The Story of Us–Chapter 3

So, back to the day I cut him off,
It took a few weeks, but my mom and I remembered something very interesting about that psychologist’s driveway.
When she used to drive me to my therapy appointments, there was always this cute older guy from my school who went in before me.
He drove a white car with a very distinctive bumper sticker.
I would always try to duck in the passenger seat of my mom’s car so that he wouldn’t see me waiting there, as I was mortified to be waiting in that car in that driveway.
Guess who that guy with the white car with bumper sticker was?
You’re right.
The husband.
But, besides going to all of the same schools until we were 18,
Our paths crossed in even more personal ways than just ducking in that driveway.
You see, we grew up one street apart.
And because of this, despite our nearly four year age difference,
We share so many of the same childhood memories.
The same mailman,
The same ice cream truck,
The same neighbors,
The same hours spent in the park next to our houses.
We probably sat on the same merry-go-round so many times as children that it would be impossible to count.
In fact, when my husband first came to my parents’ house to meet the family, he also met our three dogs. When I told him that our oldest dog, at nearly 15 years old, was named Lucy, he looked like he had been hit with a ton of bricks.
This is Lucy?? I can’t believe it.”
You see, our precious Lucy, our feisty, spirited, sweet, yet naughty Border Terrier, had a tendency to run away, galloping around the neighborhood for hours before we could track her down.
My sister and I would comb the streets, calling “LUUUUUCCCY, LUUUUUCCY!” To try to coax her into coming home to us.
Well, can you guess whose yard Lucy would run to?
You guessed it.
The husband’s, less than a couple hundred feet away.
As I spent so much of my childhood chasing after our precious puppy
(now do you see why I needed to go to therapy? Those hours were the worst),
He spent so much of his childhood hearing these little girls calling for someone named Lucy.  He had always figured it was another little girl, and was relieved to have that mystery solved after so many years.
I could go on and on, but our story began in so many places,
And has gone to so many places since.
We dated, fell deeply in love,
And only 8 months later, he proposed to me over breakfast in bed on vacation in St. John.
You see? It’s always about the food with us. But that story is a chapter in and of itself,
And I’ll save it for another day,
A day when we could all use a little romance.
So, for now,
I think I will settle with allowing our story to continue to write itself,
And continue to keep you guessing,
Just a bit.
I will tell you that we have found a seemingly endless supply of these crazy connections.
Like the fact that I went to overnight camp with my husband’s lifelong best friend,
And that this friend’s mom was my division leader.
You know, the woman that had to spend hours consoling me
As I cried with fits of homesickness
(a fact that I am sure comes a huge shock to you).
I bet she never dreamed she’d be dancing at this little cry baby’s wedding to her son’s BFF.
Or, how a cousin of my husband’s wrote on her wedding RSVP response card,
Yes, the wedding RSVP response card,
saying, “I don’t know if you know this, but you two are actually distant cousins because of blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.”
Just the kind of news any bride and groom want to hear three weeks before their nuptials.
Don’t worry,
we researched this.
Thoroughly.
It was just some thrice removed BY MARRIAGE something or other.
By the way, I am happy to report that our baby’s feet are not webbed.
Many chapters, years, milestones and now, a baby later,
The story just keeps getting better and better,
As the binding of our book grows stronger and sturdier.
There have been some wonderful chapters,
Some intense chapters,
Some chapters that I would love to read over and over,
And some I don’t wish to revisit ever again,
But, in all, I’m sure that our own love story will go down as one of the great classics,
As our own stars aligned to bring us together,
Even though we didn’t have very far to travel, after all.
It has been fun to turn back the pages to revisit the beginning of our story,
But I can’t wait to look ahead,
To continue writing,
And living
And loving,
Our story.
The story of us.

By Tuesday, July 6, 2010 1 No tags Permalink
1 Comment
  • Dayna
    July 6, 2010

    That was so beautiful! Honestly a wonderful way to word a wonderful story.

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