Guest Blogger - Falling for Bossy by Gamer

 

***I asked Gamer to write a guest post in February when we were putting up all the First Kiss stories. It took him a while, but I'm excited (and a little nervous) to put up his first (and hopefully not last) guest post. Gamer's going to hate that title, but I have to throw in a little romance, don't I? And he didn't give it a title, so I'm perfectly justified, right? Right???***

Well here it is. My guest blog appearance.

This is Gamer aka as SIL. This is going to be one weird trip for us all together. Let me just say I don’t listen very well. This is the story of how me and Bossy met.

One night I was at a place called Hastur's Games and Hobbies. I had been hanging around there playing AD&D, Magic the Gathering, and some other games most people don't agree on. Well on one fateful night Bossy had barely gotten off work from her job at a local retail store. Unbeknownst to me her friend had a boyfriend who was a friend of mine. On this night Bossy and her friend showed up to watch her friend's boyfriend play AD&D (Advanced Dungeons and Dragons). I was wearing basically the only clothes I owned, Black pants with chains and straps everywhere, a black tee shirt, and a grungy jacket. Mind you this was in February. I was sitting there watching people come and go and characters get killed. 

Well after Bossy showed up something changed in the room and it wasn’t me. I was now being watched. You know the feeling you get when someone is watching you? I tried to figure out why I was getting it and from whom. Every time I got up to use the facilities or to buy a soda the eyes would follow me. Well OK not into the facilities, but you know what I mean. Finally I couldn't take it anymore.... I went outside to smoke a cigarette. 

Bossy followed me outside. She asked me for one of mine which at the time was Camel Wides. They are shorter and fatter than most. Well I gave her not knowing she was willing to go to such extremes to talk to me. She had quit smoking and was now willing to throw it all away just to get to know me. She took one drag and started coughing and couldn't stop.

I didn't know what to say at that point. I tried not to laugh at her while she was gasping for air and me snickering. When she could breathe again, I asked her if she had ever smoked a Camel Wide before and she reluctantly told me she had never heard of those. 

After that night the two friends decided on their own to take our relationship from just a casual smoke break. Ok more like me smoking and her almost dying from mine. It was decided by 2 people to have both of us over to his house and have dinner, play more games and see if anything ever happened between me and Bossy. Cause the next guy in line they wanted to set Bossy up with was nice in a very weird way. 

So after a few dates and dinner at Bossy's parents house. We made it official and got married and have been together for over eight years now.

***You know, Gamer, I'm still waiting for the kissing part...wait! Never mind, maybe I don't want to know.***

Guest Blogger - My First Kiss (sort of) by Sweetie

Most of my childhood and teenage years were spent pretty much being afraid of girls.  The thoughts of asking one out on a date was terrifying!  I was pretty shy…. But it hadn’t always been that way.

In first grade I had a little club going on called the Radiator Club.  Rather than go out for recess in the cold of winter, I would stay in and talk to my classmate.  One day we decided to stop talking and kiss instead.  She liked it so much she decided to have her best friend join us the next day…

I still remember sitting on the radiator with a girl on each side, my head being pulled one way and then the next as my attention became a contest between the two friends.  The next day there were four of them… That didn’t work out so well and eventually the club abandoned me.  My lips needed a rest by then anyway.

Maybe that’s what started me being afraid of girls.  It probably had more to do with getting chubby… but that’s another story.  As bad as that story is though, it’s not the one that makes my kids cringe and wonder why I wasn’t struck by lightning.  No, in kindergarten I did something worse…

Once a week instead of going home after school, we all walked to the church for after school primary.   I had a big crush on a girl named Trudy… I liked her and she seemed to like me. She sat by me in primary… so one day I had a plan that was almost as daring as Squints from the movie, The Sandlot.

