I’ve known Pete for a pretty long time.
We first met when a bunch of us went to see the Mets play the SF Giants on Irish Night at Shea Stadium in 2000. It was a memorable night in the fact that we pre-gamed pretty heavily next to FDNY bagpipe players in the Shea Stadium parking lot (who were pre-gaming pretty heavily too!), had tickets three rows behind third base (we heckled Barry Bonds every time he ran to and from leftfield and it felt weird because we knew he could actually hear us), and to top it all off, it was the game Benny Agbayani gave the ball to a fan in the stands after the SECOND out. (How the hell do you score that??). They also played, in typical Mets-cheesiness, “Who Let the Dogs Out” after every Mets win at Shea that season (they won that night… Todd Zeile had the game-winning RBI in drizzling rain). Which is why whenever it pops up on my ipod, I smile and listen to the entire song lol. And in typical Mets-over-the-top-cheesiness, they released a song that same summer called “Who Let the Mets Out,” which of course I have on my ipod as well.
Anyways, fast forward a few years later and one of our buddies is getting married, who was at that Mets game too. So we’re shooting around ideas and we quickly decide on New Orleans… the Big Easy. I had been there just the year before and I fell in love with the city immediately. New Orleans would be the perfect locale for a bachelor party. But who knew Pete would meet the woman of his dreams there that weekend?
Their love story begins about as serendipitous as it gets. Both having randomly been momentarily separated by their respective groups, they ended up on the same elevator at the hotel we were all staying at. A conversation started between the two lone passengers and they ended up talking straight through into the morning. (Was that the night before we left??)
Natalie and Pete kept in touch and their attraction kept growing. Soon, Natalie moved to the Big Apple and the rest, as they say, is history. They’re set to wed in September back where it all began, in New Orleans.
Natalie and Pete, I had a fantastic time with you guys in the humidity-less 80 degree weather last Sunday. Make sure you have a Voodoo for me at Lafitte’s in September! Enjoy these teasers.
~ Jase
