How I love My Lady

This is Fae.

 In 1993, I was going to college at James Madison University in Virginia, I was away from my parents, I was away from some influences that were leading me nowhere, I was on my own and loving life.  And I was never more alone in my life.  I thought that going away to school would be the end all be all cure for getting me on track and getting my life in order.  Don’t get me wrong, I met some lifelong friends there and I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything, but I was missing something major. 

I dated a few girls there, but I was a bit anti-social, just hanging out with my friends and not venturing out much.  Tried joining a service fraternity for the Accounting School, but it was way too nerdy.

So I started playing games on the computer.  Okay, this is ‘93, so computers were still all mostly text based programs.  I was big into D&D as a kid so I started playing on a MUD – multi user dungeon.  That was cool and it was also how I met my roommate strangely enough, but not really what I was looking for.  I started playing on a MUSH – multi user shared hallucination – yeah I know , and found some cool people to roleplay with and really found online friendships.  Which today with Twitter, Facebook and other things, is really fairly normal.  I played regularly with a group of people, knowing that I had some strange connection with one of them.  We played quite a lot and interacted well.  I was getting ready to go home for the summer, so I gave her my phone number because she wanted to hear what my voice sounded like.

We spoke for over 4 hours that first night, and every night there after.  I told her I loved after a week on the phone, and I had only a vague idea of what she looked like, only knowing her from the text conversations on the game, and talking on the phone.  I was dying to meet her, simply because I couldn’t get enough of her.  I was trying to get ready for finals but I spent more time on the phone with her than I did on my books.  Yeah, our phone bills were pretty crazy.  Where was Skype when you need it?

So she came to visit me for a few days, taking a bus to JMU from Houston – yeah, 36 hours on a bus.  She ended up spending almost a month.

A move to Houston, a baby boy, a move back to NJ, a baby girl, several jobs, a lot of love, frustration, patience, and more patience, and here we are on my Baby’s birthday (I won’t mention which one), and although we bicker sometimes, don’t get where the other one is coming from sometimes, don’t agree sometimes, I can’t think of anyone else I would rather spend the rest of my life with than this dynamic, loving, caring woman.

You make me a better man Fae, a better person, a better Father.  You are the reason I get up and work hard, so I can come home to you and get you cups of tea and scratch your back when you wake up, and give you crap about all the tasteless reality shows I know you’re addicted to.  I love you warts and all, sometimes especially the warts.  I know you are my partner, my love, and my best friend.

We usually don’t exchange gifts, mostly because we can’t afford crap right now:), but I try to give her things anyway – like this post, and this Haiku.  I’m not a master, but I like writing them, and she likes when I write them for her.

Fae.  My loving Wife.
You make me a better man
Just by being you.