2,922 Days Gone By
June 7, 1997. A day that will live in, well, let's see...I'm not really sure how to describe it.
It was a warm Saturday, and I invited Leah to attend my company picnic. Yep, that's the day that started it all. A few months later, we deemed that day as the start of our relationship. Obviously we hadn't a clue what the future held, but hey, I'd say it turned out quite well.
The wild thing about mine and Leah's dating relationship is all the drama that happened before it got started. Leah probably started liking me in 1994--too bad I was dating somebody. In 1996, I had an engagement that was suddenly and devastatingly broken--but the day of the breakup, Leah went to senior prom thinking I was about to get married (the day was the first wedding date that was originally set, but it had long since been postponed, unknown to Miss Blaylock). Then in early '97, I had a wreck and was in the hospital for 3 days--who shows up at the hospital? You guessed it. Too bad I was pretty much liking someobody else at the time. Then I was called incessantly after I went home, offering her company and companionship if I wanted it, in case I was bored or something. Uhhhhhhhh.............No thanks.
That got her a "Please leave me alone..........You're clingy and needy and annoying, and IF I had ever thought about dating you, you've smothered me out of that consideration" speech, which earned me the silent treatment for about 3-4 months. I'm not sure that's what I really wanted, but that's how she chose to deal with it. But my phone rang less often. : )
Then there was her graduation. She actually bet her mom $20 that I wouldn't show up. Well, I was a walking 20 bucks that night, and my mom and I even made an appearance at her graduation get-together that her parents were hosting afterwards. Her boyfriend du jour was there, and I was insanely jealous. Not to mention I thought he was worthless. Not just because he had something that I wanted, but because, and Leah agrees, he was worthless.
At the time, I wasn't seeing anybody, and she was contemplating breaking it off with worthless dude. I told her, "Don't do anything because of me--I don't wanna be the sole cause of you breaking it off." As if. I later found out that her senior prom experience was less-than-stellar: dinner was McD's drive through, the 'ride' was his pickup truck, and her date talked on his CB the whole way. So I treated her to a "prom night" that she didn't have--a black limo, dinner at Landry's (overlooking the river), and a carriage ride. By that time, I already had her, but I guess I felt like I owed it to her for waiting on me for so long. She deserved that night, and I enjoyed the heck out of giving it to her. The last 2 years of my life had been mostly rain, and the sun was finally coming out.
So that's "Eric and Leah" in a nutshell.........There are certainly many more anecdotes, but they all end up with me becoming convinced that I would be a stupid moron of epic proportions if I let go of the selfless, giving love that Leah has. On January 4, 2002, we went for pizza, and then afterwards for an unplanned (at least for one of us) scavenger hunt that ended at her house with a diamond ring.
I'll close with the chorus from From Here to Eternity, my very first dance with Mrs. Eric Russell:
From here to eternity
I’m asking you to share your life with me
Now and forever I guarantee, I’ll always stay by your side
I promise my love to you
I’m willing and able and ready to
Whatever you need
I am here for you, and I’ll always be
From here to eternity
It was a warm Saturday, and I invited Leah to attend my company picnic. Yep, that's the day that started it all. A few months later, we deemed that day as the start of our relationship. Obviously we hadn't a clue what the future held, but hey, I'd say it turned out quite well.
The wild thing about mine and Leah's dating relationship is all the drama that happened before it got started. Leah probably started liking me in 1994--too bad I was dating somebody. In 1996, I had an engagement that was suddenly and devastatingly broken--but the day of the breakup, Leah went to senior prom thinking I was about to get married (the day was the first wedding date that was originally set, but it had long since been postponed, unknown to Miss Blaylock). Then in early '97, I had a wreck and was in the hospital for 3 days--who shows up at the hospital? You guessed it. Too bad I was pretty much liking someobody else at the time. Then I was called incessantly after I went home, offering her company and companionship if I wanted it, in case I was bored or something. Uhhhhhhhh.............No thanks.
That got her a "Please leave me alone..........You're clingy and needy and annoying, and IF I had ever thought about dating you, you've smothered me out of that consideration" speech, which earned me the silent treatment for about 3-4 months. I'm not sure that's what I really wanted, but that's how she chose to deal with it. But my phone rang less often. : )
Then there was her graduation. She actually bet her mom $20 that I wouldn't show up. Well, I was a walking 20 bucks that night, and my mom and I even made an appearance at her graduation get-together that her parents were hosting afterwards. Her boyfriend du jour was there, and I was insanely jealous. Not to mention I thought he was worthless. Not just because he had something that I wanted, but because, and Leah agrees, he was worthless.
At the time, I wasn't seeing anybody, and she was contemplating breaking it off with worthless dude. I told her, "Don't do anything because of me--I don't wanna be the sole cause of you breaking it off." As if. I later found out that her senior prom experience was less-than-stellar: dinner was McD's drive through, the 'ride' was his pickup truck, and her date talked on his CB the whole way. So I treated her to a "prom night" that she didn't have--a black limo, dinner at Landry's (overlooking the river), and a carriage ride. By that time, I already had her, but I guess I felt like I owed it to her for waiting on me for so long. She deserved that night, and I enjoyed the heck out of giving it to her. The last 2 years of my life had been mostly rain, and the sun was finally coming out.
So that's "Eric and Leah" in a nutshell.........There are certainly many more anecdotes, but they all end up with me becoming convinced that I would be a stupid moron of epic proportions if I let go of the selfless, giving love that Leah has. On January 4, 2002, we went for pizza, and then afterwards for an unplanned (at least for one of us) scavenger hunt that ended at her house with a diamond ring.
I'll close with the chorus from From Here to Eternity, my very first dance with Mrs. Eric Russell:
From here to eternity
I’m asking you to share your life with me
Now and forever I guarantee, I’ll always stay by your side
I promise my love to you
I’m willing and able and ready to
Whatever you need
I am here for you, and I’ll always be
From here to eternity
posted by Eric C at 9:08 AM
1 Comments:
That sure beats "we saw each other and it was cool and stuff so we started dating."
Congrats.
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