Happy 16th anniversary, Beth. Can you believe that it has been 20 years since we first met at Edmonds Community College? I went through and edited my 50 favorite memories from before our wedding, but thought it would be a lot of fun to write our 50 favorite memories since our wedding together. Should we do that on our date tonight? Love you ounces. Cant wait to see you. Seth. -- 50 memories 1 Even though we wouldn’t realize this until years later, singing in the Washington Middle School All-State Choir together. I was twelve and you were ten. 2 Seeing you for the first time when we joined the Edmonds Community College Concert Choir. You wore striped tights and a black jean mini-skirt. Your outfit screamed, “look at me!” and I obliged. I wore my signature newsie cap on backwards. Oh college. 3 After one of the worst nights of my life, I got pulled over at 1am in the morning and arrested for driving with a two-day expired license. Since I didn’t know anyone in town, I had to randomly call people from our choir contact list. I thought I was calling a different girl when I called you. Can’t believe you said yes to pick me up… 4 Writing a thank-you poem to you for picking me up that night. Trying really hard to be funny… 5 Sitting in the music lounge and having you jump over the coffee table to sit next to me on the couch. You telling me that I was so quiet but that everything I said was really funny, and then asking me to entertain you. I have never met anyone with as much energy as you, and when you focused it all on me, it was the most overwhelming and addicting feeling. 6 You walking into the music lounge and sitting next to me, asking me if I was going to eat the banana on the table in front of me. I said, “no” so you ate it. Around 15 minutes later, another student walked in and said, “hey, who ate my banana?!” The sideways look you gave to me while we tried to act oblivious was awesome. You never asked me if it was mine, only whether I was going to eat it. 7 Going to lunch with you for the first time. You ordered the fried zucchini and then left it in the backseat of my car. I found it weeks later after the smell became unbearable and then brought it back to you in the music lounge to see if you still wanted it. 8 Talking to you about your boyfriend problems with Nika. Listening patiently and wondering how much longer your trainwreck of a relationship with him would last. Subtly letting you know that there could be better things waiting for you in the future… 9 The first time you called me at my apartment and asked what I was doing. You said, I would rather be watching ESPN with you then be where I am right now. 10 Getting lost on the way to a rehearsal in downtown Seattle. Instead of going, we ended up going up the space needle and reading my writings that I just happened to have with me. 11 When we were still just friends going to airport to pick up a school guest. As we waited, we would go to exits right as flight arrivals came in and I would pretend to be exiting the plane, running to you to give a dramatic, swinging embrace. After the bystanders would aww, we would quickly make our way to the next arrival gate. 12 On the ride home, I asked you whether it bothered you that I was so much bigger than you and you responded, no, I think of you as a jungle gym. 13 Sending you a care package of funny items when you were home sick for a week. Coloring books, comic books, and poetry. You know, the essentials. 14 Going on a 10 day road-trip with your jazz singing group, working as a roadie. I remember sitting by you on the bus and you asked me what I wanted for my life. I told you I wanted to get married and have kids and you said, “why would you want to put yourself in a box like that?!” I remember sitting at the sound board and listening to just your mic. Your voice was by far the most beautiful. I bought fuzzy dice at a truck stop for our bus with my poker winnings, just because you thought it would be funny. I remember watching your face from across the bus as you sang with headphones on and for the first time realized I was falling in love with you. 15 On the tour, I fell into a manhole while carrying the soundboard and then, while I was still setting up, was left by the bus as you guys headed out for the night. I remember running out the door, watching the bus drive down the road, so I started running after it without knowing where exactly it was going. I never did catch the bus, but I managed to stay about one block behind it and ran all the way to the hotel. I still remember the splosh my right foot made every step from whatever it was my shoe soaked up in that manhole. When the bus finally made it to the destination, you looked out the window and saw we running up to the bus and said, Hey, its Seth! 16 On the way home, we sat by each other and once it was dark, we held hands for the first time. 17 Our first non-date date. I remember preparing a list of topics to talk about because I was worried you would find out that I was boring. Going to the Sit N Spin in downtown Seattle and playing board games with just you. We played Psychology, the board game, and one of the questions was, “which two players in the game want to get to know each other the most?” We laughed really hard. I still have that game card. 18 Going on a river rafting trip with your group and both us being really sick. We were going to stay on the bus and talk, but an annoying classmate decided to stay with us, so you talked me into going anyway. All the other groups were super competitive and had group cheers/synchronized paddling. We would simply moan, “we are the members of the one-armed…paddlers” and then weakly flail the water with just one hand on our paddle. Our guide pretty much had to do everything himself. 