Saturday, December 5, 2009

It's All In The Smile

A long time ago, in a lifetime far, far away, I had a girlfriend we’ll call Julie. Julie was, in retrospect, a fling. I liked her. She liked me. I met her shortly before I enlisted in the Navy. Julie and I didn’t see much of one another. When I was single, she was not. When she was single, I was not. Our lives have gone in different directions and that is that.

Recently, I have taken to disposing of shredded paper by mixing it in with straw in the bottom of the chicken coop. I put more paper than straw in the nesting boxes. The chickens appear to like the paper better than the straw. They have returned to laying eggs in the nesting boxes, something they have not done in quite awhile. When I clean out the coop I put the used straw and paper and chicken droppings in our compost pile where it slowly disappears along with the grass and leaves.

Two nights ago, I was looking through boxes for pictures of my family. The Boss was scanning pictures into the computer to create a slide show for digital picture frames for each set of grandparents. While I was digging through a box of memorabilia I came across two pictures of Julie that I had forgotten about. I looked at them briefly, and then quietly left the room. Moments later I returned. The Boss did not appear to have noticed my absence.

Last night, the Boss I and attended the annual TRAC Christmas Ball. This is one of two social activities each year that are hosted by her employer. We have faithfully attended the summer picnic since she started working at TRAC. This was our first Christmas Ball. The event was held at Kansas City’s Union Station, a grand old building in the heart of Kansas City. The children were with an aunt who happened to be in town on business this week. That gave the Boss and I the opportunity to dress up, step out, and enjoy a special night together. She was beautiful.

In the car on the way home, as we chatted about stuff, I casually mentioned that I had come across two pictures of Julie while searching for family photos. The Boss was never a big Julie fan, especially since Julie searched for me on the internet a few years ago, found my phone number, and called to chat in what was an obvious attempt to find out whether or not I was available.

“I shredded the pictures,” I told her.

“You didn’t need to do that,” she laughed.

“Out of respect to you, I got rid of them,” I explained. “I don’t need to have those around.”

“Well, thank you,” she replied.  After a pause she asked, "Are you still putting shredded paper in the chicken coop?"

"Yes, I am."

“So what you are telling me is that the chickens will be cr*pping on Julie's face.”

I haven’t seen her smile that much in months.

11 comments:

Teacher Mommy said...

LOL

Ah, love is in the little things...

Linda said...

That is priceless. oh, you are good!

Anonymous said...

HAHAHAHA!

You're such a sweet guy :)

Kathleen said...

Funny!! Just funny!

Kid said...

Man-O-man, even if you were single, NEVER see an old girlfriend who calls you after decades.

There is a reason she's resorting to digging through the scrapbooks, and it's usually because no one else will have her.

One of my old girlfriends called me after 35 years. She told be she had been through 4 husbands and had 5 kids. I told her it would be best if we didn't communicate any more.

CrossView said...

Oh Arby! You do know how to romance your wife! That sounds like something Guy would do. (Ok, so it also sounds like a response I would give...) And that's one of the many reasons I love him. Who says men aren't sensitive??!!

Linda said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bagel's Life @ Home & School said...

Awwwww, you're so considerate of your wife!!!! Kudos to you!!!!

Anonymous said...

Talk about some brownie points!! Boss, you've got a great guy there!!
Michelle
www.eagleeyeacademy.blogspot.com

TobyBo said...

something tells me the Boss got what is likely to be her favorite Christmas gift early.

Oklahoma Granny said...

All I can say is - What a special guy you are! I'm on facebook and my husband is not. Interestingly enough, last week I got a notice that someone wanted to be added as my friend. It was one of my husband's old girlfriends. Ummmm - nope - I think I'll pass on that one, thank you very much. I'll bet you had a great time at Union Station. I've never been there but it's one of those buildings I've seen on tv and I'd love to go there sometime.