One last weekend for us...

We've wrapped up our last weekend as a single couple, if that even makes sense. We sent Lissie off to visit with family for Friday and Saturday nights and took the opportunity to remind ourselves what we like about one another.

There was a lot of silly giggling going on, all the way down to "our last Sunday Mass as single people."

On Friday night, we returned to the "Scene of the Crime," also known as the first date. Now that we're in the stretch run, it seems safer to tell some of these cutesy stories of Jessica and I.

Jessica and I were set up by a mutual friend. I knew of Jessica, and she know of me, but neither of us knew each other very well until our first date.

It was an awkward trek from her home in Pandora to Rosilli's restaurant in Findlay, where we dined and shared a bottle of a zinfendel. At that point, we covered the basics: Who we are, where we've been, what we've done.

The real magic came from a silly date spot. We went to a local railroad enthusiasts' yard, where they were offering "haunted trainrides" on the half-scale train. It was a little bit lame, to be honest, but it was fun on a cool October night.

Then we walked over to the "haunted cubicles" they had in their office building. It was extremely dark in there. The woman at the door suggested we hold hands as we walked through, so we didn't get separated.

That woman was a genius. And to all the guys out there looking for a perfect way to break the ice, I recommend a haunted anything. There's nothing like getting scared together to build a bond.

After that we went to a local place that has skeeball and air hockey. Jess always wins skeeball, and I usually win air hockey. We established those ground rules that night, although we each hope to unseat the other some day.

We stopped at another place and had a drink or two. That's when it really became comfortable conversation. It seemed like we'd known each other for decades, not hours.

That's really the remarkable part, even up to this moment. We have a neat balance of a wonderful comfort with one another, yet there's still an excitement and new-ness that we'll send each other text messages. It's all good.

So anyway, aside from recreating the dinner and walking portion of our first date, we also went to a rib cook-off Saturday night and then made a trek to Grand Lake St. Marys on Sunday for a boat ride and swimming.

None of these things had anything to do with planning the wedding. You might say we took a mini-vacation from that. But every one of them reminded us why there was a wedding in the first place.