If our
children read Saturday’s post, I’m sure they’re shaking their heads and saying,
TMI, TMI, TMI, mom. That’s unfortunate, but it’s a fact John and I had sex
before and after our children entered our lives. How else did they come to be
if not. In fact, since there’s 10 years between the two, John and I had to
practice a lot before Thor came to be.
More
memories have surfaced since I wrote Saturday’s post. I remember John chasing
me around and us ending up on the bed in our room. AJ would come to see what
was going on and John would tell him we were wrestling. Of course, AJ would
then want to join in and we welcomed him on to the bed. I believe we did the
same kind of thing with Thor. And, don’t be misled here, we weren’t actually having
sex, just having fun with our clothes on.
Then,
there’s the memories of being together in my apartment. The long weekends…only
two days, but they seemed so very long then. John would spend Friday night, we’d
have breakfast and go back to bed. If we didn’t go to bed, the apartment came
with a very comfortable sofa. I cannot remember how many weekends we spent on
that couch under a blanket wrapped around each other.
That
kind of weekend probably wouldn’t happen today because there’s television,
smart phones and computers. Back then, in the dark ages, unless we listened to
the radio which was just music, the only other option was to read. We had
absolutely nothing to distract us from each other.
When
I met John, he was driving a red Pontiac convertible. After we’d been dating a
month, he put it in the garage so he could change out the rings or whatever. During
the months…yes, months…it took to rehabilitate the Pontiac, he drove a 1951
Chevy coupe. One day we were having an argument about something. I was sitting
on my side of the car instead of next to him (no seatbelts then either) when he
got on the freeway at 45th to go to Northgate to a friend’s house.
When the car got up to speed, the hood suddenly flew up and smashed the window…it
hadn’t been secured. Scared the crap out of both of us and we had glass pieces
all over us. The laughter from being scared took care of whatever the argument
was about.
That
Chevy also had three bullet holes in the back window. John made up some story
about getting shot at, about having a gun under the driver’s seat (he probably
did), and I believed him, hook, line and sinker. Those bullet holes were
actually decals. John even told me at one point that when he said, “Honestly.”,
he was seriously telling the truth…another falsehood. Still, the stories he made
up were, for the most part, entertaining.
The
Pontiac hit the road by summer that year. This was back when people went out
for Sunday drives (I miss those too.). We had such fun, and got sunburned,
taking our Saturday and Sunday drives around Seattle and environs in that convertible
. I remember John driving through Seward Park and Alki Beach. In fact, a few
weeks before John died, we took a drive so we could go through the new tunnel
on Hiway 99 (what a disappointment). We decided we’d just keep driving and
crossed the bridge to go to Alki. WOW, it had been a couple of decades since we’d
made that jaunt and neither of us could believe how much that area has been
developed.
I
was driving and made my way down what I think was Beach Drive. It was sunny and
there were lots of people hanging out, plus there was some kind of an event
happening on the beach. When I got around the corner, I expected the road to
stop, because that’s what it had done the last time we’d been there. Now, the
road continues and it’s a good thing John knows Seattle, because I had no idea
which way I should go or where I was when we made it to Fauntleroy Way. I would
have had to turn around and go back the way I came.
There
are so many places we traveled on our drives. Even though the suburbs and towns
like Monroe, Snohomish, Sedro Wolley, have grown and changed, when I drive
those roads, there’s always something that I see that reminds me of a drive
John and I took together. Even when a particular monument has disappeared, I
still recognize the area.
I
guess it shouldn’t surprise me since we spent so many years together, but at
times it does. I’ll see something new or something gone and want to talk to
John about it. There’s the new roundabout on 10th Northeast, all the
new apartment buildings going up on 155th Street…so many changes I’ll
not be sharing with him today or in the future. Still, as I stated in Saturday’s
post, I have the memories.