Trudy was right next to me and I thought of a wonderful opportunity when no one would be looking.  So during the opening prayer I leaned over and kissed her good and long.  She didn’t scream...or slap… she just smiled.  Wow!  I had pulled it off!  Or so I thought.  Did I mention that my mom was in the Primary Presidency?  Yeah, she was sitting on the stand… and evidently she sinfully did NOT shut her eyes during the prayer…. Busted!

Trudy moved at the end of the school year.  My mom teased me that it was all my fault.  Little did I know it would never be forgotten… somehow the story came up once if front of some of the kids…MY kids, and now the story is passed from kid to kid.  If you are ever in trouble, just remind Dad he kissed a girl during the opening prayer…

and lived to tell about it!

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come

Every year (usually a bit closer to New Year's Eve) my sweetie and I spend an hour or two evaluating the year and what our new year might bring. Since I started on this Charles Dickens thing, I decided it might be fun to speculate on where my life and the lives of my loved ones might be next year at this time...so here are my thoughts on Christmas 2012 or Christmas Yet to Come. Keep in mind that this is all guessing (and wishing) and not necessarily backed up with any amount of certainty. I'll let you figure out which ones are wishes and which are inevitable.

Bossy and Gamer and their little brood...

Gamer will re-enroll in school and finish the last few classes he needs to complete his Associates Degree. Bossy will keep working for DCFS and maybe (hopefully!) get pregnant. Bean Dip will continue to improve in school and become an excellent student. Taco will win in several Reflections categories and become the star of the soccer field. Burrito will start Kindergarten and learn to read. He will NOT become the soccer star because he doesn't really seem to like soccer that much...maybe basketball.

Gym Rat...

He will finish his degree and get married! 'Nuff said.

Drama Queen...

She will graduate with her degree in Secondary Ed and find a nice guy to practice the scenes from Romeo and Juliet. No wedding bells, but maybe some kind of a ring???

Teach...

She will graduate with her degree in Elementary Ed, get an amazing job at her favorite elementary school where she will meet a cute single male teacher, get married within six weeks, buy a house and and work hard to fill it with cute little baby Teaches.

Dog Walker...

He will graduate from high school and become an amazing scout leader until it's time to go on a mission for our church. With his strong testimony he will be an amazing missionary!

Princess...

She will bring down the house with her performance in Sleeping Beauty, convincing dance studios everywhere that she could single-handedly revive their weakening programs...but she will stay at C&C because she loves the people there and after all, they made her what she is today. (lol) She will also start high school, earn her drivers license, turn 16 and start dating. Maybe there is even a first kiss for her somewhere in 2012. We are going to have to invest in a big stick!

Prima Donna...

With her six Reflections wins, she will advance our first entry to the National competition but just to keep her from getting too big-headed, she will only take second place.

Crafty...
She will finally be old enough to join the Young Women's group at our church. Pointe shoes have got to be part of her 2012 as will another amazing run at being the Girl Scout Cookie Queen. Who knows? She might even start looking at boys!

Sport...
After basketball, maybe baseball will be part of 2012. Defnitely a little more football, some cursive, and multiplication tables. He already likes girls, so I'm not too worried about that.

Scout...

She might become the very best reader in her class! With five entries moving on in Reflections she could easily be declared the PTA Queen or maybe the king...she much prefers cute little skirts to pants.

Curly...

A first kiss might be in his 2012 too...all the girls around here, old and young, just LOVE his curly blond hair. In the fall he will start preschool (he's already signed up!) and he can start swimming lessons and learn to ride a two-wheeler. Maybe he can teach the Drama Queen. That's one of the few skills she hasn't mastered.

Baby Doll...

Talking, running, jumping on the tramp...there are so many things for a one-year-old to learn! I can't wait to see what the new year brings for her. Hopefully not the stomach issues she has had this week...she ate Princess's little clay nativity (all non-toxic) but the diarrhea has been awful. Like they say, this too shall pass.

My Sweetie...

