Well, Hello Again

Mike said I never talk about him on here (this is due to the fact that my family and friends grew sick of hearing about him and disallowed me from gushing), so I decided to write about our love story. This one is for (and about) Mike.

I have almost always been known as Steve's sister. He is two years older than me, and infinitely more popular and talkative. I was content to be in his shadow my whole life. He was a sophomore when I was a freshman in college, and this worked much to my advantage. He knew everyone, and he introduced me to everyone. He introduced me to Mike.

I was, as 90% of freshman girls are, boy crazy. I met Mike my freshman year, but I was actually interested in someone else at the time (this was back in my "dumb guy" phase--thank goodness that ended!). Sophomore year, however, I was over my freshman crush, and we began to eat lunch or dinner quite frequently with Mike. I thought he was hilarious (one of the funniest people I'd ever met), but I still wasn't really interested.

I was talking to another girl about Mike when she happened to mention that he was the biggest flirt on campus.

"Nuh-uh. He never flirts with me," I said.

"Well, you must be the only girl he doesn't flirt with then," she answered.


This bugged me because: 1. I was a pretty big flirt, and 2. I hung out with just guys so often, that a lot of them tended to think of me as "the girl who's a guy." I hated that. So the next time we had dinner with Mike, I posed him a question.

"I heard you're a flirt. How come you never flirt with me?"

My brother was appalled, but Mike didn't even blink.

"I didn't know you wanted me to."

"Well," I said. "Maybe I do."

He willingly complied. This whole exchange made my brother extremely annoyed, and he forbid me from flirting with Mike. And that is how it all began.

I was just beginning to step out from my brother's shadow, and his trying to boss me irked me. The fact that my brother didn't want me to flirt with him, irked Mike. It was perfect.

Let me tell you, Mike is one champion flirt. What started as a game (I seriously was not interested in him at all), quickly escalated--for me anyway. While I was falling madly in love, Mike still thought of me as Steve's little sister. He tells me now that he couldn't have been interested in me--I was only twelve! (I was 19, thank you very much) Everyone warned me to be careful. I assured them we were just joking around, but I was lying.

I knew he was just joking around, and I would lay awake at night wishing he weren't. Sophomore year passed and Mike grew bored with me. He finally made my brother mad enough that he forbid me from speaking to Mike at all. I could tell Mike was quickly losing interest in even talking to me, so I went along with my brother.

Over the next two years, I tried to remain friends with Mike. I no longer had the huge crush, but my stomach would still get butterflies every time I saw him. If he had bothered to flirt with me more, I probably would've been right back in love with him again. Finally I gave up. He graduated my junior year, and I barely noticed. We both had other things going on.

I came back to school senior year ready to find a guy. This was my last chance. Fall semester I started hanging out with a guy I didn't even really like. We never actually started dating, but we came close. He turned out to be pretty much a jerk. I was amazingly stupid to be willing to date a guy I didn't even have real conversations with, and that really woke me up.

I resolved that spring semester would be different. I had read The Rules (a book I recommend to any girl of dating age), and I had decided that I was not going to date anyone unless I was really, really sure. If a guy wanted to date me, he was going to have to work pretty darn hard.

I hadn't even thought about Mike for almost a year until I saw him in the VC. I had just gotten a tray of pizza with my friend Ashley when I spotted Mike walking towards me.

Surprised, I said, "Mike! What are you doing here?" Remember, he had graduated the year before.

He, being funny, turned around and walked away. I shrugged and walked the other way to sit down at a table with Ashley. I was over him; I wasn't just going to stand there looking like an idiot waiting for him. He found me a few minutes later and was friendly. He told me he'd come back for grad school. He gave me his phone number and told me to call him for dinner sometime.

After he walked away, I turned to Ashley and said, "Not gonna happen."

I did write his number down, but I never used it. A few weeks later he called me and asked me to dinner. I figured since he'd put some effort into getting my number, he actually did want to have dinner with me so I said okay.

We went to the VC, and we even sat on the good side (as opposed to the loser side) per my request. We stayed there talking until they chased us out. I knew it wasn't a date--he just needed someone to go to dinner with and he didn't have many friends left in school. It was fun though.

He once again told me to call him, but I once again didn't. He asked me to dinner a few more times, and, if I didn't already have plans, I went with him. Sometimes it was just us, and sometimes Chad or Bobby came along.

One night I went to dinner with some of my friends, and we walked past Mike and Chad. I stopped to say hey and talk for a minute. Apparently Mike had been having some bad dates recently, and had been lamenting to Chad. As I walked away, Chad turned to Mike and said, "Well, why don't you ask Liz out? She's cool. You have fun with her." (or something along those lines) Mike kinda shrugged it off, but he started thinking about it.

He called me within the next few days and asked me to dinner. We talked on the phone for at least an hour. I had no idea it was any different than the other times we'd gone to dinner, but it was different for him. Once again, we stayed at the VC talking until it closed. I got a little scared because that night, some of my old feelings started coming back.

After that, he started asking me to dinner frequently. Unfortunately, he is a procrastinator and I plan ahead. He would call two hours before dinner, but I would usually already have plans. If I did, he and Chad would sit at a table by the chicken tenders line (by this time I was sick of all cafeteria food and at three chicken tenders at every meal) and invite me and my friends to join them at their six-seater table.

Before too long, he made it clear that he wanted to date me. There were two obstacles, however. One was my brother. The other was the promise I had made to myself. We sneaked around, trying to avoid anyone who knew my brother (which was hard). Mike claimed we were dating, but I maintained that we were merely "hanging out and having fun."