19 Watching “An Coeur En Hiver” (A Heart in Winter) with you at my apartment, a super depressing French film about the heart-wrenching pain of a lost love because we were in college, worldly, and super enlightened. 20 Our first kiss afterwards. You fell asleep after we talked for a while with your head on my shoulder, and I sat on the couch for hours to not disturb you. You left a damp spot on my shoulder from your hair because it was still wet. I remember how good my shirt smelled afterwards… 21 The next day when we awkwardly met at school and realized we could no longer go back to being just flirty friends. 22 The conversation several days later when I told you that I wanted us to be together exclusively. You were still entangled in that other relationship, and you weren’t ready for that. I told you I would wait for you. 23 I remember quickly becoming unstable as I realized that we were not going to be together. You wrote me a letter letting me know that if I waited, it would be for a long, long time. 24 Going into depression as I mentally unraveled over the next month as I watched that stupid “An Coeur En Hiver” movie about twenty times. I remember getting mad and not talking to you, but spending hours waiting for you to show up in the music lounge just so you could see me not talking to you. I remember sleeping on the couch just to remember the evening you slept with your head on my shoulder. I remember getting another girlfriend and having her sit with me in the music lounge just to make you jealous. You didn’t notice. 25 We all had to sing a jazz song at a coffee place as part of our final for the year. As one of the last times I would see you, I waited all day to see when you would show up to sing your song. It was late at night when you finally arrived and you were with Nika. You sang your song and left with him. I went temporarily insane and followed you in my car all the way to his parents’ house. It was absolutely pouring rain and I stood in the driveway for an hour, completely soaked before his sister drove up. She asked me if I needed help (I did!) and I said I was there to see you. You came out and I asked you why you didn’t choose me. I don’t remember your answer but you looked sad. 26 The day I drove away from Edmonds Community College, having transferred back to Whatcom to go back home to Bellingham. You were walking with a friend by the side of the road and I stopped to say “goodbye, beth” out the car window. I drove away thinking I would never see you again. When I got home I went straight to my old room and slept for about three days. My mom knew I was recovering from something exhausting, but didn’t ask what. 27 Six months later, I wrote you my first letter. I spent hours with multiple revisions making it sound as deep and poetic as possible. I waited for weeks to see if you would answer, checking the mailbox every day. I had already decided that if you didn’t reply that I would never write you again, but almost a month later I got a return letter from you. Just seeing your name on the envelope when I checked the mail was enough to knock the wind out of me. It would be impossible to count how many times I reread your response. 28 During that year, I would often imagine packing my car and just leaving. Going anywhere. I always imagined stopping by one last time to see if you would go with me. Later, you would tell me that you would have said yes. 29 Nearly a year and dozens of letters later, my roommate in my downtown seattle apartment asked me about you, because he had seen me receive or write a letter every week. I told him that I hadn’t seen or spoken with you in 18 months, but that we just wrote letters back and forth. He asked how far away you lived and I said about 20 miles north. He told me that this was sick and wrong and that I had to go see you. 30 Two days later I drove to your parent’s house in Everett. I didn’t tell you I was coming because I wanted it to be a surprise. Unfortunately, you weren’t there but your mom invited me in for dinner with your family. She had never seen me, but when I knocked on the door she asked if I was the Seth from all the letters. I stayed for hours telling stories and playing cards with your younger sister. Your dad nearly busted a gut when I told him my wedgie story after going down the freefall waterslide. When I left I told your mom to let you know I stopped by. 31 The next day I got to work and found a letter from you sitting on my chair. Apparently after a year and half of not seeing or talking to each other, we had each gone looking for each other and crossed paths on the same night. While I had been at your parents’ house, you had found the place where I was interning and got the security guard to let you into the office to leave me a letter. In it you said that I should soon “call you or whatever”. The day that we crossed paths was August 29th, 1996, eighteen years ago today. 