10 years, TEN YEARS, X years,IIIIIIIIII YEARS. Joe has actually put up with me for 10 years of marriage. Honestly, they have been 10 pretty easy years relatively free of conflict and turmoil. Anyone that says their marriage is perfect is a big fat liar, but as far as marriage goes mine is pretty perfect for me. Joe knows how not to push my buttons. That is a good skill to have since once my button is pushed it's hard to shut it off. I will definitely admit that I am the more emotional of the two of us. Joe tends to keep things in, but when he does blow it's not a pretty sight. Since most people have never seen that side of him it's kind of shocking if they happen to witness it. I find it a little funny because he's not very good at being mad. His normal demeanor and being mad just don't go together. It's like watching a newborn calf walk for the first time.
Joe and I met when I started working at the Rehab Hospital right after I graduated from nursing school. He would do rounds at the hospital and he was always so nice to me and and all of the staff (not like a lot of the doctors that think they are above everyone). Whenever he showed up I always tried to make sure I made myself available in case he needed anything. We bonded one day discussing some patients scrotum. (To some people that may seem weird, but to medical people it's totally a normal conversation).
One day I was at my med cart with a couple of other nurses. Joe was alone in the dictation room. I told my fellow nurses I was going to ask him out. None of us knew if he was married or not. I tried to do research but apparently Joe was a pretty private person because no one seemed to have any scoop. I got up my nerve and walked straight in to the dictation room. I asked him out, he gave me his answer, I went back to my med cart. My fellow nurses stood there with mouths open; not believing I really did it. "What did he say????" "He said no." "Oh my gosh, really?" "He said he was flattered but he has a girlfriend."
I was disappointed, but I thought it was really noble of him to not betray his girlfriend. It was also liberating to be the one asking for a date instead of the one only going out with the idiots that were asking me. I had recently dated a guy that I ended up having to get a restraining order on. Obviously the story does not end there.
I started dating a guy that I knew from high school. I think I figured he would be safe since I'd known him a long time. They used to call him "lyin Brian". I knew about that nickname, but for some reason I ignored the implications. He truly was the biggest liar that I had ever met. He would lie about stuff that didn't even need to be lied about. In the beginning I ignored it. I knew in the back of my mind that this guy was bad for me, but I hung in there for 10 months. Thank God I had the strength and sense to kick him to the curb. During those 10 months I had switched jobs and was now working at Parkview in the Surgical Trauma Intensive Care.
I didn't have the opportunity to see Joe anymore since I now worked on the other side of town and honestly I hadn't really thought about it anymore. One day I was in a room with a patient and I see Joe walk by the door. I called out to him, but he didn't hear me (little did I know that him not hearing me would become a pattern). I came out of the room and hollered at him down the hall. He and everyone else heard me and he turned around. We chatted for a moment and he says: "remember a while back you asked me out?" "Yah". "Are you still interested?" "Sure." I gave him my phone number.
Two weeks later he finally calls me (knowing him now, I am sure he over thought that decision for those two weeks. He doesn't do things spur of the moment). We finally went on our first date (which discussing it with Joe now, neither of us remember. We're pretty sure that it was dinner and a movie). When he came to my house to pick me up Amanda answered the door. Amanda would have been about 14. She came upstairs to get me and says: "there is a grandpa at the door." Hilarious! The rest is history.
I found out later that he was actually looking for me at Parkview that day. It wasn't a chance meeting. That sly dog!
So Happy Anniversary to us! And here's to many more, CHEERS!
2 comments:
Nice story I hadn't heard it before. Its a little like the story of Robbie and me when we first met. I found out later that my fate was sealed and as they say the rest is history. But I'm loving every minute of it.
And, I still remember what you were wearing. That blue spring dress with white poka dots. And you had curlers in your hair when he got to our house. Then I felt bad cause I thought he might have heard me call him a grandpa. But now I can honestly say I'm pretty sure he didnt! haha. Is that creepy that I remember that? Actually I remember more details than that, but at the risk of sounding pretty strange I will just keep them to myself!
Happy 10 years! 10 years has gotta equal some kind of new expensive jewery, right?!
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