Anniversary-Monday Memory

I remember 11 years ago, standing next to the man I love and saying "I do."

Saturday we celebrated by going to the Bourbon Steak Restaurant. Wow, what a lovely evening. We sat on the patio and the weather could not have been better. Tarzan had steak, I had lobster pot pie (2 lb lobster in a pot pie) yum. It was expensive, but worth every bite, every minute and every year of celebration. We talked it over and we like being married to each other.

Kinda nice, don't you think?

Feel the Love Day 7

What is our favorite thing to do as a couple?

Hmmmm, hmmmm, hmmmm, hmmmm. Let's see. Ummmmmm. Gee whiz. What do I put here?

It doesn't matter what I think of to put here we like to do it together. :-).

Feel the Love Day 6

What does Tarzan do that surprises you?

Tarzan is not big on holidays. He has difficulty giving a gift because somebody said he had too (Hallmark). He surprises me with gifts on OFF holidays. He surprises me even more with gifts ON holidays.

He will vacuum and rearrange the furniture if I am gone all day.

He calls me to tell me something funny.

He tells me he loves me when I least expect it.

He calls me and asks me to get tickets to the theater.

I especially love it when he calls and says, "Let's go out tonight, just the two of us, I need to have you all to myself." After ten years, he hasn't had enough of me?

And then the most special of all is occasionally, when we wake up on my birthday, he tells me in great detail how lucky he is to have me and how glad he is that God sent me to him.

Feel the Love Day 5

Where are some of Tarzan's hidden talents?

Tarzan is:

• a great cook
• a genius with little children
• always able to make me laugh
• good at getting people to lighten up
• softhearted
• good at handling a tractor
• interested in what you have to say
• a good storyteller
• a good business partner
• good at surprises
• fantastic at grocery shopping
• a news fanatic

Feel the Love Day 4

How long was the engagement?

Less than one year. See Feel the Love Day 3
I kept waiting for a ring, but instead I got earrings. You can't say Tarzan is not creative.

How long have we been married?

10 Years on April 10th this year.

We got married "before the turn of the century." I love the way that sounds. I feel so retro, so antique, so old school. I wonder if the year 2100 will have people looking back and saying -- "Things were much simpler then." or will they be saying "How in the world did they survive without an implanted flux-capacitor?"

Feel the Love Day 3

How did Tarzan propose?

I was proposed to twice. I accepted both times :-).

The first time, we were cleaning out my playroom closet. We were both up to our eyeballs in dust and boxes and he said, "Hey, will you marry me?" I said "Yes" and we finished cleaning out the closet. That was sort of his way of putting me on hold while he went off doing his own thing.

The second time, he was in Milwaukee being an Engineer on a train. His run was between Milwaukee and Chicago. It was January. He was on a particularly long train, about 2 miles long. It had been snowing like crazy and someone pulled an air-something-or-other and alarms went off on the engineer's panel. It was his job to find the problem and fix it.

He got off the train and the snow was waist deep. He walked the entire length of the train and when he got to the end, he was so cold, he couldn't even feel his hands. He then had to walk all the way back to the engine and off they went.

When he got to Chicago, he checked into a hotel for the night, called me on the phone and told me the story. He then said, "What do you say -- I come home and we get married? It's awfully cold here." I said, "Okay."

He came home a month later. We were married one month after that.

Feel the Love Day 2

How long did you date?

We met in 1995 and married in 1999. Most of our dating was done long distance. Tarzan lived in California, where he remodeled a house; Kansas, where he went to railroad school and became an Engineer; and Wisconsin where he was an Engineer for the Soo Line Railroad, during our dating years. We didn't have access to cheap cell phone bills then and we each sported a phone bill around $400 a month. We still communicate best over the phone.

While we dated, we tried to break up with each other several times. My favorite is the time he drove me 2 hours away into the mountains to break up with me. What was he thinking? The mountains would be a more romantic place to break the news? Break up with a woman and then ride in the car with a angry female for 2 hours. I don't think so. He couldn't do it so he was saved from his stupid move. When I realized the purpose of the trip, I said, "Did you really bring me up here to break up with me?" He got that cute smile he flashes and admitted that he had, but he couldn't do it because we were having so much fun.

The best date was once he told me to get all dressed up and then he took me to Circle K for dinner. We sat on the cement blocks by the gas tanks and ate. He got me TWO hot dogs a drink and chips. Then we went up on Lookout Mountain and kissed, looked at the lights and did a lot of people watching.

Feel the Love Day 1

I am jumping on the bandwagon, because I love the music they are playing :-).

How did Tarzan and I meet?
I was working for a law firm and had a friend who was working at the same law firm, she lived way north of me, we only socialized during work hours because of distance. Tarzan worked at MCI and had a friend, she lived way up north of him, they only socialized during work hours because of distance.

My friend and Tarzan's friend lived in the same apartment complex. One day they were both in the parking lot at the same time and they met. They were instant friends and went to Tarzan's friend's apartment to visit. While they were there, Tarzan call his friend and said, "Hey, I just broke up with my girlfriend and I need someone to date." His friend turned to my friend and said, "You want to date Tarzan, he's a good friend of mine?" My friend said, "No, I don't date black men, but I know someone who might want to date him." She knew I didn't have a problem with race.

They gave him my phone number and he called me---and he called me---and he called me for over a week, we talked on the phone. At first, I was a little put off, because he ask very direct and personal questions that I was not comfortable answering and I told him so. "I don't think we know each other well enough to share that kind of information."

Finally, I told Tarzan that either we needed to meet or quit wasting our time talking on the phone. He agreed to meet me at McKinna's. We agreed what each would wear (he lied) and a time and date to meet. I didn't want him coming to my home until I met him personally, the world is full of weirdos, you know.

I showed up looking mighty hot, I must say. I stood by the door and waited. Soon, a black man walked up to me (not wearing what he had said he would wear because if I was a dog, he was going to just not say anything and leave) and asked who I was waiting for. I said, "Are you Tarzan?" He replied, "No, I'm not, but if I was, I sure wouldn't leave someone as fine as you standing here waiting" AND WALKED OFF.

He went back to the bar where he had been watching for me. The man he was visiting with asked if I was his blind date and he said that I was. The man at the bar said, "Man when I have a blind date, she always turns out to be a dog. You better go over there before she leaves."

Here our stories differ slightly, however, this part we both agree on. When he returned, I doubted his truthfulness and he offered to show me his driver's license. I didn't have my glasses on -- he could have been Jack the Ripper and I wouldn't have been able to tell. We had a short evening and he was going to leave, when I said, "That's it? No dinner, no movie, nothing, just hello, a drink and goodbye?" He said, "Well, I guess I could take you out to eat." He did and the evening was very enjoyable--dinner sealed my fate, I chose a small hole-in-the wall restaurant instead of an big, expensive, fancy place. He was in love.

And that is how we met fourteen years ago.

April 10th

Today is my ninth anniversary. I called Tarzan in the middle of our busy day and said, “I just called to say--happy anniversary.”

“Same to you. How many years now?”

While Tarzan went through the process of figuring out how many years it had been I relieved the pressure and said, “Nine years.”

“How are you feeling about our future?”

“I can’t wait to find out what will happen next.”

I could hear the smile in Tarzan’s voice as he said, “Me too.”