Jesse and I had a very unique brand of humor. We would laugh until it hurt, often, over many things. This is going to be an evolving list as I remember things.
I will never and could never forget that laugh. I called him pigeon because when he really got going, he sounded like pigeons cooing. It was my favorite sound in the world and I'm so thankful I found a couple of videos where it's now immortalized.
"Everything was going great until..." One night on our first summer together we were at the beach. We almost every night were at the beach that first summer, enjoying the sand, the pier, the ice cream, the music. One night we were walking back to the car and saw something very inappropriate painted on a door. We were on the ground laughing, and because it was so inappropriate I answered with everything was going great until... Which made us laugh even harder.
Until he was in college he didn't know wild turkeys were a thing. He thought they only existed on farms. So he called them "mythical birds". One such time all I heard him say was "thical", and I asked if he just called them that. We found it so amusing that from then on wild turkeys became known as thicals, turkey vultures were sky thicals, and for good measure sea gulls became known as beach chickens.
I got really shy the first time I said anything around him about wanting children and said I didn't want to be presumptuous. He asked me why I would think that presumptuous and I said because we hadn't talked about it before and we hadn't been together very long. He asked me if I thought he would have bought a house with 3 extra bedrooms if he didn't want to fill them someday. A month later he said, should we maybe talk about having a certain ceremony before we decide to fill bedrooms and I said, that's probably a wise idea. 3 months later we were engaged.
When we had been dating for 2.5 weeks I had my second marathon coming up. I asked if he would want to come cheer me on and he said yes. He said I would never catch him running, and I cautioned him that the adrenaline rush that comes at a race is contagious and he might just change his tune. He asked if I would want to go to Niagara falls after the race and I said if we do, he better have a wheelchair to push me in. Sure enough after 6 hours of waiting for me to finish that race there he was with a wheelchair. He took me for breakfast, and I felt so sick after that I asked he just take me home. He took me back to what is now our house and drew me a bath. His hot water heater was broken, so he went up and down the stairs with water he heated on the stove until the tub was full, then carried me up. We were still very modest with each other at that point in the relationship and he was an absolute gentleman respecting my privacy. He sat outside the bathroom in case I needed help. As I was soaking he said, "That WAS really exciting, do you think I could do a 5k?" Before long he was a better runner than me. I knew that day that I would love him forever.
I taught him how to dance, very early. I think we started with rumba. Every time we would practice he got the most adorable grin. Just the corners of his mouth would crinkle, like he was having so much fun but was concentrating SO HARD that he couldn't do a full smile.
Whenever he would say or do something so goofy you would just be scratching your head, he would start nodding, say mm hmm! And giggle. I would ask, what am I going to do with you? And he would answer, just keep an eye on him so he doesn't wander off.
I would often tell him he was too much. He would say nope, I'm just enough! And that was the closest we ever came to arguing.
He believed there were sharks in Lake Ontario. Whether he really believed this or was just being goofy, I will never know! Same with his idea of having an elevator to the Moon.
Every year at Christmas he bought fuzzy socks. He came in the living room the first year, put a pair on my feet, and covered me back up with the blanket. He said, I have to keep my baby warm! Then he giggled and went about making me coffee. He did the same once with a fuzzy scarf.
I almost ruined his proposal, twice. Tuesday nights I taught Insanity, and knowing this he planned on that being the night he went to ask my father for my hand. I was so sick the night he went that I should not have been teaching. I was secretly hoping nobody would come so I could go home, and my students knew the routines so well that they helped me through. Otherwise I would have gotten home while he was still at my parents house and he was a horrible liar, especially when he was excited!
The night before the proposal, I was awake coughing and still very sick. We were supposed to go to Herkimer to mine for diamonds, or so I thought. I was in such rough shape that morning he asked if I would want to not go. I said no it's ok, I'll sleep in the car. On the way he informed me we were not going to Herkimer, it was the first of what would become many Katie-nappings, and he wouldn't tell where we were going.
I knew he was up to something because he was extra lovey. We regularly nauseated people with how cute and in love we were anyways, but that day was extra. When we arrived at the heart shaped calcite called the bridal alter, I knew.
On our engagement, he asked me if I would be offended if he proposed with something other than a diamond until he could afford to get me one. I told him he didn't have to give me anything but a promise. He insisted I have something, and I told him I like rubies. The ring he chose is something I would absolutely have picked for myself. It'll be an heirloom for Evalina someday.