He will be happy and healthy and content with his job. He will be silly and attentive and paint my toenails once a month. He will also take me out to dinner and listen while I yack his ear off because women need to say about 5000 words each and every day. Hey, maybe that's why I like blogging...

Me...

I will try to update my blog at least every other day because if I keep up with every day I may just run out of stories to tell. Maybe I will sell a little Tupperware, maybe not... I guess a new baby could be part of our new year (NO, this isn't an announcement), but if the Lord is willing, we would be happy to have one more, although next month I'll be 47 so my biological clock must be ticking although since I'm so old, I can't really hear it. I will try for the ten thousandth time to be more organized, lose weight, and be more patient.  You would think after almost 30 years of setting the same New Year's goals that I might be able to accomplish ONE of them! And maybe I will even learn to troubleshoot my own computer since I've been off the network all day and I'm typing this on the laptop because my computer doesn't want to play nice.

What are your plans for 2012?

Christmas Stockings

Bossy tells me I’m getting too depressing with all this talk about Autism so I thought I’d give you another baby story. So it was 1988. Bossy had just turned four and the Gym Rat was nearing two. We graduated from the university in the spring and then it was time to find jobs. My sweetie is in engineering, but there were few jobs and many candidates. I was going to be an amazing writer…but I settled for a technical writer when they offered me a pretty good position (as long as I didn’t mind working around all the toxic chemicals at the army depot). I was even issued a gas mask! I worked for a government contractor, so I worked four ten-hour days with an hour commute each way. My sweetie finally landed a consulting job and he was able to work as many hours as he could possibly stand. We put our little ones in day care with a relative and it was off to work we go. 

The summer passed and the leaves changed. As we worked like crazy and prepared our home and family for the holidays, the delicious smells didn’t have the normal affect on me. In fact, they made me downright nauseous. I didn’t dare hope, so I gritted my teeth and told myself that it wasn’t morning sickness after all. Since we were apart most of the time with our crazy work schedules, my sweetie didn’t suspect anything. About the 20^th of December, I could no longer deny the regularity of my morning flu. I made an appointment with the doctor for a Friday afternoon and I chose not to say anything to my dear husband. My suspicions were confirmed. Our little one was due the latter part of July. I was so excited! By the time I got home from the doctor’s office, I had formed a fantastic plan. But first I had to go to the store. I needed to buy some Christmas stockings. 

The next three days were endless. I was nearly bursting with my secret. I couldn’t look my husband square in the eye, and he was sure that I was angry with him for some unknown discretion. Finally, Christmas Eve arrived. We got the kids to bed early and we slipped into bed. My sweetie was tired. He’d worked a long week and he needed a good rest. I listened to his breathing until I was sure that he was asleep, then I climbed out of bed and crept down the stairs. In the light from the Christmas tree, I tiptoed to the fireplace and placed a small gift in the toe of his stocking. My package delivered, I quickly retraced my steps and slid between the sheets. His even breathing testified of his ignorance of my journey. I willed myself to sleep, and after much tossing and turning, and a little nausea, I finally dozed off. 

 

Christmas morning dawned bright and early for the kids. Bossy and the Gym Rat were up with the sun and were soon jumping on our bed. Their anxious little bodies were insistent, so we gave up and rolled out. After all, I was just as excited. Finally, I’d get to tell my secret. At our house, tradition required that we had to look through our stockings first. We’d always find an orange, candy, and a few small gifts. Generally, these gifts were not that exciting; we might get gloves, a movie, or underwear. This year I scooped up the stockings with a vengeance. "Hasn’t Santa been generous this year?" I prompted. "Yes!" shouted the kids. 

