My favorite Holiday of the Year, St. Patrick's

Yes, St. Paddy's day is my favorite holiday of the year!  You are sitting there right now wondering what is wrong with me.  Well besides the usual?  Today is my anniversary.  And per usual for me, not of our wedding, but to me of a far more important date, the day T.H. and I  met.  If you don't know me well, there is a little quirk in my make up, ok ok more than one I will admit to, but for our visit today, only one is important.  I almost never know what number a day is, and often forget what day it is, and almost every holiday, birthday (including my own) surprise me when they arrive.  I was always the kid that wasn't wearing green and so got pinched a lot, because I never remembered that it was St. Paddy's.  So, as you can see, me remembering what day we met is a huge thing.  March is a busy month for us, two of the boys celebrate their birthdays, and one of my daughters in law is a happy March baby too.  Since holidays make most of us nostalgic, let me tell you how we met.


Date:  St. Patrick's Day, 1978  
Place:  My college dorm
Time:  pfft! not a clue! LOL


I'm in bed, dead asleep when someone starts shaking me.  Blearily prying my eyes open, I roll over trying to focus on why I'm being ripped from the sweet arms of sleep.  Standing over me is a friend and she looks rather wound up.  Thinking I'm late for a class I start to sit up, then I remember that today is Saturday!  WTF!  And why is she waking me up?  I roll back over, almost asleep again, when she pulls the covers down, and then just as quickly pulling them back up.  She has a thing against being naked.  Knowing she won't leave me to sleep in peace until I talk to her, I lean over the side of the bed, and root around looking for something to put on.  Ah!  A tee-shirt, I duck down under the covers, pull it on, and sit up.  Needless to say, I'm not a happy camper, I'm not happy at all.  It's sometime on a Saturday, the sun is still up, and why am I awake?  She cocks me a look, which leads me back to the side of the bed where I again root around looking for something to wear.  Even though I am covered up, me being naked bothers her.  I feel a band of elastic, great a pair undies!  And pull out a pair of men's undies...... hum, ok that won't work.  And yes the look on her face wasn't very pleased.  Giving up trying to please her very Puritan ethics, I asked her why on earth was she bothering me?  She was almost bursting with excitement, get up, get up, get up, she keep saying, almost without a space to breath.  Knowing that she would just have to run down before I could get anything out of her, I laid down again.  Only to have her pull me up!  Ok, and now my rather long fuse to mad is about encounter the black powder.


"You have to get up now!  You don't want to miss him!"  Miss who?  I'm not following at all, and have less than no idea what she is talking about. I'm within seconds of loosing my temper and doing something unforgivable, namely getting out of bed naked, which will set her against me for a while.  Finally she catches on that I don't have a damned clue to what she is babbling on about.  "My brother, he is coming today!  You promised that you would be there to meet him.  You Promised!  He called he will be here in an hour or so.  Get up!"  Finally I remembered her extracting a promise to meet her brother, and waved my hand at the door making shooing gestures, and thankfully she left me in peace.  I heard thru the door, "I'll be back for you!  Get ready!"


Now this girl was a pale friend, we had almost no places where our lives or interests crossed.  The only reason I knew her, is that her my best friend and her best friend shared a dorm room next door.  Sister is very religious, and me? Pfft, no I lost my ability to believe years ago.  They live in the middle of Alaska, is some town that has fewer people than our dorm does!  I don't care how cute he is!  He isn't my type at all.  But a promise is a promise, so I get up.  I'll go but I'm so not making any effort here.  Picking up  my favorite jeans from the floor, I looked down at the tee-shirt I had on.  It was my worn out junior high gym shirt, ehh it would do, I'll just wear my dorm hoodie over it.  Dragging a comb thru my hair, it looked like I had just rolled out of bed, ok hat it is.  I pulled a ball cap on, and peered into the mirror.  I stuck my feet in a pair of high top converse, that all the girls on the floor made fun of.  Why can't I focus today?  Oh yeah right, I need to put my contacts in.  Got them in, washed the face, brushed the teeth, and that was as good as it was going to get.


I was laying on the bed, almost asleep again when Sister barged back into my room.  Pulling me up, I stumbled along behind her to the parking lot.  Yes, we were going to the parking lot, no waiting for him to arrive in her dorm room, nooo.  I sat down on a curb and leaned against a nearby car my eyes already closing, gods above was I tired.  Hearing a feminine squeal from Sister, I knew Brother must have shown up.  Great!  I could do the meet and greet and then get back to bed. Ah, sweet sweet sleep!  Staggering to my feet, I carefully rubbed my eyes and followed the 10 or so girls she had corralled into meeting Brother.  Wanting to do this right, so she wouldn't be all angry with me later, I shook my self awake mentally, slapped on a little smile and prepared to do just the bare amount I needed to do to appease her so I could go back to bed.  The gaggle of girls parted just as I got caught up, giving me a clear path to see this paragon of a brother. 


 And. My. Heart. Stopped. Beating.  


The world fell silent, the color drained away.  There was only two people in the world, and he looked as stunned as I felt.  

With a suddenness that felt rather like a bad case of vertigo, the world snapped back, with all the noise and color it usually held.  Sister ran around making introductions, in between hugging the life out of him.  When it was my turn, I held my hand out, something none of the other girls had done, but I like to shake hands, and to be honest I had to touch him.  When our hands touched, I never wanted to let go.  All thoughts of sleep were banished from my thoughts.  I followed thru one silly thing to the next only to be in the same room, college, city, state, world as him.  And he kept moving around trying to place himself next me, or if that wasn't possible stood or sat so that he could see me.  I don't think I listened to anything anyone said except for future T.H.  I was lost in his hazel eyes, the smooth flow of his voice, the way his muscles moved under his clothes.  Was it lust?  Ehh, a bit, I won't lie to you.  But, this was so much more than that.  It was moth me drawn to the candle of him.  Dinner time came and Sister and future T.H. left.

I spent every available minute possible with him that week.  Four days later he proposed to me.  He left for a few weeks, but called every evening when he knew I would be back from classes and work.  From St. Paddy's day until college let out in the middle of May, he would come and go, spending weeks with me.  He hated going, but had made plans prior to leaving Alaska to visit friends and family, and if T.H. makes a promise almost nothing will shake him from making it good.  We parted for a few weeks before he flew me up to Alaska for a visit, and I never left.  July came and unable to wait any longer, we married on the 28th.  At a friends house, with only his family in attendance.  This summer we plan on having a blow out anniversary party, and are toying with renewing our vows.  I feel the first time took really well, who wants to jinx it?  But we shall see.