03 September 2007

A nice pair...


As is human nature, we pause at times to reflect on how the Big Gig is going so far. The round numbers work best for this: ten years, twenty-five years, etc. They're only numbers, but they offer a good excuse to kick back and contemplate just what the heck we've achieved in all that time.

If my life was a book, it would be all internal dialogue and incessant navel-gazing, a life trapped inside the skull like a beehive of dementia. "The Story" would make Naked Lunch or Finnegan's Wake seem like the straightest narratives ever written, since Dick and Jane got that goddamned dog...

Run, Spot. Run.

But once in a while, life develops irresistable events and forces the contemplative mind to peek outside...and marvel at beautiful things. And that is what we celebrate here. It was ten years ago: A nice, round number.

September 2, 1997 was the day I began a new job as a designer at a publishing house in Tucson. It was about 10am when my tour of the office led me to the desk of a charming Editor who commanded my full attention from the first handshake.

The attraction was violent and crazy and obsessive, and intellectual as well. That first handshake wrapped a harness of sinew around my ribcage and sealed my fate: I would commence puppy-doggin' after this chick until she either fell for me or filed a restraining order with the Pima County Sheriff's Department.

Luckily, no such order was filed, despite my clearly tentative grasp on reality.

In those first weeks, I babbled at her endlessly about my obsessions, including a scheme to develop a new form of religion: a quantum cult called the AOTA (All Of The Above), where all gods, goddesses, archangels, demons, and nature spirits would be accepted as equals, under the basic understanding that EVERYBODY IS RIGHT. Thus, people would stop arguing over matters of pretentious, theological bullshit and just be civilized humans. Or at least shut the hell up. No pun intended.

She listened to all this muttering, and didn't run away to fetch the can of Mace she should have stashed in her desk. Somehow everything worked out.

Now it's a full decade, to the day, later. We've put down some pretty deliberate roots in DC (a homecoming for me, a new trip for her), and in that time, we've accumulated more stories than can be written or remembered.

To mark the occasion, a mexican restaurant. Of course.

And of course, you can't get decent Mexican out here, after spending nearly a decade in Southern Arizona. Still, Rosa Mexicano on F Street was a fine enough substitute. The margaritas were strong, the guacamole fresh, and the occasion was perfect.

Ten years seems like a long time, and it seems like the briefest moment... I can't decide.

8 comments:

Reya Mellicker said...

Happy anniversary! What a FANTASTIC salute to your relationship. Wow!!

Have to say, too, that AOTA is my religion. I didn't know there was anyone else practicing. It's friendly, including all the pantheons and belief systems under one roof, isn't it? Like a family reunion.

Congratulations to you two. Ten more, then ten after that. Bravo!

wordwitch said...

I too, wish to add my observations to my hubby's here - it's been an amazingly wonderful, beautiful, loving 10 years. And yes, we are still in the honeymoon stage - I am daily amazed and pleased to have such a loving mate.

Hugs sweetie.

M.

IntangibleArts said...

...and she still hasn't found the MACE!!!

Barbara said...

This is a great love story! Having just celebrated my 31st anniversary, I can tell you it only gets better as the years go by. Now aren't you glad you were so persistent? Best wishes for your next 10 years!

cs said...

Good Mexican food is hard to find out here; good El Salvadoran food on the other hand is everywhere.

My Californian wife is always reminded of the comparative quality of Mexican restaurants when we visit one...

DC Discombobulated said...

Hey Intangible... this Paul and you commented on my photo-blog about the USS Nimitz photos. I wanted to ask you some questions but i do not have an email for you. Please email me back at Oberlep27@yahoo.com if you get a chance.

Great words/style you have.. i need to delve into it some more... but what a great typing you do...

-paul
www.dcdiscombobulated.blogspot.com

IntangibleArts said...

CUFF: I can't say I'm shocked by the lack of great Mexfood here, but even the simplest pleasure of Tucson dining: the humble green-corn tamale... nowhere! I haven't seen a basic, working-class GCT anywhere in DC. But then, AZ didn't have Ben's Chili Bowl. You win some, you lose some.

DISCOMBOB: thanks much! Word coming soon...

Wild Hawk said...

Bro, you say it so well. We're just coming up on two (this time around), and feeling so amazed. Okay, two years of actual marriage; the meeting date is like in February. Three then.

We ought to have good Mexican back here, what with Mexican Town and all, but I've only been there once. Come for a visit (when we have money) and we'll go check it out.

And she used up all her life's allotment of mace on her brothers. Thought we mentioned that at some point...