28 March 2009

Not Gonna Write You A Love Song

But I will tell you a love story.

No, it's not my own; however, if any of you are interested, I'll be more than willing to expound on that topic.

What I would like to talk about today are my parents. Two of the most amazing human beings I've ever had the fortune to have in my life. I believe it. I've heard others say it. Friends of theirs. Family. Friends of mine. These two people are two of the brightest areas in my life and they always have been.

My parents, we'll call them Pat and Dolly, will be married twenty-nine years in a few short weeks. Together, including dating; just about thirty-three years.

Pat and Dolly met on a blind date, oddly enough, right around 1976. It was a good year. My father had been back from Vietnam for a few years and my mother spent her time taking road trips with her friends. My father had just finished his business degree in college and was a single man, living with friends. One fateful night, my father's best friend had a blind-date with a woman who happened to be my mother's cousin. The two (my mother's cousin and her respective date) were a bit nervous regarding the whole ordeal, so they invited respective friends, being my mother and my father, on their date, so as to change the blind-date to a double blind-date. Isn't there something about a double-blind in poker? Off topic, yes, I know; I don't play poker, so I wouldn't know, but it sounds vaguely familiar.

Regardless. The four meet at a local bar in Scranton (where I originally hail from; home of The Office) and my mother's cousin and father's friend did not hit it off, not by a long shot. They actually ended up arguing and storming off. This left my mother and father to clean up the mess. Two individuals, who had never even spoken a word to one another, not even on the telephone, sat in the bar, alone and probably quite uncomfortable. At least, I'd be, had it been me.

They ended up having a great time. They drank and danced (probably to Steely Dan) and enjoyed one another's company for the remainder of the evening. Where the two others had ended up, Lord only knows. At this point, after a few hours, they only had eyes for one another. According to my father, as he dropped her off at home that evening, he asked my mother if she believed in "love at first sight". My mother proceeded to say "yes" and then threw up in the bushes.

They dated for a few years and eventually got married. Three years later, I came along. Six after that, my brother.

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