On the one year anniversary of our first date we went to dinner at Sinbad's. We had Greek on our first date but Sinbad's was better, so we went there instead and followed up with ice cream, just like on our first date. We got to the car and found it missing, because we had parked in a lot meant only for the store which was then closed. After waiting for his dad to come get us we called to make sure we could still get it that night. The owner said the truck wasn't back yet, I'd better call the driver's cell phone. It was a friend of mine. I called him and he seemed surprised to hear from me. I said I hear you're driving a tow truck now. He said, I have Jesse's truck don't I? I asked if we could please have it back and we laughed all night about it.
On our first date we knew we wanted ice cream but the Abbott's was closed. We went to 3 different places looking for someone to be open and said if we had to we would get a pint and a spoon from Wegmans, and just eat in the parking lot.
He loved to Katie-nap me, and I loved when he did it. On my birthday that first year was one of them. I didn't want to know where he was taking me, I wanted to be as surprised as possible, so I even let him pack my suitcase. He took me to what would become our favorite bed and breakfast in Niagara Falls. We went back every year for my birthday, until this past one when he was too sick. He also took me horseback riding once, which we always meant to do again when he was better. Another one was to visit my grandpa's grave on veteran's day, and follow up with Thai food.
He took me to NYC to stay with his brother and sister. That whole trip was filled with memories. On the way down, in the middle of nowhere, he got pulled over for expired inspection. A little later, still in the middle of nowhere, a cop pulled out, then turned off the road. We assumed they ran his plate, saw he'd already been ticketed, and had nothing more they could do.
I had been to NYC 3 times and wanted to go to Rockefeller Center, Central Park, Empire State Building, but had never done any of them. He promised he would take me. All the Christmas decor was still up when he took me to Rockefeller, and when we were on the subway to take us there he got his trademark grin and started jumping up and down in excitement for me. We went to every place I wanted to go, including sneaking in to the Plaza, Times Square, and even a carriage ride at Central. We didn't know yet to give Trump Tower the single finger salute... Forever after that day when we got excited about something we would do that laughing jump.
He kept every promise he ever made to me, except one. He promised me 150 years, and that we would colonize Mars and pass within 5 minutes of each other because we couldn't bear to be left behind without the other one.
My love, I have to stay behind for Evalina. I'm sorry it's going to be a bit more than 5 minutes before I can join you. Know that every day you are missed, you are loved, and our memories will keep you alive for me forever.
I will never and could never forget that laugh. I called him pigeon because when he really got going, he sounded like pigeons cooing. It was my favorite sound in the world and I'm so thankful I found a couple of videos where it's now immortalized.
"Everything was going great until..." One night on our first summer together we were at the beach. We almost every night were at the beach that first summer, enjoying the sand, the pier, the ice cream, the music. One night we were walking back to the car and saw something very inappropriate painted on a door. We were on the ground laughing, and because it was so inappropriate I answered with everything was going great until... Which made us laugh even harder.
Until he was in college he didn't know wild turkeys were a thing. He thought they only existed on farms. So he called them "mythical birds". One such time all I heard him say was "thical", and I asked if he just called them that. We found it so amusing that from then on wild turkeys became known as thicals, turkey vultures were sky thicals, and for good measure sea gulls became known as beach chickens.
I got really shy the first time I said anything around him about wanting children and said I didn't want to be presumptuous. He asked me why I would think that presumptuous and I said because we hadn't talked about it before and we hadn't been together very long. He asked me if I thought he would have bought a house with 3 extra bedrooms if he didn't want to fill them someday. A month later he said, should we maybe talk about having a certain ceremony before we decide to fill bedrooms and I said, that's probably a wise idea. 3 months later we were engaged.
When we had been dating for 2.5 weeks I had my second marathon coming up. I asked if he would want to come cheer me on and he said yes. He said I would never catch him running, and I cautioned him that the adrenaline rush that comes at a race is contagious and he might just change his tune. He asked if I would want to go to Niagara falls after the race and I said if we do, he better have a wheelchair to push me in. Sure enough after 6 hours of waiting for me to finish that race there he was with a wheelchair. He took me for breakfast, and I felt so sick after that I asked he just take me home. He took me back to what is now our house and drew me a bath. His hot water heater was broken, so he went up and down the stairs with water he heated on the stove until the tub was full, then carried me up. We were still very modest with each other at that point in the relationship and he was an absolute gentleman respecting my privacy. He sat outside the bathroom in case I needed help. As I was soaking he said, "That WAS really exciting, do you think I could do a 5k?" Before long he was a better runner than me. I knew that day that I would love him forever.
