Mike and Me

While Jacob watches Cat in the Hat, I figured I would post me and Mike's "how we met" story.  Most people who read this already know it, but I thought it would be fun to record for posterity ;) Warning, this is a long one.

It was October 1997.  My best friend at the time, Molly, was dating a kid named Jason.  He had twin brothers that would be visiting CT soon, and both of them thought that Mike would just be perfect for me. I was a freshman at UMASS, and still painfully, awkwardly shy.  I had never dated anyone- heck, I hadn't even kissed anyone yet.  The idea terrified me!  However, I said fine, and planned to go to CT for the weekend of Halloween.

I remember a lot about meeting them.  Mike was wearing a long black trench coat, and cowboy boots.  I think we were at Jason's apartment when they introduced us.  Someone was cooking macaroni and cheese.  We didn't talk much.  I just listened, and watched.  Mike was quiet.  Shaye was boisterous.  I remember Jason's cat liked Mike, and that Mike spent a long time patting it, and that I thought that was a good sign.  I remember being completely entranced by his hands.  They were big and strong, but very gentle.  Molly and I had to head home, but we set up a time to meet again the next day.

We chatted a bit more the next day.  I asked him about all the scars on his hand, and told him I thought a person's hands said a lot about their character. (I really said that, I swear).  All the brothers came to Molly's parents house for dinner, and I remember not being able to eat a single thing on my plate because I was so nervous.  I wrote a journal entry at Molly's that night "I want to get to know this man, I want to help him quit smoking and go to college, but I am afraid I might be a bit too harsh for him" (lol).  He was very sweet all weekend, and we ended the weekend with a talk outside Molly and Jason's art class.  He basically told me that I was a really nice girl, and he liked me, but that he was working 2 jobs and didn't have time to put into a "relationship".  That's not really what he was looking for (anyone else read between the lines, here?).  I agreed, and we both thought we'd run into each other again sometime soon.

Life went on, and I heard about Mike through the grapevine, but we didn't cross paths again until the summer of 1998.  Molly and I went up for 4th of July.  I went to the drive through with Mike, but he spent his time flitting between me and 3 other girls he thought he might have a shot at (no joke, it was crazy).  Then we went to a house party where I consumed a ridiculous amount of adult beverages (drowning my sorrows b/c Mike was clearly not interested in me) and tried to hook up with his cousin in the driveway.  Who comes running out of the house to stop us?  Mike.  He takes me aside and tells me that I am too nice to get involved with his cousin, and tells his cousin to leave me alone.  I remember thinking, "oh, he does like me!"...and then he ran off to tend to his other options.  I ended up puking next to a dog in a bush all night, and for the record, Mike ended up with nothing that night.

It gets fuzzy here, but I think despite all that, we exchange numbers, and make a plan for him to bring me to the Brockton Fair, because at this point he had moved in with his aunt and uncle in Wareham, MA.  He picks me up, we go with his "other" cousins and we have a great time.  I end up going back to Wareham with him that night, and stay on the couch upstairs in the living room, while he plays video games in the basement with his cousins.  Again, I swear I am not joking.  This literally happened.  I remember being upstairs wondering what the hell I was supposed to do.  I didn't want to just sashay myself down there...an invitation would have been nice.  But, I digress.  He brings me home, and we have our first sweet kiss in the barn where I had brought him to see my horse Lucy and her baby Raven.  He promises to call.  And then he doesn't.  Ever.  I called him twice, but he never returned my calls.  I'm serious.

Fast forward to July 1999.  Again, Molly and I head up for 4th of July to the Mountain in Vermont.  Mike had recently broken up with his girlfriend, and by this time in my life, the whole Mike situation was really an amusing saga.  He apologizes for never calling me- I think I asked if he was busy for an entire year, or something along those lines...and we move on amicably.  That night at the bonfire, he actively comes over and sits next to me (over his ex-girlfriend, who of course, was also there) and the next day, we all go tubing down a river.  We talk the whole time, and by the end, are holding hands.  When I leave VT this time, I know in my heart that I will be seeing him much more frequently.  We see each other almost every weekend that summer, and I leave for my last semester at UMASS.  We've been together through hell, good times, total insanity, heartbreak, loss, despair, confusion, and everything else in between since then.  We've matured as a couple and learned a lot.  We still have our flaws, and when we are angry with each other we can still cause the earth to rumble, but we've mellowed with age and security.  I'd like to think that when we are happy with one another, the earth is a sweeter place ;p

Thats the start of our story.  We've known each other for 15 years this year, which is completely and totally crazy to think about.  We've been together for 13.  We know each other so well, and yet when it suits us, we both deny that the other knows us at all!  LOL.  It's amazing to think of all we have shared, and all we have been through.  There were times I think neither of us were certain where we'd end up, or if we'd be together.  I have no qualms in admitting that there were times I thought of leaving.  I don't think it means we have less of a relationship, or that we aren't meant to be together because there were times we doubted it.  We were so young, and to be honest, we were really each others first deep, serious, relationship.  We had no idea what we were doing.  We still don't know what we're doing sometimes.  But now we can pull it off together.  Because we always have.  Because we always will.  It's what we do together.  We make things work.  We love, and when we "don't", we know we will again.

As the final ending- my friend Molly and Jason are no longer.  Clearly they were only together so that fate would lead me and Mike to each other! Jason is now, of course, my brother in law- and he's married to a pretty awesome gal ;p