My sweetie rubbed the sleep from his eyes and finished setting up the video camera. "Are we ready?" he questioned. "Of course," I smiled, "Here’s your stocking." I passed the bulging stocking to him and positioned myself so that I could watch as he opened his gifts. He slowly pulled oranges and miniature chocolate bars from the top of the stocking. A box of orange sticks followed, then a couple of apples. I squirmed impatiently. "What did you get, Dear?" Just dump it out, I thought to myself. He finally reached his hand into the toe of the stocking. He gave me a puzzled look and I smiled innocently. "What’s this?" He pulled out the colorful package and carefully unwrapped a tiny pair of yellow stockings. I watched his stare of confusion as he turned the stockings over and over in his large hands. Slowly, recognition dawned and his gaze was replaced with an over-sized grin. He pulled me into his arms. My secret was out, and it was definitely worth the wait. These were the best Christmas stockings ever.

For sale here

 

Falling in Love: Courtship

We are going to skip this week's Friday Freebie to continue the courtship story in honor of Valentine's Day.  Please come back next week for another free activity.  

I would love to be able to say that we both immediately knew we were right for each other and we got married and lived happily ever after.  Unfortunately it was much more complicated than that.  I was only 17 and even though I thought I was all grown up, I was self-centered and selfish.  I was still a senior in high school for at least half my waking hours.  I wanted to participate in high school activities like the prom, but most importantly, I still wanted to chase boys and have fun!  I really wasn’t ready at that point for a serious relationship and given my split personality (college co-ed vs. high school senior) it was easy to live a dual life.  I was also getting an incredible amount of pressure from home to not get serious with anyone.  My parents were excited about my 4-year scholarship to BYU and they were afraid that getting married might jeopardize that opportunity.  The thing we didn't realize then was that there seemed to be a force, like a strong magnet, pulling us together and no matter how hard we tried to break those bonds, we were unable to separate.

John Travolta and Olivia Newton John in Grease

My lab assistant accused me of mind games and he was probably right.  In my mind it was all a game and the seriousness of the possible outcome didn’t really occur to me at first.  I was so flaky it's a wonder we ever got married!  Like one time when I was angry with him for some silly little thing, I immediately went home and called another guy and invited him to pref.  Shortly after that I went on a high school trip to Washington DC and spent the week chasing and then running from a boy from South Carolina (Stalker!  He didn’t give up quickly…he wrote to me for months and I don’t believe I ever even held his hand!)  After I was back from my trip I would often go out with another guy and then call my sweet and incredibly smart Lab Assistant to help me with my homework.  Each time I broke his heart he got so frustrated that he took all the broken glass in the lab and threw it into the recycling bin with such force that it shattered into tiny pieces.  

None of my high school friends even knew I was seeing someone until my lab assistant and I showed up together at the New Year’s Eve dance.  Then they gave me a lot of crap because he had a less-than-missionary style haircut.  I was a bit embarrassed by that and the next day he immediately cut his hair.  I should have known then that he would do anything for me, but it took much longer for that fact to sink in.  He gave me some wonderful gifts, a large stuffed teddy bear for Christmas, a heart-shaped crystal necklace for Valentine’s Day, and green M&Ms for St. Patrick’s Day.  He never neglected an occasion to show me how he felt.

That winter was very cold and the snow hung around for weeks without a ray of sunshine.  One night we were parked in front of my house.  We had been sitting in the car for a long time and the windows were pretty fogged up.  The snow was also piling up on the windshield, but we were talking and laughing, totally oblivious to the storm.  That’s when my dad showed up. 

Stock photo WCBS2

My parents were negative about any guy I went out with more than once, but did I ever mention that my dad was extremely unhappy about this developing romance with a college boy?  Even after I turned 18 in January, he thought I was way too young for the amount of time we were spending together.  Anyway, that night he wrenched open the door and the snow fell in little piles onto the seat of the car.  “What are you two doing in here?” he demanded.  Before either one of us could answer, he yelled, “Get out!  Don’t you know the power lines are down?”  We quickly climbed from the car and into the deep snow.  The power lines were sparking right above the car.  The snow was so heavy that they couldn’t take the weight.  It wasn’t long before the emergency vehicles arrived, but by then we were safely inside the house, drying out and warming up. 

