In Remembrance of Me: Anniversary

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Anniversary

Today is John and my 15th wedding anniversary. We are not only still alive, but still married. Freaky. I used to be pretty sure I wouldn't be alive by the time I was 30.

Aidan had her first dentist appointment last week which went really well. She was a little nervous at first but they let her hold on to blankie in the chair and that made it all good. LOL. They said she's doing a pretty good job brushing her teeth, which is good. I can't remember what they called it but they said because the thing that connects her upper lip to her gums is connected so high up, there is a possibility that she will have a slight gap between her front teeth. There's no way to know until the permanent ones start coming in though.

While she was sitting in the chair, and I was sitting across the room a bit watching, my phone goes off in my pocket. My ringtone is "Desire" by U2. Aidan pipes up and says "That's my mama's phone." I feel a bit guilty, as now a really great U2 song has been reduced for my daughter to "my mamma's phone". ROFL

She asked me the other day if she was going to get married when she grew up. I spouted off the obvious "If you meet someone you love who treats you well, then yes, sweetie you'll probably get married." But what the hell do I know. I'm sitting here amazed that I have managed to not only not strangle my husband but remain married to him and actually still love him. And like him most of the time. And like talking to him. He is the exact, complete opposite of my father in every way. And I have no idea how in the hell I even managed to snag him in the first place. Ok, picture this, for those of you who weren't there. Judy and Shirley can skip this part. hee hee hee

I'm walking through Jewel parlor on the way to put Janina to bed. I glance over at the couches (this was before they errected the annoying wall) and there were a bunch of guys watching Late Night with David Letterman. This was the one where he rotated the picture through the hour. When I walked in, it was...what...1 am...something like that...anyway, halfway through the show. The picture on the screen was upside down. And there, on the couch was this idiot standing on his head watching. And I say to myself "I'm gonna marry that guy" and head on in to check on Janina. Little do I know that at this point, he's interested in Shirley. He and Rich both, actually. And their method of wooing left something to be desired if I remember correctly. At one point I literally had to speak to them before she killed their sorry a***s.

So then I spend quite a lot of time chasing him. I'm sure Judy and Shirley both thought I was rather pathetic. Until one day I'm sitting in The Den and we're talking, John wasn't there, and Rich says to me..."He doesn't like you like that". To which I reply. "Oh". Pretty bummed out, I decide to go on the tour of the Springfield newspaper our Journalism class had scheduled for that evening after all. I must have told John I wasn't going, although I don't remember that particular conversation. LOL Anyway, I get back late that night, and head up to my dorm room on the 3rd floor of Stoddard. Much to my surprise, there is John pacing or sitting, I can't remember which, in front of my door.

Needless to say I was a little bit confused. Pleased, but confused. So I ask him what he's doing there. He says he's been looking all over campus for me all night and finally just decided to wait there for me until I showed up. Being the genius that I am I say "I wasn't here". LOL I eventually stumble around to asking him why he was looking for me. He says he was playing frisbee with Rich and Rich told him what he said to me. His actual words were, I believe "I really saved you today, man." (Rich never did like me that much. Which is why he is WICKED lucky I am doing his website for next to nothing ;D ) To which I respond with something along the lines of "So why are you here?" to which he replies with something along the lines of "Cause I'm not sure he's right."

Now at this point, I had a really evil roomate named Laurel, so I decided that if we were going to talk, which he seemed like he wanted to do, we would have to go down to the parlor. And we did. And we talked. Well, he talked. About pretty much everything on the planet except for "us". Sports, band, whatever. It was kind of cute, actually. Eventually we got around to deciding that we should try dating. Which in college isn't exactly the same thing as the real world. But, our first "official" getting dressed up and going out date was on April 17, 1987. After my shift in the kitchen, he took me to see a ballet company that was performing in the music building. I wore a black sweater and white skirt, even put on make up. LOL He wore brown cordoroys and a fuzzy tan sweater. (All he ever wore was cordoroys back then. **shudder** I don't think he even owned a pair of jeans.)

After that it was mostly just a lot of spending time together talking. Anywhere outside, in the quad, by my favorite tree, by the bridge...just talking. About stuff. Philosophy, cosmology, football, music... He really listened to me, and thought what I had to say was important, intelligent. He made me feel...worthy. This man is singularly responsible for the fact that I actually have a level of self-esteem today.

I have no idea what I would have done without him. And I have no idea how I caught him. Or he caught me. Or whatever. So I have no idea how to talk to Aidan about men and marriage. Even John is no Prince Charming, some days I just want to smack his head off. But he's better than anyone else I've ever known. So how do you pass that along to your kids. "You just have to hope you get lucky and the closest thing to perfect for you guy comes along and you happen to meet and he happens to decide that he likes you". I have no idea.

Taking the offramp from memory lane, we come to the other part of the Aidan conversation. She says that she wants to get married and be a mommy when she grows up. Now I have no idea what to make of that either. Does this mean that I make the mommy business look appealing enough that she thinks it would be a good gig for her too? Or does it mean that I have an evil stereotype of women as nothing more than wives and mothers to stamp out of her little head before she gets to kindergarten so she can start laying the groundwork for Cornell.

*sigh* I still say I am the COMPLETLY wrong person to be raising actual human children. I don't know what I was thinking.

posted by Unknown at 2:17 PM :: ~#~
(7) comments

7 Comments:

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!! This makes two of us who are amazed you made it this far. I still remember after the ceremony offering to not sign the marriage certificate and make it official. Giving you one last chance to make an icy (very very icy) getaway. My hat's off to you for not only getting married (regardless of who too) but having kids. You're doing a fine job raising them. No one knows how to raise kids. As long as they don't axe murder you in your sleep, or turn into Jim Jones, I think you've done a good job. You should be impressed she wants to carry on the tradition. She can do it all, because of your laying a solid foundation under her feet. Yeah Kimber!

By StSquirrel, at 9:00 PM

Kids don't come with an instruction booklet, cd, or dvd, unfortunately. Show me a parent that says they've raised the perfect child and I'll show you someone suffering from delusions of grandeur..plus probably a few more complicated mental problems.
The best you can do is the best you can do. And from what I know, you're doing a damn good job of it, too.
As for not killing John; well, I hope I don't want to kill Chris anytime soon, but I suppose it's always a possibility, since he's definitely human and has his full share of human quirks and foibles. Congrats on the anniversary, and hang in there.
Shel

By Anonymous, at 4:37 PM

Well, thankies ladies. :D It actually helps to know there are people out there who listen to me babble and support me in my mommy madness. ROFL.

Squirrel, it's probably a good thing we signed that thing before he and Chris pulled the dissapearing act to go play video games during the reception or I may have taken you up on it. *ugh*

And don't worry, Shel, I'm sure you and Stevie Ray will be just fine.

By Unknown, at 5:33 PM

I think I'd actually pay money to see John frantic. I didn't think he had it in him. ROFL

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