Primal Feet First: In Search of Lost Time or Remembrance of Things Past page 18

[Finnegans Wake]

"We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold..."

And this begins the trip to the Spearmint Rhino. We can take in the sheriffs' convention and the Mint 400.

[cori93437]

I actually want to move to Panama.
People think I'm nuts...
I know I'm the only one who is sane!
Not Panama City, Panama either... some little seaside village a few hours away.
I have to sort out my health issues though before it's a possibility.
And learn better Spanish.

"We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold..."

And this begins the trip to the Spearmint Rhino. We can take in the sheriffs' convention and the Mint 400.

Fear and Loathing FTW!

[Finnegans Wake]

I've actually heard that Panama is becoming a great place to retire to.

[justyouraveragecavemen]

Good God man! Bats are everywhere!

[namelesswonder]

The Raven's Perch

bewbs for you

[cori93437]

The Raven's Perch

bewbs for you

Lawls... so perfect!

[naiadknight]

Oh, c'mon, it's always O-pun season. You might even say that I create word jokes for the pun of it.
(Punny family, couldn't resist.)

I dunno about Panama, never been there.

[cori93437]

Hubby might not be good at reefs, but I was reading his reaction and thinking "Wow- that's the way it should be. Her pain is his. That's love."

I've been thinking about this since the other day.
I agree.
He isn't good at so many things that some other girl might want from a man... romance, talking about feelings, being sensitive. I'm pretty sure it could be a very long list if I tried.
However, I'm not most girls.
I have an intense dislike of romance, talking too much about feelings, and being overly sensitive (grow some balls already!).
So we really work.

He and I met because we worked together in the same squadron in the USAF, and we were both sidelined because of injury so we got sloshed together a lot for a few months.
We chatted pretty much every day... he made me laugh, but I never even considered dating him because he just wasn't my type.
When he first asked me out I quite literally laughed right out loud, and shook my head, and walked away.
To his credit he never got all serious when asking... it was always with a grin.
A little while later he asked again, and then again, and again.
My 'no' answer was less than convincing I guess because the next day I would be right back chatting again.
Never trying to lead him on or give him the wrong idea, but just not being serious and not taking him serious.
I mostly kind of felt like we were both just being ridiculous, especially him for asking in the first place.
At one point I told him very plainly, "You don't want to go out with me, I've got some serious problems going on."
You see, I was still being stalked by an extremely violent ex.
But that didn't deter him... the next week he asked me "So, when are you going to take me to a hockey game...?"
And I caved. I laughed and I thought "maybe it's time I switched this 'type' thing around anyway, and I caved.
What? There was a hockey game at stake!

So... we went to a hockey game, and had fun!
Right up front he told me "If you are going to expect me to open doors and stuff, you are going to have a bad night. I don't do that stuff"
And I thought... "Cool... he's honest. I can work with that."
Then we went to a place for beer and wings, which are NOM, and made me happy because it wasn't formal date food, and hell of hells we ran into the smarmiest loudest mouthed co-worker we could have possibly run into.
OH NOES>>> dating in squadron is BAD!!! Seriously bad...
I was a little worried about how it would play out but it was going so well that I let caution go with the wind.
It wasn't like a "date", but more like hanging out with a friend.
And then after we left he kissed me... really kissed me.
Yep, the boy had SKILLS.
We've been together since then... how romantic!

Truth be told we were both damaged goods.
He was recovering from a fiance cheating rampantly while he was TDY... wedding invitations sent and everything (Yes, she was planning a wedding and sleeping with other guys at the same time, which was HIS fault for not being home. Nice girl. )
And I was recovering from years of abuse from family and from my ex partner.
There were days when I would be at his house and he would just say "I really don't want to hang out today" and I was OK with that.
I had those days too.
We managed to acknowledge that we "liked" each other about 3-4 months in... and that was enough said.
During that time my ex continued to stalk for a while, and tried to run us off the road once.
And I was diagnosed with RSD/CRPS and was having a lot of issues with pain and function.
He had to have surgery on his knee.
After being together about a year he was sent away to OK to crosstrain for a different job in the USAF, and the procss was begun to medically discharge me since there was no cure for my problem.
He never actually asked me to marry him... but we knew we were doing it.
He showed up for Christmas at my parents house and on Jan 1st of 1999 we were married...
The night before the wedding I asked him while we were laying in bed together "So, are you going to ask me?", and he said "Ask you what?"
On Jan 3rd he had to drive back to OK.

A few months later we packed everything we both owned into a truck, put his mustang on a trailer behind it, and started our first big adventure by moving to Lompoc CA (Vandenburg AFB).
A place about as far from family and friends as possible in the US.
I spent most of the first year of our marriage in so much pain that we couldn't have sex without causing me to cry.
I took a ton of narcotics, submitted to procedures, and had 3 surgeries that year to get my neurostims situated.

Somehow we beat terrible odds.
I had already been divorced, I brought a child from a previous relationship to ours, he had nearly had to have one plus he came from a multiple divorce home, and I had a chronic illness (a whopping 75% divorce rate just for that alone... with men more likely to leave sick partners than women).
Sometimes it baffles me that we are still together, and happy, and even LIKE each other after almost 15 years.
But evidently the stars aligned and we both found the right person that day.
You're right, he doesn't show it on the surface, he doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve, but he loves me so much that my pain is his pain and my sadness is his sadness.
The few times I've seen him cry in all of these years have been for my suffering.
And I roll with the punches, I don't want him to be able to see my pain so much that it hurts him.
I want nothing more than for him to be happy.
I hope that we can still be quietly doing these things in another 15 years.
No fanfare, no shouting from rooftops... just a couple of people in love.
I make no secret of the fact that I honestly believe that he is my ONE shot at the real thing.

Now for utter sappiness...
This song was played at our wedding... which was held in an antebellum Bed & Breakfast on the Cumberland River in Stewart County, Tennessee, which is near, and was of some importance to the battle of, Fort Donalson Nat'l battlefield (which we lost... stupid local history).
The B&B no longer stands, it was lost to fire several years ago... which makes me sad because I wanted to go back, and because it was a beautiful piece if history.



It took me a few tries to get this right... and there is flash glare... and my phone didn't want to upload it for some crazy reason so more ties for that... but... wedding photo!

OK... not happening tonight.
I suck.
Phone won't upload to FB for some reason...
And I tried to mail it but that is failing too...
Grrrrr...
Maybe I'll figure it out and replace all of this with the photo.
But for now I'm sick of it!
I've uploaded lots of pics and now suddenly 'too big'... bah!

Today I suck less... or at least the planet and atmosphere and the silly satellites that relay this stuff do.
I checked my email at about 2pm to find emails with files containing the pic... that weren't there last night even an hour or two after I hit send. Derp!
So....


Believe it or not this was during the day... it was cold as F*... and there were snow flurries.
I think that the low light made for lovely photos though.
(Pay no attention to the flash glare in the center... yes I took a pic of a pic with my phone!
I HATE the scanner.)

[justyouraveragecavemen]

What a story. The wife and me have a pretty lame story.
Vince Gill should be regulated to back-up singer. All songs with him as a back-up are great, or he could go back to Pure Prairie League, his choice.

[drssgchic]

Don't you dare replace the story with just a picture! Sure they're worth a thousand words and all- but words are interesting, too!

That's a fantastic story, and it sounds like you both lucked out in the end. I do like some surface things- occasional flowers or whatever- but if the depth isn't there, then what's the point of the surface? And it sounds like he's got depth in spades.

I like "how we met" stories. Particularly good ones