Love Me Forever

A dark bar. Locals and visitors from the nearby train station, alike. Early Spring '04. Cigarette smoke and beer and I'm in a boat leaning ever so slightly, if not at times very severely, it seems, to one side. Toward the water. Due north...
I'm all done. No more. I will not give another man any. more. chances with me. I've had it. Maybe I'll have a smoke and talk about how I am very much all done... Sad about it, but resigned to my life with two cats, a cozy and warm apartment in the very back of a farm house in the middle of nowhere, and friends who will sit and smoke with me in a tipsy boat bar. And great ~ the war has just begun... Figures.
I'm walking back to the juke box. (Is it still called that?) Someone's asking me if I'll play a Johnny Cash song. Funny. My family loves him. Whatever. So you have cute glasses. I could give two sh*... Oh, wow... They're very cute glasses. You remind me of Elvis Costello, if he and Keanu Reeves had a baby. If that. was. possible... And I like your voice. It's so calming and genuine and.

Whatever. Walking back to my seat. Now you're ordering me a Corona. OK, I have officially stepped into the ring of fire. Let's Speed it up, Veronica.

Fast-forward to the present, as all of that was six years ago. I am a hopeless romantic, but I'm not usually one to write about it. At least not under the pseudonym of Jen. But this guy's gotta be mentioned. Especially on the most loveliest of lovely love days. The day I was known to rue and despise the most annually, and even sometimes more often... when I didn't think I could ever be this lucky. Not in this lifetime.

Happy Valentine's Day, Ang. Thanks for asking me to play that tune. Thanks for wearing those glasses. Thank you for saying I look great without makeup. Thanks for saving the baby bird across the street and for making her a little nest out of a Tupperware bowl and string. Thank you for watching a million movies with me you have zero interest in. And for talking with me later about how great they were (provided you stayed awake). Thank you for respecting my opinion on which tie matches best and how to raise our children. Thank you for dance parties in the living room. Thank you for brushing Lila's hair with the mermaid brush. Thanks for whispering to AJ, "Tell Mommy she's pretty." Thank you for being our dog's best friend. Thanks for pretending not to notice I'm messy and the world's biggest procrastinator. Thanks for sharing the same threshold for washing our sheets... Thank you for not wanting me to change.

Thank you. For loving me.