I taught him how to dance, very early. I think we started with rumba. Every time we would practice he got the most adorable grin. Just the corners of his mouth would crinkle, like he was having so much fun but was concentrating SO HARD that he couldn't do a full smile.
Whenever he would say or do something so goofy you would just be scratching your head, he would start nodding, say mm hmm! And giggle. I would ask, what am I going to do with you? And he would answer, just keep an eye on him so he doesn't wander off.
I would often tell him he was too much. He would say nope, I'm just enough! And that was the closest we ever came to arguing.
He believed there were sharks in Lake Ontario. Whether he really believed this or was just being goofy, I will never know! Same with his idea of having an elevator to the Moon.
Every year at Christmas he bought fuzzy socks. He came in the living room the first year, put a pair on my feet, and covered me back up with the blanket. He said, I have to keep my baby warm! Then he giggled and went about making me coffee. He did the same once with a fuzzy scarf.
I almost ruined his proposal, twice. Tuesday nights I taught Insanity, and knowing this he planned on that being the night he went to ask my father for my hand. I was so sick the night he went that I should not have been teaching. I was secretly hoping nobody would come so I could go home, and my students knew the routines so well that they helped me through. Otherwise I would have gotten home while he was still at my parents house and he was a horrible liar, especially when he was excited!
The night before the proposal, I was awake coughing and still very sick. We were supposed to go to Herkimer to mine for diamonds, or so I thought. I was in such rough shape that morning he asked if I would want to not go. I said no it's ok, I'll sleep in the car. On the way he informed me we were not going to Herkimer, it was the first of what would become many Katie-nappings, and he wouldn't tell where we were going.
I knew he was up to something because he was extra lovey. We regularly nauseated people with how cute and in love we were anyways, but that day was extra. When we arrived at the heart shaped calcite called the bridal alter, I knew.
On our engagement, he asked me if I would be offended if he proposed with something other than a diamond until he could afford to get me one. I told him he didn't have to give me anything but a promise. He insisted I have something, and I told him I like rubies. The ring he chose is something I would absolutely have picked for myself. It'll be an heirloom for Evalina someday.
On the one year anniversary of our first date we went to dinner at Sinbad's. We had Greek on our first date but Sinbad's was better, so we went there instead and followed up with ice cream, just like on our first date. We got to the car and found it missing, because we had parked in a lot meant only for the store which was then closed. After waiting for his dad to come get us we called to make sure we could still get it that night. The owner said the truck wasn't back yet, I'd better call the driver's cell phone. It was a friend of mine. I called him and he seemed surprised to hear from me. I said I hear you're driving a tow truck now. He said, I have Jesse's truck don't I? I asked if we could please have it back and we laughed all night about it.
On our first date we knew we wanted ice cream but the Abbott's was closed. We went to 3 different places looking for someone to be open and said if we had to we would get a pint and a spoon from Wegmans, and just eat in the parking lot.
He loved to Katie-nap me, and I loved when he did it. On my birthday that first year was one of them. I didn't want to know where he was taking me, I wanted to be as surprised as possible, so I even let him pack my suitcase. He took me to what would become our favorite bed and breakfast in Niagara Falls. We went back every year for my birthday, until this past one when he was too sick. He also took me horseback riding once, which we always meant to do again when he was better. Another one was to visit my grandpa's grave on veteran's day, and follow up with Thai food.
He took me to NYC to stay with his brother and sister. That whole trip was filled with memories. On the way down, in the middle of nowhere, he got pulled over for expired inspection. A little later, still in the middle of nowhere, a cop pulled out, then turned off the road. We assumed they ran his plate, saw he'd already been ticketed, and had nothing more they could do.
I had been to NYC 3 times and wanted to go to Rockefeller Center, Central Park, Empire State Building, but had never done any of them. He promised he would take me. All the Christmas decor was still up when he took me to Rockefeller, and when we were on the subway to take us there he got his trademark grin and started jumping up and down in excitement for me. We went to every place I wanted to go, including sneaking in to the Plaza, Times Square, and even a carriage ride at Central. We didn't know yet to give Trump Tower the single finger salute... Forever after that day when we got excited about something we would do that laughing jump.
He kept every promise he ever made to me, except one. He promised me 150 years, and that we would colonize Mars and pass within 5 minutes of each other because we couldn't bear to be left behind without the other one.
My love, I have to stay behind for Evalina. I'm sorry it's going to be a bit more than 5 minutes before I can join you. Know that every day you are missed, you are loved, and our memories will keep you alive for me forever.
Beautiful, Make it a book on your journey. You are a gifted writer
ReplyDeleteThank you. I've thought about it!
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