He's on his way.
He's on his way.
He's really gonna be here.
AHHH!!
Every possible scenario played through my mind: 1) He'd arrive and sweep me off my feet. 2) He'd arrive and run away screaming. 3) He'd arrive and fall in love with my neighbor. 4) A random storm in Montana would delay him. 5) He'd be abducted by aliens half way through Idaho.
Rock slide, tornado, hurricane, earthquake, apocalypse. You name it, I probably thought it. Twice.
The shift at work that day was a blur. I vaguely remember some mild, general teasing from co-workers but I was too antsy and distracted to care. At 5 p.m., the end of my shift, I was off like a flash. Upon arrival, I double-checked that my house was spotless, made sure I was looking as adorable as possible and fretted in general over things beyond my control. Reading, re-reading, re-re-reading the messages he'd sent that indicated he'd really left that day and was actually coming was a frequent occurrence, too. After all, having Greg actually show up seemed just too good to be true!!
Around 8:00 that night, I finally saw headlights at the top of my street. I ducked down so as not to give the impression I'd been eagerly pacing back and forth while staring out the front windows. I'm cool like that, ya know? The car slowly passed my house, circled around, passed again... The urge to dash outside was impossible to ignore, though I fought it initially. Through the cold and snow I went...
And joy of joys! It was him! He was REAL!
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| Basil is rather simpleminded. |
In any case, Greg's reply was "Where do I park?"
...
A short while later, we were settled on my couch chatting and looking at photograph albums. Why we had pictures out, I'm not sure. But I remember how nervous and shy we both were. I was gazing at him adoringly and he was blushing and looking VERY seriously at those pictures. We had a great time chatting about his trip and breaking the initial shyness. After a few hours we decided to call it a night. Greg was to camp on my floor that night on my spare foam pad before relocating to my parents' guest room for the remainder of his visit. My cats, Gizmo and Basil, were very interested in this newcomer. I fear he didn't get much sleep with two kitties constantly climbing on his face and pouncing moving toes. (Those two never were very good at leaving visitors alone. They had a great system worked out, too. Basil always took the lap while Gizmo molested the feet. Brilliant.)
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| Gizmo would take over the world if he had thumbs. |
The next morning, our first full day together, was my final shift at the Care Center for 2004 and Greg kindly allowed me to drag him along as my volunteer. As Human Resource Manager, I even made him fill out the official volunteer paperwork and wear a badge. (I'd made him a special one with a maple leaf on it.)
Since it was the day after Christmas, all the residents were home from their workshops and busy playing with/breaking/trading/losing their holiday treasures. Yay Santa! In general the day was spent assisting the Recreation Department with activities and visiting with the residents and co-workers. At lunch, my office-mate, Sherry, and I took Greg to a local Italian fast-food place. Oddly enough, we ran into my parents as we were walking from our car to the entrance. They were going through the drive-through and didn't join us, but they did get to briefly say hello to the man they'd heard so much about. Small world.
We entered the restaurant, placed our orders, and settled in to a booth. It only took a few seconds for me to spill spaghetti sauce on the clean, white blouse I was wearing. Of course I'd do that in front of the guy I was so eager to impress. It's the way I roll! :P But Sherry saved the day by finding one of the plastic baby bibs near the entrance and putting it on me. Didn't spill a drop after that. (And I was a total trooper and left that damn bib on me, too!) I had a small bag of clothing in the back of my car that I was planning on dropping off at a local second-hand shop. I changed into one of my old, unwanted shirts when we returned to the Care Center and the rest of the shift went without incident. Side note: I never did get that stain to come out of my shirt! Drat!
The real fun began that evening when we decided to hop on the TRAX train and head downtown to Salt Lake City. I put on my cutest outfit, touched up my hair and make-up, and off we went! We strolled through the downtown streets, toured the Temple Square, admired the lights and just enjoyed the heck out of each other in general. What a great night. We decided to grab something to eat at the mall's food court. I'd like to go on record by saying that none, I mean NONE of my dinner went anywhere but into my mouth. Thank you very much! At last I avoiding making a fool of myself during the meal. Of course life is all about balance, and as we were leaving, I managed to step on the one puddle of spilled ice in the entire building. One second I was gazing into Greg's dreamy hazel eyes, the next second I was... looking at the ceiling. It was a very nice ceiling, but I didn't take the time to appreciate it.
Because I was laughing. The kind of laughter that tears up your eyes and makes your side hurt.
Greg, by that point, was looking around and wondering where I'd gone to.
"Oh! There she is. Down there. What is she doing down there?"
He assisted me to my feet. Water that had been pooled around the ice was now soaked into my pants and I had the appearance of having wet myself. This just added to my laughter. And since Greg realized I didn't appear to be grievously injured, he laughed with me. Come to think of it, much of our time together that week was spent laughing. Most of our time together as a couple, period, was spent laughing. But I digress...
Deciding that the mall was a potentially dangerous place to be, we headed towards the Gateway after that. Sitting on a bench and watching the outdoor fountains was nice. I allowed myself to rest my head on his shoulder and we just relaxed there and enjoyed the surroundings. So romantic.
I made my move when we were on the train heading home. Of course, with my shyness being what it was, my 'move' was to hold hands. Brazen of me, I know, but what can I say? I had to work with the level of nerves that I had. It sure was nice though. It had been a while since I liked a guy enough to be willing to make the first move like that. But what did I have to lose? I mean, really! He still appeared to like me even after seeing me 'bibbed' and falling in ice puddles. And he had very nice hands.
It wasn't until Wednesday that we finally kissed. It was a sweet first kiss. Everything felt so natural and sincere. Greg said it was the first time he had kissed anyone, which made it that much more thrilling.
I don't think Greg's visit could have gone any better. Nothing but fond, warm-fuzzy memories come to mind when I think of that week we had together. So much anticipation, expectation, hope... and it all felt so right. So fantastic. So ideal. The cats continued to adore him.
My family loved the guy. He seemed to like them quite well, too. Mom made Greg a stocking that year and hung it by the fireplace. As we were leaving their house one night, she scooped up the stocking and handed it to him. "This is yours to take, though, if you plan on being here next Christmas, be sure to leave it behind so we can use it again!" I can't begin to explain the embarrassed horror that enveloped me when she said those words. I whisked Greg out the door and did my best to keep my composure, but we couldn't help but laugh over the situation. Talk about pressure. MOTHER! :P
When it came time to send Greg home, I was beside myself. He was the best thing that had ever happened to me and I had to give him up. Knowing that we had plans for me to visit him up in Canada the next month offered limited comfort. I had found my best friend, the man I wanted to be with forever.
We planned his departure for the first morning I was scheduled to be back at work after the holidays. It was ideal that he go then so that I'd be distracted at work all day and couldn't sit around feeling sorry for myself. I hugged him tightly and was reluctant to let go, but he held me close and reminded me that I'd be seeing him soon enough. He stroked my hair, kissed my cheek and assured me it would be alright.
Then he pressed the Christmas stocking my mother had made him into my hands, told me give it to her for safe keeping until the next year, got in his car and drove away.