Love goes ka-boink
I'm in New York, and David is in Baltimore. I'm realizing we're going to be spending a lot of time this way; we both knew this was going to be a challenge. I'm just finding it very hard to sleep without him next to me.
Okay, okay, get your eyerolling and sheesh-ing out of the way now, because here comes one of those stories. You know, a little pre-Valentine's Day story. I'm just warning you now, in case you want to come back at another time when it's not so gooshy around here.
So here goes.
In the summer of 2001, my sister and I were driving up to spend some time at our father's house in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It's in a little town called Eagle Harbor - sort of Maine-like, both in the terrain, and in the fact that events worthy of Stephen King have taken place there.
But that's another story.
We had started out from Milwaukee - it's about an eight or nine hour drive. To pass the time, we had audio books by Margaret Cho, and also David Sedaris. I think there were some murder mysteries mixed in there, and possibly some Stephen King as well.
We timed the visit so that we would spend some time with our father, and then have about five more days after he left to go back to Arizona. We could bum around, read, swim, poke around the little town, whatever, before closing the house up for the winter. We've found that it works better if planned that way, with a little downtime for ourselves. My sister is the perfect person to spend a lazy summer's end with.
We always joke that the village has all the elements to make a good Shirley Jackson story, like "The Summer People." A lighthouse casting its white and red beams over the tiny harbor; mysterious monks in the woods who sell cakes and preserves; and the graveyard. Did I mention the graveyard?
We would sometimes ride our bikes over to the little graveyard in the woods where our grandparents are buried. It's a good spot for blueberry picking. (Don't ask me why the berries grow so much better there, I don't want to know.) One of the first times when I went up to Eagle Harbor, I had forgotten that my grandfather's grave was there (this was before my grandmother died.) I was poking around in the cemetery - berrypicking, probably - and had a very Scrooge-y moment when I came upon a gravestone with my own name on it. Gaaaah!
Yes, yes, named after my grandfather. I don't know why I hadn't known he was there. But it was still creepy.
Okay, away from graveyards and onto the romantic bit.
After I'd read late into the night one night, I turned out the light and lay there in the silent, silent dark. A thought came into my head - not in a grand way, just in the way that you acknowledge a fact - like, oh yes, tomorrow's Tuesday. The thought was, you're going to meet the man you're supposed to be with. He'll make you laugh, he'll remind you of David Sedaris, and his name will be ... David.
Well, nice try, psychic powers. I rolled my eyes. I mean, come on, I had David Sedaris on the brain, obviously. I had been enjoyably single for a few years by that point. I wasn't especially hunting for a husband, although I had been wondering if I would ever fall in love again. But this little flash of clairvoyance - I chalked it up to listening to David Sedaris' audio book. I certainly wasn't going to fly to France and wrest him away from Hugh. Besides, he smokes.
So, flash forward to November of 2001, when David and I are on our second date. We're still getting to know one another - as all of you who know and love David are aware, he can be mysterious and hard to figure out. And there's his wit, which can be dry as a bone. We were sitting in a diner, and he said something that made me laugh out loud. I started to say something about how he reminded me of --
Ka-boink!
I immediately flashed back to that night in the summer when I was lying in the dark, having my little ordinary premonition. It freaked me right out. But in a good way.
I don't think I told David about it right at that minute. That might be coming on a little strong. "Hey, that's really funny whatchoo just said, and by the way, I just realized I had a psychic premonition that we are soul mates! Hey! Hey, whereya going?! Why ya running so fast? Hey!"
But it lingered in my mind for a long time. The way the information presented itself so simply and unassumingly. And actually, that's how David came into my life. Just showed up on the doorstep, simple and unassuming and handsome and funny and full of love.
Thanks, psychic powers.
Okay, okay, get your eyerolling and sheesh-ing out of the way now, because here comes one of those stories. You know, a little pre-Valentine's Day story. I'm just warning you now, in case you want to come back at another time when it's not so gooshy around here.
So here goes.
