storm

the kiss | love story III

You there. Yes, you. Are you new here? Welcome! May I suggest that you check out part one and two of our story before you venture further?

Read them both? You ready to go? Okay, here it is…

A storm was coming. It was one of those east coast storms that you could feel deep down in your soul. The air was thick, humid. Everything was tense. We had been waiting for days, and it still hadn’t come.

It was Monday, lecture day. At Hallmark, this was either wonderful, or excruciatingly boring.  I don’t remember who’s idea it was to skip, all I know was that nothing seemed worse than spending eight hours being lectured about photo competitions. So, we grabbed our things and left.

We picked up some coffee, and drove with one purpose in mind: to get lost. And lost, we got.

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Somewhere off MA Highway 2, we pulled over and got out of the car. We had found a beautiful old farm (actually two, one on each side of the road). So, we went a-trespassin’ on some unsuspecting farmer’s property.

There we were, wandering about and photographing everything we laid eyes on. That’s what you do when you’re in photo school, after all.

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Suddenly, without warning, there it was. The storm, in all its glory, began to pour down upon us.

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(No, I'm not a hunchback, that's my camera. We protect our equipment at all costs.) 

There was something magical about this storm. We both love the rain, we were in our element. We crossed the road, and wandered through a graveyard. A rather sobering experience, you know, visiting a graveyard in the pouring rain with a boy you’re having a fling with.

(Did I mention that’s what Drew was to me at first? I had no intention of starting a serious relationship during the last month of school. He knew right from the start that we were meant to be.)

We continued to explore the property and began poking through an old barn next to the graveyard. We paused a moment, and Drew came up behind and put his arms around me, holding me close. Everything was perfect, in that moment. I felt so safe and secure in his arms. It was probably the most romantic, fairytale set up for a first kiss, ever. New England countryside, rain pouring down, old barn…

Come on. Disney couldn’t top that.

Suddenly, the door to the house opened, and the owner came out onto his porch We froze. This ain’t Seabeck, (where people chase you off their property wielding shotguns), but we figured he wouldn’t take kindly to us tromping around in his barn. Our concern was needless. First off, this guy was probably about four hundred years old. We watched, transfixed, as he made his way to the car. It was parked about 10 feet from the door, but I kid you not when I say it took him 10 minutes to get there. This man gave a whole new meaning to the word “deliberation.”

There we stood, entwined, living out some ridiculous romance novel’s dream come true and watching, transfixed, as this fine gentleman inched his way closer and closer to the car.  At long last, he made it, climbed in, and sat. Rolled down his window. Adjusted his mirror. Sat for another moment. Adjusted the mirror again. Again. Finally, he was gone.

Here, we reach the pivotal point in the story. The climax, if you will.

I turned around.

Let me repeat that.

I TURNED AROUND.

Now, I’m not the queen of body language, but I’d at least rank up there with the ladies-in-waiting. I’ve studied the complex psychology of the human mind enough to know that when a girl turns around and puts her face about 2 inches from a guy’s, it usually means something like “Hey. It’s cool if you kiss me. I guess. Ya know, whatevs.”

The pause. Oh, the long pause.

(This would be the part in the black and white movie where the girl cries out “KISS ME, YOU FOOL!”)

What did he do?

Nothing.

Two days later, on Cinco de Mayo, we drank too much tequila, he fell over the arm of a couch and kissed me by mistake.

True story.

[…]

Stay tuned for the part I like to call “Hey, stranger! Want to drive 3,000 across the county with me?”

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broken hands and lots of snow

Oh, the great snowstorm of '12. It's really quite entertaining, watching Pacific Northwesterners react to this much snow. They act like they've never seen it before, even though (surprise surprise) it actually happens every year. Maybe not to this degree, but it still happens. We hit some snowfall records this time around, just for our small corner of the country. Best part of all? Getting to experience it all with my insanely giddy, hyped up Phoenician fiancé.

A few hours (okay, that's wishful thinking, it was about 30 minutes) into our first snow outing...

(think:: sketchy sleds, snowboards, and a very steep road)...

while I was busy running back to the house, getting my camera, and meandering back down the driveway, taking photos...

drew does this to his hand: so we went to the hospital, where it is confirmed that he has broken his fifth metacarpal clean through. So they gave him some pain meds and a "room" in the hallway... ... and two nurses and an orderly tried very hard to set the bone, but it wouldn't stay in place. So they told him he has to get surgery to place the bone properly, to take place the next week.

[Fast forward, surgery is finished and all is well. He has a fantastically enormous wrap thing around his hand to keep it from moving. We're hoping for a cast on Friday.]