Oh My Gawd! This Is MY Song!

 

     I will be the first to admit it. I am slightly addicted to Pinterest. I will also admit that I had never heard of the site until one of my Favorite Baristas was talking about some cookies she had made and as the conversation went on she told me about this fabulous place in "computer land" where whatever you could dream up someone already posted. From decorations to recipes, it was all there and it was full of color and it was glorious. When I finally made it home that night of course I flipped a switch, signing into this new found place, making my account. It was like life to me for hours on end. I would stay up till 3am most nights shuffling through ideas and placing them in the right folders so they would be easy to access later. Things where they belong. Perfect for me. A Virgo. After a few years though, life started to happened and my obsession was moved to a back burner. You know, the ones with the flames barely lit. Ones that couldn't warm an old tea kettle if it tried or at least not within a weeks time.

     Friday afternoon "we" were out driving someplace. *Note: Destination is never known with us. It is as we pile in the car but once that key turns it is a whole different story. One of my favorite drives is the back road in Snohomish heading towards Monroe. Even when I was a child trekking my way out there every few weekends, I can still remember in the Spring all the calves in random fields behind walls of pink blossomed cherry trees. How come Autumn the trees were dancing profoundly while their brightly colored yellow, orange and red leaves would swirl around before coming to rest on the pavement, the smell of fresh air mixed with fire. In Winter how everything looked so clean, so white that it was a totally different World so easily to get lost in. While on this very road (again) an announcement came over the radio saying something about Marymoor Park. I was instantly pulled back into time to when I was dating Mark. Ya see, Mark used to race bikes at Marymoor when I lived in Redmond and we dated. I know because he had this little scar on his chin where he had fell once. It was small. You really couldn't notice it but it was there. He hated it. I thought it was cute and a reminder what a champion was all about. Mark and I met at work. Sorta. He was the cute guy (you know how work always has that one guy and one girl that everyone wants to date?) but Lord talk about shy. I tried to talk to him a few times but he would just smile. I brushed it off like he didn't like me. Huh? He didn't like me? That sure must have been my imagination running away with me. How could someone not like me? Now it was on! You always want what you can't have and guess what? Yup! 

     A little over to the left was Bill. He was a nice guy. Real polite. Well off. Played football. Worked over time. Drove a little family car. The All American type, I guess you could call it. He had a fun sense of humor and often you could find the two of us in the freezer sneaking mints on hot Summer evenings. After awhile he asked me out. Things weren't progressing between me the the "Oily Bohunk" Mark so I agreed to go out with Bill. Before I could go out with him though, My Grandmother insisted on meeting him. That was fine by me. He came to my place and they met. I was given the thumbs up and a "be home by midnight." Off we went. First stop was a quick trip to the nearest mall. It was Bill's brother, Frank's birthday - all he wanted the new Cyndi Lauper cd. Hmmm. Now this was a guy I was going to like. Bill bought the cd then he needed to deliver it to him. He was at work, he was a big guy working as a guard at one of the fancy eating places on Rose Hill. After meeting him and giving him his gift with a Happy Birthday wish we were off. We went to his place. Well, his Mom and Dad's place. You know the pain. 1st date and meeting the parents already. Joy! Bill lived up above Lake Sammamish in a gated community. There was a guard posted 24 hours a day in front who had to check your ID before entering and strangely enough upon leaving. ID flashed, we were in. His parents were very kind. They sat in their assigned chairs in the living room upstairs watching a comedy on the tv in front of them. Bill and I went downstairs to his room. We put on a movie after searching for about 20 minutes. Somehow we ended up falling asleep. Maybe it was the heat from the evenings Sun or maybe we were just tired from work? I don't know. I do know that by the time we woke up it was going on 6:30am and I was preparing for my death as I walked through the front door. If not for being late - past my midnight crew few - for not calling or checking in. To my amazement though, Grandma was sitting at the table sipping her freshly brewed coffee. "Did you have a good time?" Ummmm "Yes." "That's nice dear." Off to my room I went. For the next week or so, Bill and I continued to go out every night. 

