Do you ever have those moments of clarity when you think, "I just LOVE the heck out of that guy"? Moments when you know it's the little things that matter, not the material stuff, but the sweet inside joke moments. Moments when you know you're truly MFEO? That was today, at Costco.
We wandered through the small front section together, spotted a rug display, and decided independently that we both would pick THAT one, and kinda didn't like any of the others. It was indoor/outdoor, but we didn't have a place for it inside, and if we put it outside, Spot would just pee on it. So... didn't need it, didn't get it.
He found a couple of button-up shirts he liked, but again, didn't need it, didn't get it. Maybe next time, because recently we've got other things to buy for someone else (hi, baby - due exactly 30 days from today!).
At that point, we separated, as we always do, him to the electronics, and me to the clothes, books, and movies. I have been looking for books to keep my interest, but recently, nothing really takes hold (any non-fiction suggestions would be welcome). I found no clothes that caught my attention. No books. And no movies. And then, all of a sudden, I was so alone. A quick text ("Panic attack. Where did you go? Need you!"), and there he was. Weird - usually I can't find him that quickly. He asked if I was okay, if we should just leave, and I said no, I was fine, as long as we stuck together for the rest of the time. It was a deal.
We continued to wander, this time to the alcohol, where we found bottles of wine and hard liquor. I spotted Hennessy, and made a comment about how it's not too late to change baby's name to that (a reference to my love of odd/unusual names I've found in my working career). He saw a bottle of Beefeater, and said the same thing - we could change the name to that. "Might be a CPS case at some point, he said. 'Your daughter's name is Beefeater?'"
Then it was on to the fruits and veggies. We got a pineapple, some melon, berries, and he left me by the bananas while he shopped the refrigerated section (fine by me - I didn't want to go in there today). As if all that had happened before wasn't enough to remind me how much I'm head over heels for this guy of mine, then this happened.
You see, we play this game in Costco. Whoever sees someone they know FIRST, that person wins. He ALWAYS wins. It was 12:00 on a Friday (the time that most people that work with him get out of work, which is literally less than a mile down the street). Duh - he was going to win.
So I'm there, trying to pick out the greenest bunch of bananas. I checked the first two boxes in front of me - nothing acceptable. Then this strange woman came up to my left and said, "excuse me... excuuuuse me!" I turned, ready to give her a look and tell her there was plenty of room (I have a general distaste for most people who shop at the Costco near us), but instead, I saw this sweet lady from where I used to work. My first response to her? "I win!"
We chatted for a few minutes while Tim found his way back to me and the bananas. When he came out of the refrigerated section and saw me talking to this woman, his immediate reaction was, "You win!" I introduced them; we chatted for another minute, and then went about our ways. And then she came back to us, just to ask why I won, what did I win? I told her about our game, and how I never win. She smiled, laughed a bit, and moved on.
I just love those moments. I love my guy. Our inside jokes. Our quirks. But mostly, I love him. I hope that we'll continue to have those moments for the rest of forever, no matter what. It really IS the little things that matter. Free things. Priceless moments. I wouldn't trade those things for anything!
Two summers ago,
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I were hired by the New Soviets to deal with a particularly nasty mantis jaguar infestation in one of their air bases. I wasn't very keen on going, as I don't know as much about these sort of missions as him- after all, one of his specialty jobs is as a post-nuclear mutant mammal-insect exterminator. Approaching the air base, he turned to me and made his usual offer for these sort of missions: "Honey, first one to slaughter a mantis jaguar with a bladed weapon in close quarter combat wins."
I glanced at him, and, with a smile, said "deal", though I knew full well that he usually wins these little challenges.
Entering the dimly illuminated airbase, we came to a fork. Often in these kind of missions, we usually split up to get the job done faster- this leaves more time for some celebratory wingsuit jumping off the local mountain ranges. Still, and this is what I love about him, my husband could sense my unease, and, without any fanfare, guided us both towards the left fork of the pathway. When we encountered the first mantis jaguar, we made short work of it using our commissioned tommy guns from the New Soviets. Sensing my growing confidence, he decided to go on ahead while I cleared up some of the remaining rooms. However, I soon felt a kind of forboding, and rushed to find him. I saw him pinned underneath a collossal matriarchal mantis jaguar trying to go for his jugular vein, having burst through three reinforced steel walls to get to him after smelling the untainted manliness in his blood. I tried to shoot at it, but my tommy gun had jammed. Frantic, I reached through my swiss army purse to find my katana;after this, I ran through that jaguar with my freshly honed blade, causing acidic purple serum from the jaguar to coat the walls, and myself. Flipping the carcass off of my husband I looked down at him, and, not knowing anything better to say, I girlishly shrieked, "I won!"
"You won indeed," he said breathlessly. I could see surprise in his eyes, but also adoration and respect. I helped him up and we left the airbase, arm in arm.
This is why love isn't some grand thing, involving saving the world from a nuclear war (It's too late for that, haha), or anything else like that- it's our inside jokes, our little challenges, and simple moments like this one in a Russian air base that show that we are truly MFEO.