The Journey
"Try not. Do ... or do not. There is no try."
First Met
It all started with a wedding.
Kelly was approaced by fellow photographers last minute to video Sophia's sister's wedding. He was initially going to turn it down having just did another wedding the weekend before. Two weekends in a row just sounded too much to handle.
He was told it would be a multi-day Desi celebration with henna, desi food, beautiful atire, music and dancing spanning over three days! ... At this point, Kelly had only seen this in movies. Hesitant at first, Kelly was now intriqued.
Over the next few days, Sophia had Kelly in stitches with her antics and playful banter with her family. It was later revealed that she too, took notice of Kelly.
A couple of weeks after the ceremony, Kelly visited her mother's home to review some of the footage and discuss music choices for her daughter's video. As Sophia walked Kelly to his car, he turned to her and asked her out.
First Date
Neither Kelly nor Sophia had been on in date for quite some time. (For Kelly, it had been more like a decade!) Both were a little nervous and guarded and were on the same page as to get to know each other the old fashion way.
You know ... Nice and Slow!
The plan was to meet at a public event in Downtown Dallas one Saturday night. As Sophia got closer to downtown and much further away from her home, the skies turned ugly and the tornado sirens began to ring.
As hail began to fall, she called Kelly. Since they were both closer to Kelly's place, he guided her to his apartment where he had covered parking. As they both took refuge inside, the hail got as big as baseballs. (Actual photo - ->)
Safe inside, they began to wait out the storm but the the rain and wind only increased late into the evening. It was decided that it was safer for her to stay the night. Watching the storm from the window, they leaned in towards each other and Pow! Smack! Smooch-a-roonie!
So much for taking things slow!
Stopping there, Kelly gave up his room for the night and slept on the couch.
Getting to know one another
Sophia was back in school after a little hiatius from studies and Kelly was still reeling from the housing market crash of 2008 and navigating the mergers that followed.
Over the next several months, Kelly and Sophia saw each other from time to time. A movie here, a dinner there, sharing hopes and dreams and a kiss or two in-between.
And just as they started to get to know each other ...
Goodbye
It was during this time Kelly's job had a bit of a corporate shake-up and Kelly was reassigned to Jacksonville, Florida.
Sad and depressed about the situation, Kelly began to withdraw from Sophia.
On his last night in Dallas as he was packing the last of the boxes, he received a knock on the door. It was Sophia.
They talked for a while and said their goodbyes. Kelly turned as she was walking to her car and was just about to ask her to come with him but stopped himself and thought ...
"She's going places ... Leave that girl alone Kelly."
Getting through to one another
Kelly wasn't vibing too great with Jacksonville right away and he was missing his life in Texas.
San Marco was a super cute town and provided some great walks. He was making friends, got involved with his local church and a few charities and even enjoying the new office life but something still felt missing.
Feeling a bit isolated and alone one night, he was sitting out on his front porch after putting together a swinging chair. Looking at the empty space next to him, his phone rang.
"Hey stranger ... Mind if I come over?"
It was Sophia! Kelly had not had any visitors yet so he quickly cleaned house and they made plans for a mini advendure. St. Augistine was a beautiful short getaway for both of them.
As the months went on trying to maintain a long distance relationship over the phone, it was apparent this wasn't working well for either of them. Kelly worked long days and Sophia worked long 12 hour nights at the hospital.
Their clocks were opposite and the distance even farther. The cat and mouse phone tagging were starting to get annoying for both of them.
What next? Are we like boyfriend and girlfriend or what? Come on ... we're too old for kid stuff.
Same Page, Different Book
Sophia had just completed her masters and Kelly was looking at jobs back in Dallas but nothing seemed to pan out.
They talked about Sophia possibly moving to Florida and they live together but they both had convictions about "shacking up" outside of marriage.
Now when it came to marriage, Kelly and Sophia had a little problem.
Sophia is Muslim and Kelly is Christian.
The Bible warns of being "unequally yoked" in marriage and the Quran forbids a woman to marry outside of Islam in that in the event they had a child, the child must be raised Muslim.
Push & Pull
Now you would think the story would end there.
Both Kelly and Sophia's religious convictions kept them apart.
Instead, Kelly and Sophia dared each other to attend each other's place of worship for the next few months and were both convinced the other would welcome with open arms and hearts of what they both (still) believe is THE WORD OF GOD.
Kelly studied the Quran at the local mosque in Jacksonville and Sophia attended some Bible studies at a Church of Christ in Dallas. They would discuss what they learned over the phone at night.
She even attended Kelly's most passionate past-times ... Streetpainting! That meant a lot to him BTW. Kelly also entertained Sophia in some mushy areas he wasn't too keen on either. That too, meant a lot to Sophia.
But Alass ... they hit the same brick-wall every time. If you can't be yourself, it's not worth it. Nothing seemed to go foreward.
Another year of two trains passing each other in the night.
Moving on from each other
At some point in everyone's journey, you have to face reality.
Is this person part of my life journey or were they just part of a chapter.
A long distance relationship seemed absolutely ridiculous to both of them by now.
It was at this point, Kelly and Sophia said goodbye ... Again.
Kelly continued on to go do Kelly.
Sophia continued on to go do Sophia.
They talked a couple of times but eventually ... "That was all folks."
All the midnights
Something changed in Kelly. Although he was convinced they made the right decision parting ways, he missed her ... a LOT.
It was now February 14, 2017. Months had passed since they last spoke and into a new year when Kelly was informed that working back in Dallas would be acceptable.
As thrilled as Kelly was, it was only minutes later after hearing the news that he received a phone call.
It was Sophia!
The first thing out of Kelly's mouth was.
"Want to meet my parents?"
The Love Child
Kelly was now back in Dallas and they were trying to make it work again.
In a very short time, they both realized the "feelings" were not the same as they were and decided to part ways yet again.
Culturally, Sophia was to stay at home until she was married and that wasn't happening as of yet.
She was now ready to be on her own and was a little nervous so she got a puppy. Meet Charlotte.
Kelly worked from home most days so he watched Charlotte while Sophia was at work ... He took little Charlotte everywhere with him.
It was during this time, Kelly had a serious kidney issues and needed his right kidney removed. It was a long slow healing process but one of the things that made his day was little Charlotte waking him up each morning with kisses to his face. He fell in love with little Charlotte and treated her as if she was one of his own children.
Friends
Not to end up back to where they started, Kelly and Sophia stopped talking to each other as often and started to explore online dating.
Kelly was really missing having Charlotte around so after working with the Dallas Animal Shelter's foster program ... in comes Knox!
Shortly into 2020, Sophia got Henry so Charlotte had a little brother.
THE COVID-DAZE
Needless to say, COVID started to take its toll on Sophia working in the hospital. The days got longer and longer and getting back to her apartment to let the dogs out got much harder.
Kelly was now full-time working from home so he watched the "Three Amigos" almost every day.
Roommates
As time went on, driving back and forth to Downtown Dallas to pick-up and drop-off the pups became much more difficult for Kelly so he had an idea.
Kelly got a two bedroom / two bathroom apartment and invited Sophia to partner up and wait out all this Covid stuff.
Sophia had her side of the house and Kelly had his. They would meet in the living room from time to time and catch a movie and cuddle with the dogs.
As the months went on, there were lots of vet appointments, doctor appointments, home-cooked meals, running the dogs to doggie-day-care.
It was during this time something else happened ...
Ok, Let's Just Do It!
