True Love

I really enjoyed writing my retrospective last week about my good old ex-Duran Duran haired-boyfriend Mike. I thought that I would tell you about my other ex, Steve, but when I really thought about it, there’s no story. He loved me. I loved him. He loved drugs a lot more than he loved me and that was SO not my bag. We were friends for a very long time, through college, and he often told Ed that he’d always love me. Sometimes I wonder if he still does. Our break-up was what ultimately led me to Ed though, so instead, I’ve decided to write about how Ed and I got together.

It was 1994 and I was in 10th grade. I mean, can you even believe it? 10th grade!! And as I mentioned, I had broken up with Steve. Ed and I rode the same bus and I would sit with him on most days for the ride home. I thought he was a really nice guy, but had no romantic interest in him. At the end of the year, I signed his year book and gave him my number—to be honest, I gave everyone my number—and I never really thought anything of it. I was on the phone with my friend Melissa (the same Melissa we just saw in Maine) one night in July and she mentioned that she and Ed and some other people were going to Darien Lake the next day and that I should come. Soon after, Ed called me himself and invited me, so I took up the task of getting permission from my mother.

I’m still not sure how I finagled that one. My mother wasn’t keen on my riding in cars with other teenagers to begin with, so being allowed to go, with an 18-year-old boy, when I was still just 15, did not hold strong prospects. I’m sure that Melissa being reliable and responsible figured in to it somehow. In any case, it was planned, and we left early the next morning.

I can still remember the entire day, vividly. From Jen being melodramatic about having cramps, to begging Melissa to wear her bikini on the waterslides so I wouldn’t be the only one, to going off with Ed to find power rangers crap for our little brothers who were around 5 at the time and Ed being extremely sick from going on all of the rides with me. We hung out at Melissa’s that night, and from that point on, were pretty much inseparable.

I talked to Marisa the next day, and the first thing she said was “You don’t like him, do you??” It wasn’t a question meaning “what would you possibly see in him…” but more of “he is nothing like any person you have EVER gone out with.” She was right, he wasn’t. He was actually a legitimate nice guy. So I vehemently denied any interest in him other than friendship.

We started speaking on the phone for hours every day, to the point where he would even call me from the pay phone at work and I think that was when my mother started to worry. “He is 18 and you are 15!!” she would say. “He’s nothing but a PUNK!” my brother Matt told me. My family changed their minds about him though after he helped us move and they finally got to know him.

I went away with my friend Staci for a week that summer, down to Virginia Beach. Nothing had happened between Ed and me—I knew that I liked him and thought that he liked me, but he had never said anything, so I thought nothing of trolling for guys up and down the boardwalk. We met A LOT of boys. Cute boys. Beach boys. I found myself talking to a boy named Chris one evening and we ended up sitting on the boardwalk, talking about everything under the sun for hours. We made plans to meet up the following evening and as we said goodbye for the last time, he kissed me. Staci will tell you that we stood there making out for hours while she twiddled her thumbs, but that would just be Staci being Staci. In any case, we did meet up the following evening, and more kissing occurred. We parted ways, exchanging phone numbers and addresses, promising to keep in touch. It was totally TRULUV4EVA.

I came home wildly confused. It wasn’t like I was going to carry on a long distance relationship with random Virginia Beach Guy, but if it was so easy for me to fall for him, was there any substance between Ed and me? Chris and I did exchange letters and we spoke on the phone quite a bit. One of his letters said “You were the prettiest girl I met this summer……” He knew about Ed and me and he had a girl named Angela and we both knew nothing more would ever happen between us. (the last I heard from him maybe a year later was that Angela was pregnant and he was experimenting with crack….yeah.)

Near the end of the summer, I stayed with Melissa at her dad’s for about a week. He was hosting a Woodstock party over the weekend, and had ordered it on Pay Per View. Ed was coming and Melissa mandated that I was going to tell him how I felt and see if he felt the same. The goal was to do it after Aerosmith performed. Ed had to work the next morning, but was staying the night, so after Aerosmith, I went down to his car with him to get his alarm clock. This was when everything was supposed to happen, but I—the eternal chicken—couldn’t say anything. It actually kind of sucked. We all went to bed and Ed left around 6:00AM for work.

Melissa called him the next evening and talked with him while I was cleaning up our room. She came in with the phone and handed it to me. “Talk to Ed”, she said. I thought I was going to throw up. I could barely take the phone. I did though, and he asked me to be his girlfriend. The rest is history.

This past August Ed and I were together for 13 years. We were very young when we started dating, but somehow we both knew that we were it for each other. I don’t really think that either of us has wondered what it would be like if we were single at any given point; we really are meant to be together.

I kind of feel like we have a certain advantage over other couples, having grown up together in a sense, we know everything about each other because we’ve experienced it together. Not much else could create a stronger bond.

Thought of the day: Sunday is by far my favorite day of the week. This also means that today, being Monday, sucks.

***Edited to say that Caitlyn wore underwear all weekend!! One small accident early Saturday! She went to daycare in undies today!

We actually had a pretty fabulous weekend from Friday straight through yesterday. I booked home from work on Friday to get Ed and the kids, and we went to see “Bee Movie” which was pretty cute. From there, we went to Toys R Us to buy the kids Power Wheels because they were discounted quite a bit and we figured we’d get them now while they could still use them as opposed to waiting until Christmas when they’d have to sit around for months. We had a quick dinner at Applebee’s and got home around 11:00, with both kids still being wide awake.

Ed worked Saturday morning and the kids slept in until 9:30! Ok, well actually, Eddie was up at 7, but went back to sleep on top of me on the couch until 9:30. In any case it was a bonus for me because I went to bed at my usual time and slept about 2 hours later than usual. I sat around drinking coffee and catching up on my TiVo while the kids played for a few hours and when Ed came home, we started in on the house. He went outside to build the rest of my furniture, and I tore apart the kitchen. Why we have so much Tupperware, I will never know. But I packed it- and half of my baking dishes away in the basement. I tore apart our utensil drawers as well, and now you can actually open and close them without losing a finger. The next kitchen project involves an over-the-range microwave and moving the cabinets that I acquired from my Gramma over to where our coats are now. If we can do this we may be able to accomplish something that is unheard of in our house---eating meals in the kitchen. We ended up in bed pretty early on Saturday sleeping so late stopped the kids from napping.

Ed got up with the kids yesterday morning so I could sleep for a while. I had been fighting a cold all weekend and woke up with 100% no voice. Nothing. (it did come back after a while) Ed made coffee and chocolate chip pancakes and let me just sit and relax, which was really nice. He and the kids went outside while I showered, and when I put Cait in for her nap around noon, Eddie and I went to a craft show at our local fairgrounds. I was hoping to find Christmas ornaments, but I didn’t really like what they had, so we had kettle corn, walked around for a bit, and I took him for lunch before we went grocery shopping. It was really nice to spend time with Eddie alone. So often it’s just Cait and me while Eddie goes off with Ed or FIL, so having a mama’s boy for the day was good for me.

This of course leads us to today where I am sick, and at work. This morning has been horrendous, so I’m hoping for a much better afternoon.