I’ve spent a lot of time on this blog talking about myself. At some point, that’s got to be boring, right? At some point it must get tedious and irritatingly self-centered.
Ugh. Why stop now?
Our First Stop of The Week: A Twins game. A shitty game, a great time. Our seats are excellent, the cheese-steak was delicious, and the Surly Grapefruit Supreme is a particularly good ballpark beer. I love that She doesn’t love baseball, but loves going to baseball games. Lovely, isn’t it?
Today is the first day of our 30th year of marriage. She and I have been together for about 32 years. Around 33 if you add in Attempt #1. It’s funny, but sometimes I wonder what the teenage versions of She and I would’ve said had some very creepy and prescient someone told us we’d eventually end up where we are. Maybe, because we both have a penchant for sarcasm and a very loving brand of viciousness, we’d have turned to one another and simultaneously said, “Meh, I could do worse,” before going our separate ways, each with a little smile. Each to have a weird secular, collegiate, proto-adult Rumshpringa. Maybe even kind of always knowing we’d wind up back together.
Just kidding about that last part. We had no idea we’d end up back together. We both moved on, unencumbered by some unseen gossamer romantic connection. If I had to stipulate anything it’s that for my part, when we split up that first time, I don’t think we saw it through to it’s end. It was…unfinished. There was a possibility for a walk-off home run, but we decided to beat the traffic.
Our Second Stop of The Week: Stick Figure! One of my favorite bands was playing The Palace Theater. It’s a cool, funky, decrepit old theater in downtown St. Paul. They played all our favorites but one, and Cocoa The Tour Dog jumped and wagged her tail all over the stage.
She and I were together for our last few years of college (it took us awhile). There were some ups and downs, both of us taking turns trying to hold it together or watching it unravel. You know how the early Twenties can be. I know that one such unraveling was due to my Male Pattern Blindness. At some point we all have it. If it’s not fun, or if it’s difficult, or if it’s not boobs, we can’t see it. I was a slob, and probably an inconsiderate one. Not so much dirty, but more indifferent to clutter and chaos. She once asked me how I could stand being so messy, and I believe I asked her why she couldn’t ignore it.
Idiot.
And what She has to own was a vexing Fear of Losing Independence. Not a single thing about me stank of stability or responsibility, or of control, yet She was afraid of being subsumed by the We.
The nerve, the cheek.
Our Third Stop of The Week: Khaluna. The third restaurant by one of our faves, the owner/chef from Lemongrass and Lat14. Great food. The cocktails were very good, but a little sweet for us. The basil wings and the spicy curry chicken were outstanding.
It had been my initial plan to propose to Her in Yellowstone, right before our final year of college (my third senior year. Yep, third). But for reasons lost to the fog of time, and maybe a little because She expected it, I didn’t. Troy will not be controlled by your expectations woman!
What I did wind up doing was proposing to Her in Her apartment, not on one knee, after picking up Taco John’s. Because Troy is a f^*#ing idiot who will not be controlled by your expectations. Yikes. I wish I could change that bit of trivia.
She said “Yes” anyway, though I shudder to think what that says about Her. I mean, Taco John’s? No knee? Wow.
We got married in a lovely ceremony in the cathedral in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Seven days after commencement and two months before relocating to Minneapolis. I needed to stay in Laramie those two months to finish off my minors (remember, it was my third senior year).
Our Fourth Stop of The Week: MB Foodhouse for tacos. Do you guys all read The Eater? It’s an online publication that is an excellent resource for bars and restaurants. Go to eater.com and look to see if your city is there. They do a list for each one, usually 38 places, that are go-to for that area. They also write more themed articles/lists. In this case, She was reading an article about the best taco shops in the Twin Cities, and we hadn’t even heard of half of them. So we picked the one at the top of the list. Damn.
We are the proud makers of two excellent humans. We had them pretty young, and it was scary. I’d be better at it now, but then they’d still be living in our house playing our Xbox, so you know, things work out. Seriously though, looking back, we did the right thing for us. We missed out on a lot of nights out. But it was also easy to be more than just “Mom” and “Dad”. We were still kids. Hell, we still remembered being students (who has two thumbs and three senior years?).
She’s often said that one of the things that made our marriage a little easier is that we grew up together. Neither of us adults when we met, almost adults when we got married, and barely adults when we became parents. We grew up together, we were blank slates. Some of what we wrote has been sage and profound. A lot of it is hilarious and stupid. So, so funny and stupid.
Our Fifth Stop of The Week: Sooki & Mimi and The Basement Bar. She and I are huge fans of Chef Ann Kim. Her other two sit-down places, Pizzeria Lola and Young Joni, are two of our favorite places. Her latest place, Sooki & Mimi, is kind of Mexican/Korean inspired. The restaurant, and the cocktail bar underneath it, are so, so good. I was there last night, and I want to go again now.
And so now, finally, here we are. Embarking on Year 30.
Just so you know, the earth has traveled 17 billion miles since May 15, 1993.
That is a great long way for a couple to have travelled together.
Thanks honey.
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