32 Two days later, when we got together for the first time in nearly two years, you touched my forearm in the car while telling me how sorry you were for how it ended the first time. I don’t remember any of the words you said, but I can still feel the electric burn marks on my arm from where your fingers touched me. We went to Red Robin by the pier and our waiter kept thinking that I was related to Chris O’Donnell. I called my mom that night and told her that I just went on my first date with the girl I would spend the rest of my life with. She told me, ‘I’m sure you feel that way, Seth’. 33 Not sleeping and barely eating for weeks as I spent every possible minute with you. About a week after we were together, you told me you loved me and I sat in stunned silence. You said, “I understand if you’re not ready to say it back yet.” 34 At my house, you wanted to go through my memory box. You found a letter that I had written to my future wife when I was 15. It was in a card that read, If I could go back to the time before we met, I know Id spend the rest of my life looking for you. After you read it, you asked me if you could have it. 35 We got a shared checking account about six weeks after we got together. Our reasoning was that we had less than $50 between us. 36 Going to your church with you and meeting your extended family. They knew immediately that we would be together. Meeting an older couple there who still flirted and played with each other and you and I looking at each other, saying we knew that this is what we would be like. 37 One day you said, “I love you tons” and I responded, “I love you ounces”. We called each other tons & ounces for a while after that. 38 Bringing you mud pie blizzards in the middle of your workday just to bring you a treat in front of your coworkers. 39 Two days before Christmas and just under four month of being together, driving you to your church at night, taking alley roads like I was trying to get to the freeway and you getting really frustrated with me. When we pulled up to the church and I got out of the car, you suddenly got completely silent (doesn’t happen very often). I had the keys and we went inside and I had set up on the stage a couple chairs. I read five journal entries written at different points over the past couple years, all written to my future wife. The last entry was dated December 23rd, 1996 (that day), where it read that I no longer needed to journal letters to a future wife, not when she was sitting in front of me now. I asked you to marry me and you said yes. We did have one random interruption in the middle of my proposal when the drummer from team walked onto the set and asked if anyone else was there. I said ‘no’ and he walked right between us, with you of course crying your eyes out. He looked around for a second and then walked back between us and left saying ‘see ya’. That guy cracked me up. 40 I remember having straight A’s in college the year we were apart and then barely finishing school once we got together. I don’t remember doing anything else than being with you that year. 41 We went to Leavenworth and you bought me a tree cutting hat. 42 That winter, we had a freak snowstorm in Bellingham where we had over 3 feet of snow in one day. That entire weekend we were snowed in at my parents’ house and we just snuggled on the couch. I remember my parents not even knowing you were on the couch because you would disappear between the cushions and me. J 43 We made an epic snow monster in the backyard with 2-3 feet icicle teeth. We took pictures of the snow monster eating you. 44 Singing our first duet at church. I was intimidated to sing with you. You always make it look so easy to sound so perfect. 45 We were on the phone late at night and neither of us would hang up first (I know. Gag!). You said it would be easier if you had a goodnight kiss. After I hung up, I drove over an hour to see you, throw rocks at your window to wake you up, just so I could give you a goodnight kiss before driving back home. 46 For one set of engagement photos, we looted through the backroom of the photography place to find all of the old set items from the 1970’s. We pulled out the old carpet, you wore a girl bonnet and fuzzy scarf and I put on a kids fireman helmet. We did our best toddler smiles and used this as the engagement photo for the newspaper. 47 After church, you were talking to your mother and I came up and put my arms around your waist. Your mom gave me a strange look but I just waited for you to finish. Then I saw you walk up and realized I was holding your younger sister. Awkward! 48 Our wedding was so us. It felt joyous and people seemed to be at ease in the informal atmosphere. I remember it more like a family picnic with my closest friends than a formal event. All of the groomsmen simply wore their best suits, whether it was brown, blue, or black. It was a gorgeous August day. We had great food and music. Even when a plane flew over and we had to wait for it to pass we just laughed it off. The eerie music played because the cellist was in the wrong key was great because we would laugh about that for years. You looked so perfect in your dress. 49 At our wedding reception, I sang ‘It Had to Be You’ with a big band. It is still the only time I have ever done that and it has always been a dream of mine to do it again. 50 At our reception, I first referred to you as my ‘better third’. I still call you that. --
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 18:51:35 +0000
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