Several days later we were once again sitting in the car when my lab assistant put his head in his hands and told me he didn’t know what he was going to do.  Concerned, I snuggled closer, “Why?” I questioned.  “Because I can’t live with you and I can’t imagine life without you.”  I was stunned and didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t say anything.  Then he continued, “I think I’m in love with you.”  Now I have heard this line from guys before; the first time was when I was in 7th grade, but he seemed serious.  “Why do you think that?” I asked.  “Because even with all of these people trying to tear us apart, we seem to be stuck together,” he said.  I was surprised and scared about what that could mean to our future.  “Why don’t you think about it for a while?” I suggested.  “Maybe you’ll want to take it back.”  I hadn’t really thought about how I felt at that particular moment and I was certainly not ready to confess my undying love just then.  He shook his head.  It took me a couple of weeks to realize that my feelings were the same.  Tune in tomorrow for the proposal.

Falling in Love: First Kiss

 My lab assistant and I spent a lot of our spare time together that week, working and talking, but now everything was different. We weren’t just friends anymore. It was time to take our relationship to a new level. I hate to admit that I had some previous kissing experience and I was pretty sure that he didn’t have any. That said, I tried to make it easy for him to make a move. He just didn’t seem to get the hint.

Exactly one week from our first date, we sat together in my car in the library parking lot.  We'd spent several nights there together until they dimmed the lights and my lab assistant insisted we had to leave.  It was December 10^th and cold. We were snuggling and talking about finals and how glad we would be when school was finally out for the Christmas break. Remember this was a small town? At some point my mom showed up. It was way before the days of cell phones and when I didn’t answer the office phone she came looking for me. It didn’t help that we had fogged up the windows. Unfortunately it was from warm breath and cold air, nothing else. We chatted for a few minutes, then I promised to come home soon and she left us alone.

This seemed to be as good a time as any for expecting that first kiss. I knew he was nervous so I moved a little closer to make it easier. The tension was as thick as the ice in the parking lot. It seemed to be taking forever for him to make up his mind. Finally his lips touched mine. It was sweet and gentle and scared, but quickly took on a mind of its own. I’m not even sure why, but to diffuse the moment, I blew a breath of air into his mouth! His eyes popped open and he pulled away. I don’t think this was what he had imagined it would be like. Then to make matters worse, I started laughing! He looked confused for a moment; then he started laughing too.

It was a long cold winter that year in our small town. I told you before that he didn't have a car and I did, but I drove one that belonged to my parents. That meant I didn’t always have open access to transportation. It was only three or four blocks to the college from my home, so sometimes I would have to walk to the library or to class depending on the situation. One night a week or so later, before there were very many more kisses (I don’t know, maybe he was scared to try again after the reception he got the first time), he was walking me home.
 

There had been a storm earlier in the day and the plows had come through, making huge piles of snow along the sides of the road. At each corner these piles were even bigger, some as high as 10 or 12 feet.  We were laughing and talking and tossing little snowballs at each other. I had on boots, so I was walking in the deeper snow. Suddenly I climbed up one of these higher piles and let my boots sink in. The snow quickly swallowed me up to my knees. "I’m stuck!" I called out playfully.

He hurried over, the concern clearly showing on his face. "What do you want me to do?" he asked, oblivious to my flirting techniques. "Get me out?" I suggested. He carefully stepped over the snow and gallantly reached out a hand to help me. This was not my plan. I wanted big strong arms around me and maybe more, so I played dumb. "I don’t think that’s going to work," I said. He inched closer. "I’m really stuck," I reminded him. Finally he seemed to get the message. He put his arms around me and pulled me to safety.

It was several years later before he understood that I could have gotten out of that snow bank all by myself. Come back tomorrow and I’ll tell you a little more about our stormy courtship and his declaration of love.