In the summer of 2001, my sister and I were driving up to spend some time at our father's house in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It's in a little town called Eagle Harbor - sort of Maine-like, both in the terrain, and in the fact that events worthy of Stephen King have taken place there.
But that's another story.
We had started out from Milwaukee - it's about an eight or nine hour drive. To pass the time, we had audio books by Margaret Cho, and also David Sedaris. I think there were some murder mysteries mixed in there, and possibly some Stephen King as well.
We timed the visit so that we would spend some time with our father, and then have about five more days after he left to go back to Arizona. We could bum around, read, swim, poke around the little town, whatever, before closing the house up for the winter. We've found that it works better if planned that way, with a little downtime for ourselves. My sister is the perfect person to spend a lazy summer's end with.
We always joke that the village has all the elements to make a good Shirley Jackson story, like "The Summer People." A lighthouse casting its white and red beams over the tiny harbor; mysterious monks in the woods who sell cakes and preserves; and the graveyard. Did I mention the graveyard?
We would sometimes ride our bikes over to the little graveyard in the woods where our grandparents are buried. It's a good spot for blueberry picking. (Don't ask me why the berries grow so much better there, I don't want to know.) One of the first times when I went up to Eagle Harbor, I had forgotten that my grandfather's grave was there (this was before my grandmother died.) I was poking around in the cemetery - berrypicking, probably - and had a very Scrooge-y moment when I came upon a gravestone with my own name on it. Gaaaah!
Yes, yes, named after my grandfather. I don't know why I hadn't known he was there. But it was still creepy.
Okay, away from graveyards and onto the romantic bit.
After I'd read late into the night one night, I turned out the light and lay there in the silent, silent dark. A thought came into my head - not in a grand way, just in the way that you acknowledge a fact - like, oh yes, tomorrow's Tuesday. The thought was, you're going to meet the man you're supposed to be with. He'll make you laugh, he'll remind you of David Sedaris, and his name will be ... David.
Well, nice try, psychic powers. I rolled my eyes. I mean, come on, I had David Sedaris on the brain, obviously. I had been enjoyably single for a few years by that point. I wasn't especially hunting for a husband, although I had been wondering if I would ever fall in love again. But this little flash of clairvoyance - I chalked it up to listening to David Sedaris' audio book. I certainly wasn't going to fly to France and wrest him away from Hugh. Besides, he smokes.
So, flash forward to November of 2001, when David and I are on our second date. We're still getting to know one another - as all of you who know and love David are aware, he can be mysterious and hard to figure out. And there's his wit, which can be dry as a bone. We were sitting in a diner, and he said something that made me laugh out loud. I started to say something about how he reminded me of --
Ka-boink!
I immediately flashed back to that night in the summer when I was lying in the dark, having my little ordinary premonition. It freaked me right out. But in a good way.
I don't think I told David about it right at that minute. That might be coming on a little strong. "Hey, that's really funny whatchoo just said, and by the way, I just realized I had a psychic premonition that we are soul mates! Hey! Hey, whereya going?! Why ya running so fast? Hey!"
But it lingered in my mind for a long time. The way the information presented itself so simply and unassumingly. And actually, that's how David came into my life. Just showed up on the doorstep, simple and unassuming and handsome and funny and full of love.
Thanks, psychic powers.
posted by crumblord at 11:01 PM
6 Comments:
I didn't use the ol' psychic powers... I used some witchcraft. True story. It wasn't love potion numero 9 though. So strange how we are unconsciously dictated.
Very nice, but I can't help but observe that there is no better segue into a story about falling for David than a story about the discovery of a gravestone with your own name on it.
Well, that was the sweetest thing ever. (Not even jwer can ruin that, although his powers are considerable.) :)
David: Fine, see if you ever get your $10 back.
Meanwhile, I found a gravestone with my name on it in New Orleans. It also had the name of my lovely deceased wife, "Elspit" on it.
She sure was a looker, my Elspit.
Oh, you married people are so insufferable, what with the smoochie-smoochies and the gushiness. But that was a great story - if I had any cockles remaining, you would have warmed them to a delightful simmer.
Brian
www.faggotyassfaggot.com
That's really sweet.
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