Mike was worried to death that when I told my brother about us, he would tell Mike he couldn't see me. I assured him that our relationship was different now--I was older and Steve wasn't as protective. When I finally did tell him, he merely said, "So that's what you've been hiding. Well, whatever. It's your life."

All semester I prayed about our relationship, and by the end of the semester, I finally admitted with peace that we were, indeed, dating. The next Christmas we got engaged, and we got married the next summer. Now we have an adorable little baby and have been married for almost two years.

Way back in my sophomore year, my friend told me I had to face reality. Real romance isn't like the stuff you read in books, but she was wrong.

Fairy tales do come true. I found my Prince Charming.

Until...
Liz

Weird Dreams Installment II

This is a dream I had while in grad school. This is one of the ones where I'm merely an observer.

It's World War II Britain, and the dream begins at a large estate in the country. Five children (four boys and one girl) are living there alone with their nanny. Their parents are gone, and they have been gone for so long that they are now presuming them to be dead. The estate is so far out that no one ever visits--the children and their nanny are the only ones around.

One day a man, woman, and their two sons show up claiming to be the children's uncle and aunt. Since the children's parents are dead, this man and woman are now their guardians (sorry, but I didn't dream any names). I know that these people are really just after the children's money and estate, and the nanny suspects them as well.

Within a few days, the nanny disappears. The man tells the children that she left them, but now the children are becoming suspicious. One by one, the boys disappear. The little girl doesn't know what has happened until someone in town wonders how they are doing and why they haven't heard from them. The "uncle and aunt" take the little girl and their own sons and hide in the attic. Some men, including the typical British inspector in an overcoat and derby with a big moustache (actually a recurring character in my dreams), come investigating. In the main room downstairs, they find the dead bodies of the nanny and the four boys laid in a circle. They don't know there is another child. Since they don't find anyone else in the house, they assume that the nanny killed the children before committing suicide.

The house is locked up and left to sit until the war is over or the owners are found. The uncle and aunt tell the little girl that if she is very good, she can become their little girl and live there with them; but if she is bad, they will kill her too. She tries very hard to be good, but it seems like she keeps messing up.

The aunt begins to feel sorry for the little girl, and begins sneaking her money so that she can run away. The uncle finds out and kills the aunt. Now it is just the little girl and the man and two boys. One night, before going to bed, the man tells the little girl she has one more chance. She is just getting into bed when the two boys come into her room and begin pulling on part of the ceiling that is hanging down. With a crash, the whole ceiling falls in and water floods the room (I'm not sure why there was water in the ceiling). The boys go running back to their room, leaving the little girl to take the blame. She is scared to death as she sees the man's bedroom door opening, and I'm about to cry, I feel so bad for her.

Then I wake up.

I think this is partially inspired by The Others, although I hadn't seen that in years. Some of my dreams tend to get kind of freaky--this is only a slightly freaky one.

Still more to come...
Liz

weird dreams? let me tell you....

i had a string of weird dreams last night, and i just love telling people about them. a lot of the time i dream movies (stories where i don't figure in at all)--most of those are pretty freaky. at my old job, everyone was always ready to hear any of my dreams. i've turned a couple into actual short stories, but i fear i'm beginning to forget the rest. i've decided to start recording them on here so that i can share them with others and remember them at the same time.

i'll start with one of the ones from last night--there's not much to it and it's especially weird. i can't remember how it was connected--or even if it was--to the rest of my dreams. somehow there was a baby that was abandoned by his parents. in order to save him, a priest and some nuns had sent him to live all by himself on a star. he probably wouldn't be able to survive (there was nothing for him to eat, for instance), but it was a better chance than he had on earth (i'm not sure why). this mean kid had followed him to the star, but we weren't sure if he had hurt the baby or not. then the baby's dad showed up, wanting his son. we (i'm not sure how i was involved in all of this, but i was there) all had to go to the star to look for him, but we couldn't find him. the mean kid had come too, and it turned out he loved the baby and had tried to help him. he thought the priest had done something with the baby so he pulled out these snakes and threatened to let them go if the priest didn't tell us where the baby was. the priest didn't know; he said the boy was the last one to see the baby. the boy let the snakes go, and, of course, they attacked me, the innocent by-stander. then, while i was trying to pull the snakes off me, the boy remembered what he had done with the baby. it turned out the star was actually a zip-lock bag of frozen food, and the boy had opened it and let the baby inside so he could eat the french fries.

i woke up, relieved that the baby was okay.

told ya' they were weird....

more to come....

until...
liz

oh, david hasselhoff, you disappoint me so...

i am sorely disappointed and disgusted with America's got talent and America in general. i enjoyed watching the show initially this season (even looked forward to it), but a moral person can only take so many burlesque shows, strippers, and cross-dressers (or worse). and the thing that tops it all is that they keep saying, "this is a family show." my family certainly will not be watching things like that, and it just goes to show how horrible American society has gotten that such shows are considered "family shows."

this whole thing is very depressing to me. this isn't the kind of world i want gehrig to grow up in. i want him to be a good boy, but how can i keep him from all this evil when it is everywhere? i don't want him to be sheltered to the extreme, but is there any other option anymore? i guess all we can do is pray and do our best to teach him right and wrong. just because America in general accepts some things does not mean that they are acceptable. will it be enough though? this is what i worry about.

until...
liz

ps i am soooo not a fan of david hasselhoff--never have been. he was actually my least favorite judge...when i used to watch that evil show.

hooked on wordle

this is anyone lived in a pretty how town by ee cummings

and this is annabel lee by edgar allan poe

and this is one of the game, my book i'm trying to get published.

copycat

i was intrigued by hannah's wordle, so i decided to do one of my blog. apparently grammar is pretty important to me (despite the fact that i just used "so" as a conjunction).