On the Saturday of convention, we were on the way home from the city and I sat down opposite Sam, one of my Perth friends, and she had a guy sit next to her, and I had a girl sit next to me. As you do, we made small talk to get to know each other. The girl who sat next to me was Beth from Canberra I think, and the guy that sat next to Sam was Bryan, from Adelaide. He took a small amount of interest when he found out I was from Perth, and after talking a little bit, we found out he was the guy that had dated and proposed to Vanessa MacDonald. We chatted a little bit and the conversation was almost over. Looking at me, he slightly pulled a funny face at me. I asked, “What’s with the face???” I didn’t know what I had said. But Bryan’s reply was, “What face? I was born with it!!” I felt awful! I told him I thought he had pulled a funny face and he completely denied it. I felt really bad and went bright red. I was so embarrassed. (He did actually admit later on to pulling a slight face then anyways!) We didn’t talk much really, he seemed kind of interested in Beth and so I didn’t push talking too much. I was a bit tired anyway.
 
So that was pretty much the beginning of how we met, we had lunch together on Sunday and then that night I had no idea, but Bryan knew exactly where I was! He waited to sit on the bus with me so we could talk.  That night back at the dorms, everyone congregated in the main quadrangle and we spent most of the night together until about 4am just talking and meeting other people, but generally, we were together. The next day , New Years Eve, was spent at the beach, and Bryan and I, although I didn’t really have any feelings for him yet, there was something about him that just kept drawing him to me, or me to him and we spent most of the time together in the water, and then partly building a sandcastle, which I deserted Bryan on as I left to jump on the early bus back to the dorms. That night at the New Year’s Eve Party, I danced all night, while Bryan spent the whole night looking for me, and dancing with me. We danced a couple of slow songs and that was nice.

When the clock ticket 12, and it became 2002 I wondered if Bryan would be nearby to look for some New Years lovin’ but he was a bit far away, so there was no action. He was too busy filming the fireworks!!! When the party ended about 1:30am, we went for a drive, just the 2 of us and ended up at Kangaroo Point, which has fantastic views of the city and a nice little grassed areas and a path to walk along. We walked for a while and then sat down and stayed there all night talking. We watched the sunrise and enjoyed getting to know each other. When we finally returned back to the dorms around 6am, we split to have showers and then met each other for breakfast. With the help of Bec and Sarah, we conned Bryan into offering his services to drive me to the place where I was staying for the next 2 weeks. Bryan had simply been looking for an opportunity to offer, because he wanted to take me, but we didn’t know that! Well, we just provided the opportunity for him!

When he took me to my house, he wanted me to spend the afternoon with him, but having only 2 hours sleep, in over 50 hours of convention, I needed to sleep if I was going to enjoy the party we were going to that night. So he left and I slept.

That night at the party, I didn’t treat Bryan very well, as I wasn’t sure how I felt for him and so I didn’t want to lead him on by spending time with him. This didn’t make his evening very good, and if you ask him, he would probably say this night was probably the lowest night of his life in our history together.

The next few days, I spent with my friends and continued to try and not lead Bryan on, but when it became apparent that I wanted to spend time with him because I couldn’t stop thinking about him, we arranged a time to go out that night, and from there… the rest is history. After our first date on the Friday night, we spent every possible minute together until my return to Perth.

When I returned to Perth, Bryan continued on his travels around the East coast and we spoke on the phone every night, minus 2 nights, that were pure torture. Bryan finally came to Perth, where we spent a month together, with me working, and starting uni (Bryan came to all of my lectures with me!) and just doing general life things and having the time of our lives. Again, it was painful to say goodbye at the airport.

My decision to go to Adelaide was made only several nights later, and plans were made, so less than 2 weeks after Bryan left Perth, I arrived in Adelaide where we spent the next week and a half together. I attended Bryan’s lectures with him, he gave me a tour of Adelaide, and again, did general life things, being together every moment of the day.

It was even more painful to leave Bryan when I returned home to Perth because now we were engaged, and although it meant that our future together was secure and we had a basic idea of when we would see each other again our love had grown even stronger and our desire to be together and not be able to was torturous.

Now, we talk on the telephone, but with other commitments and the time difference, we are unable to talk as much or as often as I would like because, well, we need sleep to function. I miss Bryan so much it tears at my heart and I long to be with him. It will be nothing but pain and torture and sadness until we can be together again.

Amy