not ours, but another one

Nancy requested the story of how Mike and I met. Since today is our anniversary, I thought it would be a good excuse...

It was the summer of '96. I had moved to Las Cruces with Mia to start a new life. We were living in a tiny one room apartment and I got a job working at a gas station (Pic Quik). Mike's mom, Jean, lives a few blocks from where that gas station used to be. She would walk over every morning and buy the paper. She became one of my favorite 'regulars' and would often stop and talk. Most of the time, she brought Mica with her. Mica was three at the time and she was a real cutie. She used to try and steal candy while I was talking to Jean. I finally 'caught' her and told her that it wasn't nice to take things. If she really wanted candy, ask me. After that, I would slip her a quarter whenever she came in and she would pick out a sucker. I couldn't help it ~ she was so cute. And my heart broke whenever I heard Jean talk about her son (Mike).

She said that his wife had left him again and that he was living with her. She told me awful stories about things Julie had done. Every day, she would ask me to come home and meet him after work. She said she wanted him to meet a nice girl and be happy. I laughed it off every time. I didn't want to get in the middle of that mess.

Next, I met Julie. She started coming around a few times a week. Boy, did she like to talk. She told me what an idiot her husband was, how much she hated him, how she had been using him for money for years. I didn't know at first that there was any connection to Jean. Until Julie came in with Mica. I recognized her right away and started to give her a quarter. Julie started yelling at her and Mica started to cry. I tried to explain that I always gave her the quarter, but Julie was so rude about it. Mica gave the quarter back and sat there with the saddest look on her face.

Julie told me that she had decided to move to Indiana and she needed money to go. She was angry that Mike hadn't come back to her (they had been seperated for about six months). Her plan was to steal his mom's van and drive there with the girls. As soon as he found out, he would be forced to go and get her. Once he was there, she was confident that she could convince him to stay. 'He's so easy,' she said. 'All he cares about are his kids.'

I still hadn't met Mike, but I hoped that he didn't fall for her tricks.

Mike had started coming to the Pic Quik, but I didn't know who he was. He came in wearing an Eagles shirt and I commented that I liked it. He got all happy and offered to give it to me, even acted like he was going to take it off. I laughed and told him he could take me to a concert instead.

Over the next few days, a kid kept coming in and calling me Auntie. I didn't know who he was, so I figured he wasn't all there. When he came in with a friend, his friend asked who I was. He told him that I was his uncle's girlfriend and that we were getting married. 'I don't have a boyfriend,' I told him. 'Oh, yes you do. You're going to marry my uncle,' he said while pointing outside. I looked out at the gas pump and saw Mike. I laughed and told him that we had to at least go out before we could get married.

Mike came in and invited me to play pool at his house after work. We drove over and he showed me around. As soon as I saw the pictures I realized who he was. The smart thing to do would have been to walk away. But I liked him a lot. From then on, we were always together. My favorite memories are of the rainy nights I had to close at the gas station. The rain in the late summer is amazing. The rain would fall in sheets, flooding the roads. Hours would go by without customers. Mike would show up in his tight jeans and cowboy boots (I tease him about that now!) and we would run outside and dance in the rain.

Everytime it rains, I remember those times...

Happy Anniversary, Mike. I love you.

crossposted to kristyk.org

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