A List of Memories

It comes around again tomorrow, just like it has every year since I've known him, and probably even before that--My Awesome Husband Greg's birthday.

Thinking that I'd like to honor him with a blog and thinking about how to approach writing it, I decided to borrow an idea from my friend, Cindy, who has been posting daily since the first of the year. Once a week, she shares a list. So the following is a (somewhat) chronological list of memories for you, Awesome Greg...

1. The summer when I was 11, my mom came into the kitchen one day with the mail and handed me an envelope. I'll never forget how impressive my name looked, boldly printed in black ink across the envelope. I can't remember if there was a return address, but I recall my face getting warm as Mom stood there watching me read...

"Dear Kathy, I've been watching and wondering how a pretty girl like you could be the girlfriend of an It like ______." (The name has been omitted to protect the innocent.) It was signed "Greg Fischer."

I only knew you then as the kid who lived next door to the Bommaritos. One day as we were pulling out of their driveway, there you were, up in the tree, singing "If I knew you were coming, I'd have baked a cake."

2. Riding the trolley car downtown during Lapeer Days, looking over my shoulder, and seeing you staring at me. You looked away, but I knew you'd been watching me. That was just a few days before I got your letter.

3. Seeing you in the halls at school, passing a few notes, but never having a conversation because I was so shy.

4. When I was 17 and had just broken up with _______ (again, name omitted to protect the innocent). The rich, smooth voice on the phone said, "Kathy, this is Greg Fischer." We went out that weekend, and I don't think there have been more than a dozen weekends in the last 43 years that we haven't spent together.

5. That time shortly after we started dating, when Mom and Dad went away for the weekend and left me in charge (details omitted to protect the innocent), and we got in trouble because Mom bribed Missy with candy.

6. When we got married at Immaculate Conception Church, and Pam and I giggled through the entire ceremony, kneeling beside each other up there on the altar. Maybe that's how I managed to get through it...I wasn't really paying attention.

7. When Meagan was born, and you weren't allowed to be in the delivery room. We didn't know whether we were having a boy or a girl, and the nurses thought it would be funny not to tell you. They brought her out to you and had you look in her diaper. You had been so hoping for a boy that you wore a blue shirt, but of course that all flew out the window as soon as you saw her. We drove her home from the hospital a week later in your "company car." Remember that big black Buick with the red velvet interior? We didn't even have a car seat!

Of course I have enough memories--45 years' worth--for at least a dozen blogs, but this is where this one ends. The list goes on, of course, and will hopefully continue to do so for a long time, but you know what I mean.

Happy Birthday, Honey. I love you forever!