The Living Without Series

This is a series of posts that I wrote back in 2006 on living with less stuff. Check them out: liv011Living #2liv031liv04

The Love Story continues…pass the cheese!

This is a photo of Clay, Me, Clay’s brother and Clay’s sister.  This was the first night we were together at Clay’s mother’s apartment, the first time I had met any of them.  We were obviously having a great time.  I remember laughing a lot that weekend.

Okay, now let’s talk about the obvious…

1. Bangs.  Everyone had bangs!!!  Clay with his dripping into his left eye and mine tightly curled above my eyebrows.

2. Acid Wash.  Dear Jesus, why did we all love it so?

3. I can only describe my hair as….transparent.  No, I did not bleach it, that is what color it was.  Freaky, I know.

4. Click on the photo to read How We Met- Part 10, Crazy is Normal

If you need to start at the beginning of the whole Clay and April story, then get comfortable and start here.

He’s Mine

DSC_0035

The one thing that was so different about Clay from all the other guys I dated was that he made me laugh.  Uncontrollable belly laughing.  I’d never met a guy so goofy, so comfortable making fun of me and himself and just so gosh darn HAPPY!  His faces, his sound affects, his impersonations, the one-liners, the sarcasm and best of all, the stories.  Everyday when he comes home from work I’ll ask if he’s got a good story for me or he’ll excitedly call me during his lunch break and say, “Hey, I gotta tell ya story.”  I love his stories.

I love his old stories the best,  some of them I’ve heard four- bazillion times, but occasionally he’ll tell me one I’ve never heard and that’s when I think, wow, I’m still getting to know him after all these years.

I know that what I have with Clay is extraordinary.  I don’t take it for granted.  I’m always touched when I get a comment about how wonderful our marriage is from a reader that has never met us and for that reason, I thought some of you might get a kick out of some facts about us.

1. When I first met Clay I thought he was really weird.  Weird looking, weird dresser…just plain weird.

2. It didn’t take me long to be friends with Clay, because he made me laugh.  I still thought he was weird.

3. I thought Clay would really like my sister.

4. I realized I was in love with Clay while watching him change a tire on the shoulder of  Interstate-35.

5. I met Clay when I was 18 years old, during my freshman year in college.

6. I once said to a high school girlfriend, “I think I’m going to marry a guy from Missouri.”  for no particular reason, other than I didn’t want to marry a guy from my home town in Kansas.

7. Clay is from Missouri.

8. We never went on a first date.  He never asked me out on a date, we just…were.

9. I gave back my engagement ring to him two months before our wedding because he was irritating the crap out of me.  Then I hid outside his open window to hear his reaction to the note I wrote him.  It wasn’t pretty.

10. I got my ring back the same night.  My point was made.  He got a job the next day.

11. We shared one car for the first five years of our marriage.

12. We make fun of each other more than any other people I know.

13. We rarely hurt each others feelings.

14. Clay wouldn’t talk about getting married or engaged when we were dating because he thought it would ruin the moment.

15. I almost broke up with him because he wouldn’t talk about our future.  He begged for me to be patient.

16. He had already bought my engagement ring when I was throwing the fit about him not talking about our future.

17. He has since realized it would have been better for him to talk about our future.  He’s lucky I’m so patient.

18. One time I pointed out a beautiful antique wedding set with a round diamond in a square setting to him in hopes that he would know what kind of ring I would like.  I also stated very clearly that I did NOT like a marquee setting.

19. He bought me the most contemporary ring with an oval diamond in a marquee setting.  I still wear that ring, because he picked it out for me and he likes it.

20. A few years ago I asked him for a little necklace for my birthday, something small that I could wear all the time.

21. He picked out a strange scrolly thing with a bunch of diamonds.  I was so embarrassed to wear it I hid it under my sweater.  But, this time he knew I didn’t like it.

22. I returned the hideous necklace and bought the one I liked.  I wear it all the time and he constantly says, “Wow, I really like that necklace I got for you.”

23.  I have begged him not to ever buy me jewelry again….ever.  He’s graciously agreed.

24. He also can’t buy me clothes or really anything for the house.

25. I do still own the first Christmas present he bought for me, it’s a men’s Calvin Klein bath robe and I really do like it.

26. I really do like him too.

My Friend Melanie and Her Big Pink Scarf

So back to the Barftastic Weekend.  This is my friend Melanie, she and her family came to visit us for the weekend.  She’s one of the things I miss most about St. Louis.  When she sent me this photo I couldn’t stop laughing because it says so much about us…let’s talk about it.

1. What do you notice first?  Could it be that big pink scarf?  I’m just wondering.

2. At some point I’ll need to take Ellen to the doctor to have her jaw realigned.

3. Yes, the evil looking chick that popped into the photo is Ellen.

4. Melanie had to wear that stocking cap because she didn’t want to wash her hair…I love her for that.

5. Her daughter is poking her little face into the photo and I hope that she and Ellen will be really good friends someday, they have about the same age difference as Melanie and I.

6. The night before this photo was taken I was puking up shell fish, beer and a spinach salad, I’ve never experience anything quite so uh…barftastic.

7. I am ten years older than Melanie.

8. I appointed Melanie as the official mentor to my daughter and she takes that job very seriously and I love her for that.

9. Melanie sends my daughter sweet messages laced with humor and pearls of wisdom.

10. Melanie has bought me a mop and made me laundry detergent and she’s mopped my floor and done my laundry.

11. I’ve cleaned out her freezer and redecorated her shelves.

12. She’s the cheapest person I know and probably the most generous.

13. She posted this video on facebook and I watched it while I was talking to her on the phone and now I can’t stop saying , “Welcome to Canada!”


Fast Tube by Casper