Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Jane loves Tarzan!

Today is our 9th Anniversary. Now I know that many of you who are Tarzan fans believe we've been together since the Dark Ages, but that's just a myth. You probably believe that because you heard Tarzan's side of the story and he says it feels like we've been together since then.
Just as George Washington didn't really chop down a cherry tree and Columbus didn't really discover America, Tarzan and Jane didn't adopt a boy, they adopted a pig! All I can say in Tarzan's defense is, he's got quite an imagination.
We actually met online & I made the first move. This wasn't my normal M.O. Actually, there was no "normal" M.O. as I'd been out of the dating scene since 1986. We met in 1996. I was manic, which is the 'up' part of bipolar disorder. I wouldn't be diagnosed bipolar for 2 more years. Back to how we met ~ I was reading profiles of people in the same city I lived in & there was his. I liked what I read about him & sent him a message via our internet provider. Then we talked on the telephone and shortly thereafter, we met. He was the quiet, shy type & I wasn't.
We hit it off right away as we discovered we'd grown up in the same area, I knew some people he knew in high school and we were both Dodger fans. (I'm defecting next year)
During our first month together, we went to Mammoth for 2 days. He couldn't believe that as a native Californian, I'd never been there. So for 5 1/2 hours we drove in his little red sportscar to stay one night. There was just a small amount of snow on the ground, just enough to have a snowfight. Now, if you were to hear him tell the snowfight story, he'd say he won. And he did. Sorta. He did hit me about 100 times every place on my body BUT I got the best shot in! I beaned him 1 time dead center on his forehead! And given that he's 6 feet tall & I'm 5'4, I take that as a victory!
Shortly after we met I started this weird ritual. One time I noticed he had bellybutton lint. I started saving it in this little red glass candle holder. Believe it or not, I was hoping to save enough (eventually) to make a little something like those apple faces they made out of stuffed stockings. Okay, it would have to be a very small one and don't forget, I was manic. So I saved lint for an entire California winter. The following winter as I collected my first lintball I went to put the lint in the container and it was empty! I asked Tarzan about it and he said he'd forgotten what it was, thought it was dust or dirt & emptied it. I was devastated!
We were together for almost a year before he said that he loved me. But I realized something after he said he did: he didn't even have to tell me because he showed me everyday. Although I love to hear him say it, since it's such a rare occasion, I have never doubted his love for me. I don't know if the love we share is the same kind as others share, I just know that our love feels perfect & gets stronger with time.
Tomorrow night, as always, I will ask Tarzan to tell me "Our Story" of how we met. As always, he will try to get out of it & then finally give in. But he'll get up to a certain point & 'forget' at which time I have to fill in the blanks. I'm hoping I'll hear "Our Story" forever.

Jane loves you, Tarzan!

posted by jane at 7:05 PM