How I Met Brendan

A friend just asked me last night. How did u meet Brendan?

I saw him across a crowded cafe.....

Just kidding...that’s a line from a book. Actually I met him at Trader Joe’s. I was in his checkout line around this time two years ago. I remember that day perfectly. I wasn’t really paying attention so when I got to the register I had to do a double take. My first impression of Brendan: part cartoon character, part luminous being. He had his ‘Lai-wing’ name tag on. I asked him how to pronounce his name properly but he said that I kept putting emphasis on the wrong vowel and told me his friends called him Brendan. I was enchanted. My Mind shot back with the thought.. “I’ve just got to know this guy!”

So every Friday on my shopping day I tried to make sure I was in his line. My 14 year old daughter would roll her eyes and say “oh no are you looking for that “Ling ling” guy again?” She knew I had a painful crush on him. My daughter told my roommates and one of my roommates told me she was friends with him and also Facebook friends with him. That was my ‘in’. I told him the next time I saw him that he knew my roommate. I asked him if he minded if I became Facebook friends with him. He said yes even if he really meant no. (Later on in our relationship I realized that Brendan often said yes when he meant no. And when he said “no” he really meant “NO!!!”)

So a week or two goes by and I’m on my lunch break checking my personal mail and some Facebook messages from my family. I see some funny post of Brendan’s. Something comes over me and suddenly I find myself in FB messenger. I write, “ Hi Lai-wing this is Wendy. I talk to you quite often at TJs. I just wanted to tell you that I think you’re soooooo cute! Even though I’m probably way too old for you”

I thought he’d shrug it off, laugh, be flattered and possibly just tell me thank you. But he actually called me 5 minutes later on Facebook messenger. I didn’t have headphones at my work station so I couldn’t answer. So I typed a response, “are you really trying to call me? I don’t have headphones.... “ He then give me his cell phone number and tells me to call him after I got off of work. And that’s how the whole thing got started………..