     Still having my sights set on Mark, one night at work Bill and I were talking about going out and I told him that I always feel bad because Mark looks so lonely all the time. Bill suggested I asked Mark the next time I seen him if he wanted to go out. I don't recall hearing the "with us" or "on a double date" so I ran with Bill's idea and when I seen Mark I said "Bill and I were talking and he suggested I asked you if you wanted to go out sometime?" Be still my thumping heart. Mark replied "Sure." What? He said Yes! Yes! Honestly working the rest of the night was pretty hard. My smile made my cheeks hurt. I didn't care though. Ha! Ha! Neener Neener!  The next afternoon came around and I relayed to My Grandmother that I was going out. She told me to say Hello to Bill for her. I said that I wasn't going out with him but with Mark, another guy from work. I was reminded that I knew the drill and she would have to meet him first.
     ---> When Mark arrived Grandma and I were in the back yard, My Grandfather was out front so he sent him around. Now the look on my Grandma's face when she made eye contact - all the money in China wouldn't have kept me from missing the moment. Here is Mark. NOTHING like All American Bill. Mark was a little taller then I was. Thin. Shoulder length hair wearing a leather jacket trying to cover some of the holes in his ripped jeans. Every girls dream. I explained how nice he was. Grandma followed us to the front driveway. I think she was looking for Grandpa to help her stop this adventure I was getting ready to embark on. If she wasn't she for sure was when she seen his tiny sports car with the busted out back window. 12pm and not a second later. Waving to her and off some of my embarrassment, down the road we headed. Music kept the silence from being so silent. Mark wanted to stop by his house real fast. Meeting more parents on a 1st date. Okay by me. Now Mark? Mark lived two streets over from Bill in the SAME gated community. Just my luck. Fun! As we pulled up he apologized to me for the guard needing to see my ID and just as the Worlds spins, same guard that greeted Bill and myself each trip in and out. The guy bent down, looked at me shook his head a winked. I don't think Mark seen it. Thank you Lord because I had no way of explaining that. Mark's house was beautiful. His Mom's house. She was redoing the inside. The whole top floor was suspended in air. All open so that you could walk the full circle around it. The view of the lake was breathtaking especially at night with the lights twinkling over the calm waters. He grabbed what he needed, I asked about his Mom. He told me she was working and they didn't see each other much. She was dating some guy. Mark didn't much care for him but told me it wasn't his place to decide who his Mom seen and didn't see. (Funny, the whole time we dated, I never met the lady. To this day I have no idea what she even looked/looks like) I asked about his Dad. He looked real sad and asked if we could talk about it later and I happily agreed. Later. That meant ... more dates? Happy dance in my tummy. We headed out. Stopping to show ID once more, the smart a** guard looks down into the car window and says "Nice to see you again, Little Lady." I turned my head back and forth -a No not forming on my lips. Mark and I stopped by work to grab a drink (Calm down! It was a Large Mt. Dew that we were gonna share.) because I was thirsty or was it because I wanted to show him off? A little of both but more of the latter. As we pulled away from the window, the talk flowed real easy. Conversation seemed to feel like home for both of us. It was around 10pm at this point, he asked me if I still wanted to know about his Dad. Seriously? Of course I did. More talk meant more time with him. We drove for about 30 minutes when he turned off the smooth street into rocks. I wasn't sure what was going on but I trusted him. The ride was real bumpy and stretched on for what seemed like hours. One more turn and he pulled into a little patch of gravel that looked like a parking spot. We were defiantly on private property but there was no one around not for miles and miles. No lights, the only sound coming from the song of crickets and bullfrogs. He got out of the car and came around, opened my door and took my hand. I questioned where we were going. He just pulled me along. Roughly and I do mean roughly about 200 steps there we were standing in front of this huge pond. Big enough that I called it a lake and yet was quickly corrected. My God! It was nothing like I had ever seen. The moon lit up its entire being, focusing on the surrounding flowers. I cant even describe the scent. It was like if Heaven had a smell. I don't even know. We stood there for a few minutes breathing in all the wonders and then just as fast as we arrived there, we were back at the car. We got in. I was so confused at that point. Really? He doesn't like me? This sucks! He turned towards me , here it comes. My eyes squinting, scared about what he was going to say ... he looked down then looked back up at me and said "My Dad left us. I think it had something to do with my Mom? Cheating maybe? I'm not really sure. I miss him, ya know?" I asked when he seen him last, if they still talked? "Yea, we still still talk. I see him whenever I can." I wanted to know if he was okay but didn't want his heart to break anymore then what it already seemed to be. I just gave him a half smile. "I brought you here. I have never showed anyone this place. My Dad and I used to fish here all the time, the last time I ..." His voice trailed off when a loud thump startled us back to the now. Before we could even speak, a spot light blinded us. "Step out of the car!" You can't be serious. How the h*ll did a Cop find us up here? We were so far off the beaten path that search and rescue would never be able to locate our bodies if anything was to go wrong. After checking ID and a 20 minute speech - off we ventured back out to the open road. Talking about what happened, we couldn't help but laugh. Like what were the odds even? ... Odds. Even. Oh No! It was 2am - I am way past crew few. Damn it! We get back to my place and even though Grandma was sitting at the table once again with her, this time, reheated coffee the conversation didn't go so smoothly as last. I was told I would not be seeing Mark for a month and that I was to call Bill right away, he was waiting up to make sure I got home safe. "A month? You are funny! Wait! What do you mean Bill is waiting up to see if I got home safe?" I growled. "That nice boy called to talk to you and when I told him who you were with he told me not to be alarmed that you all worked together and the guy you were with seemed pretty safe." He also offered to go out and look for you if I wanted him too. She then informed me that he was the kind of guy I should be hanging out with and NOT the hoodlum I was with tonight.

     Summer went in a slow but fast motion. Jobs were left and Mark enrolled into WAZZU. I was able to see him a few more times before Christmas. Bill, I didn't see after that Summer. I did however <this many years later> see a name that looked like his on Facebook. Of course I clicked on it. It was him. We only said our Hellos and haven't spoke again. He is married now. Has 3 kids. I believe he lives in California or something. I can't really say. Our days spent together was a life time ago memory. A good one and that's where and how I want it to remain.
     As for Mark ... "In a box beneath my bed is a letter that you never read from (many) summers back. It's hard not to find it all a little bittersweet and lookin' back on all of that, it's nice to believe ..." (changing the words NOT the vibe). I never did know what happened to him but every Autumn with the first leaf that falls I think about him and hope he is happy wherever he might be and he is always releasing any fish that he might catch.



                                             Kazz 💋

Side Note: I added this story in here because I never talk about my "dating" life when I was younger even tough my kids always ask me. As for Pinterest, everything on there is all about Autumn now. It makes me miss home whenever I see a new post: posts that I am once again addicted to spend hours flipping through.