Five years
Today marks the 5th anniversary of my first date with Randy. We met at the B Side Lounge in Cambridge after a few exchanged emails. We turned up within 30 seconds of each other.
I still remember thinking he was cute in his black turtleneck and jeans with the pant legs turned up a little on the bottom and real shoes. I remember that my hair was short and that he liked that I pinned the bangs back with a hidden pin.
After shaking off the first-date jitters and nervous laughter and trying to be hip, cool and engaging, I relaxed and we had a good time.
I thought wow, he's a lot smarter than me, but he's pretty laid back and he doesn't make me feel dumb and has a good sense of humor and has had the same friends since high school so he knows a lot about loyalty. He loves to travel and had just come back from a big trip to Russia with a couple friends so we had that in common. He's never been married and didn't care if he had kids or not which was great by me because I didn't. He was funny in the way he expressed his dismay at the previous day's elections and he votes the same way I do.
I thought, I could go out with this guy again!
So I did.
So now, we live together.
Every morning that he's home, he brings me coffee in bed 'cause he knows what a slow starter I am.
Every evening he brings up the popsicles.
He always kisses me and holds my hand.
He can tell when I'm blue and asks if I'm ok and listens to the answers.
He never judges me and always listens well.
He doesn't pick on my recreational shopping habits.
He sings funny made-up songs in the morning that bellow through the house.
He shoved me headlong into the digital age, knowing exactly the gadgets I'd like and would use until they fell apart.
He buys exactly the gifts he knows I'd like, even if I didn't know it myself
He let me take over the garden.
He still plays Yahtzee with me even though I beat his butt nearly every time.
I never have to cook if I don't feel like it.
He bought a new stove 'cause I was afraid of the old one. Ditto the grill.
He sends his mother two dozen roses every year on her birthday.
Good Randy stories:
He took me to Maui as his date to a wedding. His birthday was our first full day there, and he didn't get mad that I wanted to get up at 3:30am to watch the sun rise on top of the volcano and ride bikes down the 10000-foot mountain and across to the ocean. Didn't mind getting lost in the bamboo forest looking for a waterfall that turned up to be dry, and stopping at every damn beach from Kahului to Hana. And he was the one that wanted to take the jeep around the "don't drive our rental car here" forbidden road around the back of the island.
He fractured my back accidentally when he was driving the boat on vacation at his company's beach house. We couldn't go back to the island and had to get a hotel on the mainland. He took care of me for two weeks straight, even bathing me when I couldn't let go of the rails in the handicapped hotel room and feeding me and doling out the medication. He upgraded us to a really nice hotel on Valentine's Day and propped me up for a really nice dinner. Brought the bed downstairs in his house so I didn't have to deal with stairs.
We went back to the beach house a couple months later, and he gave my best friend his frequent flyer miles so she could come with us
He took me to Game Two of the World Series in 2004, the year the "curse" was broken.
He got me Green Monster Seats to a Red Sox/Yankees game for my birthday. He made sure I went to a company event at Fenway the next day, where we got to meet Jim Rice in the Legends Suite.
He never liked baseball until he started watching with me at the end of 2003.
He was there for me in my confusion and emotion when another best friend moved away after completely changing her life in the period of about a month.
He gave me his frequent flyer miles so I could fly first class to visit her in California
He was there for me in a big way as my dad was dying, and when he passed away a short time later. He must have known somehow that it was coming, because he made sure I made the trip home to see my dad when he had some things happen that required hospitalization, even though they weren't life threatening. (A post for another time, but my dad battled rheumatoid arthritis for years and years and we were used to him being admitted for various surgeries to keep him mobile.)
He let my cat that didn't like anyone move in (well...no cat, no me!), and he was great on the day I had to put her to sleep. He went on kitten hunts behind my back to find me a new little beastie. He looked high and low for kittens on the weekends and called around 'til he found some we could meet.
He's my best travel companion. Two of my best foreign vacations have been with him, he's great to travel with and we're completely compatible in how we like to vacation. On one trip he encouraged another of my best friends to join us - not huge until you consider my friend is a guy.
On the other trip, we stopped in England to kick off our vacation with him.
There's been lots of stuff over the 5 years we've been together, but you get it by now. We're not oopy goopy like couples can be but we've got it pretty good, and I'm glad he's my sweet one.
