16 Years

16 years ago I went on a date… A first date. She was wearing all green. Not a soft green but a lime green head to toe. I remember not because I liked or didn’t like the outfit but because I knew that this date was the first date of the rest of my life.

We went to a mall. Pretty typical for young people I suppose. Nothing spectacular happened but then isn’t that how most things start. NASA didn’t get created and immediately land on the moon, When man was freezing before there was fire, man didn’t turn to his friend and say “hey can you turn the heater up”, In order to cross the oceans or seas man didnt just part it with his hands or walk on it with his bare feet…( ok the last part of this interlude is up for debate i suppose)

When Sally Pooped on Harry My dating life up to this point was a pretty hilariously bad romantic comedy. To sum up some of my misadventures.. I got together with a girl on christmas eve and was dumped on christmas day ( after the gift exchange by the way..which I totally got screwed on.. and I swear I saw a time travelling George Michael watching the whole thing in order to get inspiration for a Christmas song ) …had numerous we’re just friend conversations , in an attempt to surprise someone on a threeway phone call ( it’s like a conference call or mulit chat for those youngins out there) I found out that the girlfriend I thought I was surprising was just not that into me ( much to her horror I finally chimed in and said “surprise” ) . I had a confused lesbian ask to “try me out ” to see if she really was lesbian ( still not sure how to take that one…insulted or complimented) and the coup de gras… I got pooped on by a girl’s duck as a parting goodbye( who the hell keeps a pet duck?!?! and it wasn’t a small duck I am talking full grown ) .

But this time was different. We went out we laughed . Had the whole butterflys thing. It was typical young love. Except it really felt like more. We spent a lot of time together and I was loving every second of it. Her birthday was a month after that and I cant even remember what I got here but I know I went all out probably more than you should after only dating for a month but I was all in on this one. A month later a friend of ours took us to a different mall and we took pictures . Not like photo booth pictures but like engagement looking pictures which we were going to give out as Christmas cards. We even got matching outfits for the picture ( if you need to excuse yourself to go vomit at the sappiness of it all feel free…….done? … oops you missed a spot when you were cleaning on the left side of your mouth.. ok ..i will continue)

Move in Day December 28– So about 3 months later we moved into together. Did we rush into it…probably. Were we scared…she probably was but I dont think I had a doubt in my body. I was ready to ” Make It So ” as I would later go on to say many times when I knew wanted something that logically made absolutely no sense to anyone but me yet somehow worked out great. This is typically how I make most life changing decisions much to my wife’s chagrin. As we got her stuff from her parent’s house her mom told us that we didn’t know how to take care of ourselves so how were we going to take care of each other. They key in that was that we were going to have each other …..(and that’s a lot for love…let’s give it a shot..whoooa where halfway there whooooaa living on a prayer ..sorry sometimes I blog as if I was trapped in an 80’s hairband musical) and it would be enough over the years to get us through just about anything.

I am pretty sure a majority of our friends and family felt the same way even if they didnt want to say it out loud . A lot of them probably thought that she was pregnant ( which she wasn’t) .Or that I had hypnotized here…(which I hadn’t) we were kids in love and looking back on it if I were my friends I wouldnt have bet on me writing about this 16 years later.

Now its not like we moved into a mansion. We moved into my dad’s which was set up like a connected duplex. It was a little starter apartment for free which was great because neither of us had any money. My dad absolutely loved her and called her ” a keeper ” and ” his girl” . As the years went on I am pretty sure that he ended up loving her more than me. And my wife loved him.

We have had ups and downs as any relationship over a course of 16 years does., We have had a cat for 15 years and a god-daughter for 7 . No kids of our own yet. We have moved from that first house in San Antonio to a high rise in downtown San Antonio..to Austin and a apartment on the hike and bike trail and now to NYC with a building that has the most amazing views of Manhattan. She has gone to SAC , UTSA and UT . I have held one job for 15 of the 16 years mixed with a ton of extra side jobs in between. She has worked as a substitute teacher , an internet reporter, and accountant and finally student services at UT and now Columbia University . We have attended funerals and baptisms we have laughed and cried and through it all she has filled me with love and happiness at times when I thought the light at the end of the tunnel was just a train coming to hit me. In the end she has shown me what we are all here for …The good times 🙂

And now here we are 16 years later in New York City and looking back on it I would say “kids don’t try this at home….but if you do make sure you find ” a keeper” just like I did.