at Ichiban which had great chicken katsu, window shopped then ended it with Ben & Jerry's ice cream. I remember laughing with Naomi because Hector ordered chocolate with all the cool flavors available. Of course, in the back of my mind I remembered that I had a boyfriend and Hector was seeing someone too but it felt that we were drawn together. Pretty soon, I had broken up with my boyfriend and Hector said that things wouldn't work with his girlfriend. I was back in Orange County about 90 miles from San Diego, commuting to my full time job (80 miles round trip) and still managing to see Hector almost every weekend for a year. I even tried to slow down, determined to not see him that weekend but Hector would call and I'd be in my car. Hector started driving up some nights so we could go out then he'd go back home.
Pretty soon, it was my birthday again and my friend Kat was having a party at her place. Hector recently found out where he was going for his residency and it was Buffalo NY. I was really sad about it but just was hoping for the best. Hector arrived from San Diego and he said he had my present. Hector gave my an envelope which was already opened and I remember seeing something about Davis, CA but I was confused at what it meant. He just holds me and says,"I won't be going to Buffalo." Omg, what a relief...even though Davis is about a 7-8 hour drive from Los Angeles, it was great he was staying in California.
Next time...the big change.