I still remember thinking he was cute in his black turtleneck and jeans with the pant legs turned up a little on the bottom and real shoes. I remember that my hair was short and that he liked that I pinned the bangs back with a hidden pin.
After shaking off the first-date jitters and nervous laughter and trying to be hip, cool and engaging, I relaxed and we had a good time.
I thought wow, he's a lot smarter than me, but he's pretty laid back and he doesn't make me feel dumb and has a good sense of humor and has had the same friends since high school so he knows a lot about loyalty. He loves to travel and had just come back from a big trip to Russia with a couple friends so we had that in common. He's never been married and didn't care if he had kids or not which was great by me because I didn't. He was funny in the way he expressed his dismay at the previous day's elections and he votes the same way I do.
I thought, I could go out with this guy again!
So I did.
So now, we live together.
Every morning that he's home, he brings me coffee in bed 'cause he knows what a slow starter I am.
Every evening he brings up the popsicles.
He always kisses me and holds my hand.
He can tell when I'm blue and asks if I'm ok and listens to the answers.
He never judges me and always listens well.
He doesn't pick on my recreational shopping habits.
He sings funny made-up songs in the morning that bellow through the house.
He shoved me headlong into the digital age, knowing exactly the gadgets I'd like and would use until they fell apart.
He buys exactly the gifts he knows I'd like, even if I didn't know it myself
He let me take over the garden.
He still plays Yahtzee with me even though I beat his butt nearly every time.
I never have to cook if I don't feel like it.
He bought a new stove 'cause I was afraid of the old one. Ditto the grill.
He sends his mother two dozen roses every year on her birthday.
Good Randy stories:
He took me to Maui as his date to a wedding. His birthday was our first full day there, and he didn't get mad that I wanted to get up at 3:30am to watch the sun rise on top of the volcano and ride bikes down the 10000-foot mountain and across to the ocean. Didn't mind getting lost in the bamboo forest looking for a waterfall that turned up to be dry, and stopping at every damn beach from Kahului to Hana. And he was the one that wanted to take the jeep around the "don't drive our rental car here" forbidden road around the back of the island.
He fractured my back accidentally when he was driving the boat on vacation at his company's beach house. We couldn't go back to the island and had to get a hotel on the mainland. He took care of me for two weeks straight, even bathing me when I couldn't let go of the rails in the handicapped hotel room and feeding me and doling out the medication. He upgraded us to a really nice hotel on Valentine's Day and propped me up for a really nice dinner. Brought the bed downstairs in his house so I didn't have to deal with stairs.
We went back to the beach house a couple months later, and he gave my best friend his frequent flyer miles so she could come with us
He took me to Game Two of the World Series in 2004, the year the "curse" was broken.
He got me Green Monster Seats to a Red Sox/Yankees game for my birthday. He made sure I went to a company event at Fenway the next day, where we got to meet Jim Rice in the Legends Suite.
He never liked baseball until he started watching with me at the end of 2003.
He was there for me in my confusion and emotion when another best friend moved away after completely changing her life in the period of about a month.
He gave me his frequent flyer miles so I could fly first class to visit her in California
He was there for me in a big way as my dad was dying, and when he passed away a short time later. He must have known somehow that it was coming, because he made sure I made the trip home to see my dad when he had some things happen that required hospitalization, even though they weren't life threatening. (A post for another time, but my dad battled rheumatoid arthritis for years and years and we were used to him being admitted for various surgeries to keep him mobile.)
He let my cat that didn't like anyone move in (well...no cat, no me!), and he was great on the day I had to put her to sleep. He went on kitten hunts behind my back to find me a new little beastie. He looked high and low for kittens on the weekends and called around 'til he found some we could meet.
He's my best travel companion. Two of my best foreign vacations have been with him, he's great to travel with and we're completely compatible in how we like to vacation. On one trip he encouraged another of my best friends to join us - not huge until you consider my friend is a guy.
On the other trip, we stopped in England to kick off our vacation with him.
There's been lots of stuff over the 5 years we've been together, but you get it by now. We're not oopy goopy like couples can be but we've got it pretty good, and I'm glad he's my sweet one.
Comments
(We did the "don't drive the rental car here" thing in Maui too. Very cool part of the island).
It sounds like you found a true gem; you deserve one!
May you have a hundred or so more years of happiness together!
alan