I am listening to Jack Johnson but it's not a Jack Johnson kind of day. Jack Johnson is the kind of music that makes you shuffle rhythmically to the picking sounds of his guitar, the kind of music that makes you swing your hips a little with every step, the kind of music that when you ride your bike early on a warm sunny morning you weave back and forth across the road and relish the feel of cool air wooshing over your face and bringing you fully awake. Today has been grey skies all day with the smallest ongoing threat of rain and my body has rarely stirred from the "at rest" position, and here it is late afternoon and I have done absolutely nothing with myself. But the joy of listening to Jack on a non-Jack Johnson day is that it infects the day a little bit with what it should be, or at least brings up memories of Jack Johnson days you've had in the past.
This is why I like Mr. Johnson so much. Double that, because Dave gave this cd to me and introduced me to his music. Several of my favorite cd's were handpicked by my boyfriend and that just makes listening to their good music all the better.
I don't think about that enough sometimes, and I especially don't say it enough...but I am so grateful for him. I really am. This past Sunday we had this miniature family reuinion at my father's parents' home in Akron (Nana and Grandpa) and had a grand time with the grand swell of cousins and soon-to-be-step-siblings. Our family falls naturally into two "generations" of cousins, the Olders and the Youngers. The Olders are (in order of age) Matt, Myself, Andy, & Brian, and then Robin's two children Lauren and Jason were just formally adopted into the Olders. The Youngers are (in order of age again) my sister Natalie, my brother Erick, Libby, and Jake. Both Matt and Andy are Aunt Diann's children and since they're all in Texas they didn't exactly pop in for just a few hours, but for a rare moment all the rest of the Cousins were present. We played Manhunt (a fabulous mix of hide-and-seek and tag and capture the flag best played at night) and the Chair game and relays involving oranges lifesavers and eggs. The eggs were the most spectacular because my little brother ended up getting his right shin dyed in vivid yellow egg yolk.
At one of the moments when my Nana, stretched too thin between too many guests to be her usual self of intensive verbal labatomies, tried some speed incisions on me about (who else?) my boyfriend. There seems to be an impassable cultural gap between us, because in her hey day it was perfectly fine to be dating several boys at once and my extended exclusivity with Dave is raising her eyebrows so high to the point that they're in danger of being permanently lost in her snow-white perm. Heck, I was thrilled when she went from calling him my "gentleman friend" to referring to him (grudgingly) as my "boyfriend". But before I could lose myself in the safety of the melee of cousins once again she sat next to me and asked me, "Why don't you date more guys? I don't think this exclusivity is a good idea, I mean, how can you possibly compare and figure out what you want?" As the rope of the swing dug its bristles into my shoulder I looked at her and said, "Well, partly it's a cultural thing, but I'm happy with the guy I've got, I really am." And I really meant that. I wanted desperately to add "Why do you think I've been dating him for 13 months?" but didn't feel like pushing my luck; so I pecked her forehead as I dashed off to the rest of the group, tangibly sensing her cool blue eyes shooting disapproval right between my shoulder blades.
I've been playing with that exchange in my head a little bit the past couple of days, just thinking about it and pleased with my honesty. I wasn't saying that solely to defy her, I really meant it and I meant it for my benefit and not hers at all. She asked her question and I gave her my answer. Dave and I had our usual Monday hangout yesterday and for some reason it just seemed to go really well. We didn't do much of anything or go much of anywhere but it was simple and fulfilling. He cooked balsa wood in a pan of water in the oven, trying desperately to get them into arch shapes for his bridge project for class. We ate lunch at KFC and helped each other out with refilling each other's drinks and things like that. I napped on the downstairs couch as he finished up some homework, and then made a flustered scramble for the smoke detector, which the simmering balsa wood had set off (now that was interesting). He was really tired all day long (as he usually is) and due to certain monthly events I wasn't in the best of moods...but it was a really good day for us. I don't know what set it off exactly (surely that balsa wood stew isn't THAT powerful) but I got home that night feeling warm and happy.
