DGC and Me...

The Story of a Cute Dog...and His Even Cuter Owner...

(Told in third person for added effect...)

It's July 6, 2008, and Kristin was just returning to Nashville from visiting her parents in Huntsville. Kristin stepped onto the elevator and headed to the condo she was subleasing for the summer, in desperate need of a shower.

Ding! The elevator arrives at the third floor and the doors swing open to reveal a 20-something guy and his dad, each with their bikes, about to head out for a long ride. Kristin smiled and said hello (because she's friendly like that), and the dad smiled and said hi to Kristin. The guy, however, shot a disinterested glance in Kristin's direction while ushering his yellow Gary Fisher into the elevator.

Kristin thought to herself, "Did that guy seriously just snub me?! Wow. That never happens..." (To this day DGC swears that he does not remember this encounter. Kristin is inclined to believe him because the boy is like George Washington -- it is physiologically impossible for him to tell a lie...)

As Kristin headed into the condo that she was subleasing for the summer, she wondered who the guy was, and why she had never seen him before. (She would later learn that the reason that she hadn't seen him before was that he had spent the better part of June in Israel on an archaeological dig. For fun. That was her first clue that DGC wasn't going to be like anyone she had ever met before...)

Fast forward to later in the evening. Kristin had showered (thank goodness), and she decided to sit out in the courtyard of the condo complex and read a book. As a law student, Kristin didn't get to read very many books "for fun," so she spent the entire summer reading the things that she wanted to read.

Ding! Kristin noticed that the elevator had opened on the third floor and she saw the same guy that had snubbed her earlier in the elevator walk out with his hands filled with groceries. Kristin smiled. The guy looked at Kristin, kind of smiled back (hey, at least he acknowledged her presence this time, right?!), and then headed to his condo.

Approximately 15 minutes later, he emerged from his condo, walking the cutest dog that Kristin had ever seen...

So, since Kristin doesn't have a shy bone in her body (and because apparently she's pretty shameless as well), she put on her best and brightest smile, channeled her most charming Southern accent, and yelled out to the guy who had snubbed her not once, but twice, in the last 5 hours, "That's such a cute dog."

Bingo.

The guy turned around, smiled a great smile and then acted like he didn't hear what Kristin had said. (He later confessed that he had heard Kristin, but that he wanted an excuse to come and talk to her.) He walked back up the flight of stairs and asked Kristin to repeat what she had just said. Kristin told him that she thought his dog was cute, asked if it was a corgi...and then asked the dog's name. He and Kristin chatted briefly; she learned that his name was DGC and he asked if she was new to the complex. Kristin explained that she was subleasing. Small talk ensued. And then DGC said that he was going to take his dog out and promptly walked away.

Approximately 10 minutes later Kristin felt something furry brush against her leg, and she looks down to find the cute dog that she had "met" a few minutes earlier sitting on her feet. She noticed that there was a leash attached to his collar, and she secretly hoped that DGC was attached to the other end of the leash...

Lucky for her, he was.

DGC had walked up the back staircase this time, which means that Kristin didn't see him heading up the stairs. Well, obviously the dog had a plan of his own, and he immediately sat down on Kristin's feet and refused to move.

Of course, DGC was mortified, while Kristin, on the other hand, thought this was the cutest thing ever.

After profusely apologizing for his dog's behavior (only to be told that Kristin loved it and that she didn't mind at all), DGC struck up quite the conversation with her. They sat outside while Kristin petted the dog and they had the nicest conversation. To be quite honest, neither DGC nor Kristin can even remember what they talked about that night. However, both know that it just...well, it just felt right.

They must've talked for almost an hour when DGC did the strangest thing. He said, "Well, it's getting late. It was nice to have met you." And then he left. Just walked away.

Kristin immediately walked inside and called a friend to explain what had just transpired. After talking on the phone with her friend for a little while, she heard her doorbell ring.

When she answered the door, she saw DGC standing there. DGC explained that if Kristin would ever like to go out for coffee that he'd love to take her. And then he hands Kristin a piece of notebook paper with his name and number written on it. (By the way, Kristin still has that little piece of notebook paper and carries it around with her in her wallet...)

Ever so quick on her feet, Kristin says something clever about how she doesn't call boys and how if he wanted to go out for coffee, he should be the one to call her. She then promptly whipped out one of her embossed chocolate brown and robin's egg blue Crane's calling cards that she had ordered a few months earlier and placed it in his hand. (Looking back on it, that was one of the most pretentious things that Kristin had ever done...)

DGC smiled and said that he would definitely give Kristin a call and then left to go back to his condo. As the night progressed, Kristin got a little worried that maybe her pretentiousness had scared him off. So, she did something that is very uncharacteristic of her --

Kristin sent DGC a text message.

That's correct -- Kristin made the first move.

It was short, simple, sweet and to the point. She explained that it was very nice meeting him and that she would definitely love to take him up on that offer for coffee whenever his schedule permitted.

About 5 minutes passed before he responded. He said that he enjoyed meeting her as well and that they would definitely get together soon.

Kristin was absolutely giddy...which wasn't an emotion that she had experienced very much of in her life. She remembers sleeping very little that night because she couldn't get the guy with the dog out of her head. Well, lucky for her, he was feeling the same way. He sent her a text message the next day and asked if she would like to get coffee that night...

Coffee turned into dinner...dinner turned into a moonlight walk...and Kristin was pretty much hooked. And lucky for her, so was DGC.

Approximately 10 months later, DGC popped the question at sunset on a secluded beach in the Cayman Islands.

Kristin, of course, said yes.


Almost a year to the day that he proposed, DGC and Kristin were married in front of their closest friends and family in a small ceremony at a private home in the Cayman Islands Yacht club.

...and just like a fairytale, DGC and Kristin lived happily* ever after.

*Or something like that...