The Kiss That Started the Whole Catastrophe

I got another blog award from Ami and I'll blog about that later because I can't do it today seeing as how today is October 13, 2010. It's our anniversary. Not our wedding anniversary, mind you (that's going to be 25 years in January) - but rather, the anniversary of our First Kiss. It was 1978 - 31 Years Ago!! Amazing, considering I'm so young and all. Seriously. I was 14 in 1978 - almost 15. Jeff was 16.



So yeah, Happy Anniversary to us....and here's a sentimental photo to mark the day. In case you're alarmed, that is not me or Jeff in the photo. But it's a sweet photo, no? It's Eddie Vedder (of Pearl Jam) being affectionately kissed by Anthony Kiedis (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and if you've been reading this blog for very long you know that Jeff is a loyal Pearl Jam fan and I am pretty much THE "fan" in "fanatic" for RHCP. Therefore, this pic is suitably romantic for us.





Unlike Kiedis and Vedder, who I think might have been standing on the red carpet for the MTV Music Awards or some such event, I was standing on the courthouse steps....not awaiting trial or anything dramatic like that....just hanging out with friends at our town's local annual festival (Peanut Festival - that's right - we grow peanuts in these parts and we're proud of it.) A cute boy with lots-o-hair kept grinning at me. I grinned back. Finally he came over and talked to me. He was in the high school band with me, and I hadn't noticed. Funny. It was a small band, too. I played the flute and he played the trumpet. Nice lips. Anyway, he followed me home. First kiss.

And thirty years later....still nice lips.

He gave me his senior ring. A few months later he asked for it back. I cried a river. He didn't care so much. He found me infuriating, confusing, annoying, and a tad bit psychotic. So we went on with our lives and I dated other boys and he discovered that all girls were infuriating, confusing, annoying, and a tad bit psychotic. When I was a senior and he was in college, he decided that at least he'd been somewhat familiar with my particular brand of psychotic, and since I'd never really stopped crying my eyes out every night, we started dating again. This was obviously my Madonna phase...1983, maybe?

We got married in 1986 and spent the next few years trying to pay our rent and get me through college. In 992 we decided having a baby might be fun. It mostly was so we had a few more. And then I found I had fallen in love with a new guy....my kids' dad. Wow. I hadn't even known he existed until the kids came along - and some people say kids can kill the romance....For the past 18 years he has pretty much worn, carried, or held a baby, toddler, or kid. Or several of them. And it seriously makes my heart flutter. Here he is marching in the Martin Luther King March with Jasper on his shoulders.

Oh, he HATED the picture of him on the previous post. He said, "You put up the evil pic of me scowling into the sun!" So here he is, wearing a baby while working and totally not scowling.

And here he is holding another baby while working. Because when he's not traveling or visiting accounts, he offices out of our home...in all its glory.

Here I am, barefoot and pregnant again (this was taken on Jasper's due date), with Camille peeping through our legs.

So on that day 31 years ago, there was another anniversary. My parents' wedding anniversary. And no, that's not Neil Diamond or a terrorist (it's been said he resembles both - it is just my dad - and in his opinion the fact that my mom looks taller than he does is just an optical illusion - a pretty persistent one, I might add). So on that fateful evening Jeff followed me home and found my parents partying with my aunt and uncle....they'd come for the festival and an anniversary dinner and probably a game of cards or dominoes, as well. My mom always claimed Jeff didn't say a word the entire night, which is probably true. He still isn't known for talking your ear off....that is pretty much my job.

So, who could have predicted that those two band geek teenagers were going to end up well.....as we have?

Well, my mom, for one. She supposedly said that night, "Oh god, she's gonna marry that boy."

October 13th was just a regular old day....except that it began with "Once Upon a Time...." and seemlessly went into "Happily Ever After." Man, that was almost too sweet, wasn't it? Don't gag - it's totally the truth.