This Friday night is the Goo Goo Dolls/Counting Crows concert with Dave (and possibly his brother and sister) and then I leave 3 days later for an 8-day long vacation in sunny Florida. My grandparents have a beach within 10 minutes hailing distance, a pool for a backyard, usually a day spent at a nearby theme park, and Grandma Margaret who'll invite us warmly to her girlfriend's card night (quarters as rewards for winning) and Grandpa Dee who loves taking each of us out to breakfast separately to show us off to his friends at the same little diner. But they don't have Dave down there. And I will miss him.
"But I'll you one thing we're better together." --Jack Johnson
This is why I like Mr. Johnson so much. Double that, because Dave gave this cd to me and introduced me to his music. Several of my favorite cd's were handpicked by my boyfriend and that just makes listening to their good music all the better.
I don't think about that enough sometimes, and I especially don't say it enough...but I am so grateful for him. I really am. This past Sunday we had this miniature family reuinion at my father's parents' home in Akron (Nana and Grandpa) and had a grand time with the grand swell of cousins and soon-to-be-step-siblings. Our family falls naturally into two "generations" of cousins, the Olders and the Youngers. The Olders are (in order of age) Matt, Myself, Andy, & Brian, and then Robin's two children Lauren and Jason were just formally adopted into the Olders. The Youngers are (in order of age again) my sister Natalie, my brother Erick, Libby, and Jake. Both Matt and Andy are Aunt Diann's children and since they're all in Texas they didn't exactly pop in for just a few hours, but for a rare moment all the rest of the Cousins were present. We played Manhunt (a fabulous mix of hide-and-seek and tag and capture the flag best played at night) and the Chair game and relays involving oranges lifesavers and eggs. The eggs were the most spectacular because my little brother ended up getting his right shin dyed in vivid yellow egg yolk.
At one of the moments when my Nana, stretched too thin between too many guests to be her usual self of intensive verbal labatomies, tried some speed incisions on me about (who else?) my boyfriend. There seems to be an impassable cultural gap between us, because in her hey day it was perfectly fine to be dating several boys at once and my extended exclusivity with Dave is raising her eyebrows so high to the point that they're in danger of being permanently lost in her snow-white perm. Heck, I was thrilled when she went from calling him my "gentleman friend" to referring to him (grudgingly) as my "boyfriend". But before I could lose myself in the safety of the melee of cousins once again she sat next to me and asked me, "Why don't you date more guys? I don't think this exclusivity is a good idea, I mean, how can you possibly compare and figure out what you want?" As the rope of the swing dug its bristles into my shoulder I looked at her and said, "Well, partly it's a cultural thing, but I'm happy with the guy I've got, I really am." And I really meant that. I wanted desperately to add "Why do you think I've been dating him for 13 months?" but didn't feel like pushing my luck; so I pecked her forehead as I dashed off to the rest of the group, tangibly sensing her cool blue eyes shooting disapproval right between my shoulder blades.
I've been playing with that exchange in my head a little bit the past couple of days, just thinking about it and pleased with my honesty. I wasn't saying that solely to defy her, I really meant it and I meant it for my benefit and not hers at all. She asked her question and I gave her my answer. Dave and I had our usual Monday hangout yesterday and for some reason it just seemed to go really well. We didn't do much of anything or go much of anywhere but it was simple and fulfilling. He cooked balsa wood in a pan of water in the oven, trying desperately to get them into arch shapes for his bridge project for class. We ate lunch at KFC and helped each other out with refilling each other's drinks and things like that. I napped on the downstairs couch as he finished up some homework, and then made a flustered scramble for the smoke detector, which the simmering balsa wood had set off (now that was interesting). He was really tired all day long (as he usually is) and due to certain monthly events I wasn't in the best of moods...but it was a really good day for us. I don't know what set it off exactly (surely that balsa wood stew isn't THAT powerful) but I got home that night feeling warm and happy.
This Friday night is the Goo Goo Dolls/Counting Crows concert with Dave (and possibly his brother and sister) and then I leave 3 days later for an 8-day long vacation in sunny Florida. My grandparents have a beach within 10 minutes hailing distance, a pool for a backyard, usually a day spent at a nearby theme park, and Grandma Margaret who'll invite us warmly to her girlfriend's card night (quarters as rewards for winning) and Grandpa Dee who loves taking each of us out to breakfast separately to show us off to his friends at the same little diner. But they don't have Dave down there. And I will miss him.
"But I'll you one thing we're better together." --Jack Johnson
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