Skanky Girl

I don’t like to pretend that it was always smooth sailing in my relationship with Mike from start to finish. Like every other relationship, there were a few bumps. One bump so big that it almost resulted in our permanent breakup. When I recall this particular incident–which involved a woman who Mike and I later [...]

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I love you… I think

July 4th weekend, 1998, Mike and I decided to take a trip to Put-in-Bay in attempt to make up for the trip we never took on our first date. Because we wanted to stay over night, and I was still battling with my mom over whether or not it was decent to go on over-nights [...]

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My date, your step-brother (part 2)

I couldn’t help but grill Bonnie with questions. She had insider information about Mike, after all. “He’s not some kind of crazy ax murderer, is he?” I asked, continuing the theme I’d started with Mike the night before. It was the only way I could express what should have been misgivings with my immediate comfort [...]

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My date, your step-brother

On our third date, Mike asked me to go on a trip to the Virgin Islands with him. Some friends of his–a couple–had invited him some time before he met me and, since he wasn’t dating anyone at the time, he originally intended to go with his sister. I think he’d even gone so far [...]

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The brutal truth of art

One of the reasons I’m such a U2 fan is because their music, though heavily laden with Christian spirituality, speaks to my soul. The kind of Christianity–humanity–Bono (the lead singer/songwriter) pedals, I can buy. Even when the images are so clearly Christian, I get them too. Bono’s lyrics speak of hope, faith, loss, questioning, fear–so [...]

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Couches

(Continued from my pre-Seattle retelling of my first date with my husband. The date is, remember, Saturday, May 30, 1998.) Our first date was the night that never ended. The night we never wanted to end. From the drop zone, we went to a bar in Kent and played pool. After that, we went played [...]

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Sky-diving

I’m going to marry this man! I thought about thirty minutes into our dinner at El Compesino’s. We had dispensed with the small talk, gotten through the “getting to know you” questions and I’d already learned that he loved to backpack, ride a bike, travel–all the things I’d always wanted in man. In college, I’d [...]

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Compy’s

Whenever I drive the stretch of highway on Route 8 between Route 303 and Graham Road, I think of the first time I drove it to pick up Mike at his townhouse for our first date. Sometimes on a warm day in early summer, with my windows open, and the world alight with sun like [...]

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Two outs, bases loaded

Then, as today, it was my habit to check my email first thing in the morning. An email from Mike awaited me the morning of our planned date: From: Michael F. To: Heidi E. Subject: PLEASE CALL ME NOW!!!!! Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 22:40:36 Greetings, I guess GOD does not want me to take [...]

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Fly ball

“You goof!” Brenda admonished me the next day at work when I told her the details of my phone call with Mike. “You’re going pass up a date with a guy you know you like for some dumb blind date with a guy you don’t even know at all?!” My mouth fell open in shock. This [...]

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