The Eleventh Key
Happy Friday, everyone! I know for some of us Friday is just another day in an endless blur of days. Maybe you didn't even know it was Friday, that's how quarantine brain seems to work. If so, it's Friday. Now you know.
For me, as someone who has been lucky enough to maintain a normal work schedule where I leave the house (most days, at least), Friday still signals the end of the world week and the start of the weekend. And, in this case, the start of vacation. Well, a staycation, I suppose. We had taken Thanksgiving week off to visit with family but with the current statewide surge in coronavirus cases, we canceled that. It was the right thing to do, of course, but there's some sadness about it.
Regardless, we decided to still take the time off. I can't speak for Mary, but I at least have been in need of some time off for months and months now. Of course, this time off will be filled with such fun activities as shampooing the carpet, but hey, it's something different, at least.
It was eleven years ago tonight that I met Mary. We'd been chatting on OK Cupid (remember that?) for a while. She'd just moved back after graduating college, and I'd just gotten out of a messy relationship. It seemed like we clicked, enough that I asked her if she wanted to come check out a show at the Borg Ward. My friends' bands were playing and I was also writing about the show for a website that covered local music. Looking back, I imagine that the Borg Ward was probably pretty terrifying to the uninitiated, but to Mary's credit she rolled with it.
I was nervous and drank too many cups of coffee (something I don't generally do, because I'm pretty sensitive to caffeine) and she rode up on her famous blue Schwinn. It was sort of a light cobalt color, and it had streamers, and the tires had a blue camouflage print. I knew right away it was her. We hung out, and probably had a few Pabsts, and watched the bands, and hung out in the Borg Ward's infamous garage, and I didn't scare her away. It was our first time hanging out, and she met like all my friends which looking back is pretty scary. But she handled it well and we had fun and had a good time and I told her good night and watched her ride off on the Schwinn, electricity in my veins.
We kept talking. I told her about the upcoming Jesus Lizard show and asked if she was interested in going. She was interested in seeing "the Jesus Lizards," she said, but didn't really have the money for a ticket. I suggested that if a ticket fell from the sky, maybe she would go. My friend Bjorn and I were going to the show together, and while hanging out in front of the venue, a couple approached us and said they had tickets they couldn't use, did we want them? "We aren't asking anything for them, if you want them, they're yours."
And so tickets fell out of the sky. I called Mary up. She was sleeping, I think. But I told her about the Jesus Lizard miracle and she ended up riding her bike from her parents' house in Cudahy to downtown Milwaukee. We kept hanging out after that, and played a lot of pub trivia at the Blackbird, and I met her folks, and eventually, we moved in together.
And two years later -- nine years ago tonight, for those keep track -- we were having dinner at the County Clare and I asked her to marry me. How she didn't see it coming is beyond me, especially given there had been several impromptu proposals before this, but I did it right and got a ring and I was so nervous and what if she didn't say yes but, dear reader, you will not be surprised to learn that she did in fact say yes.
It's hard to believe that it's been eleven years. Time has been especially strange this year, but it doesn't feel like it was that long ago. And now we are sharing our lives, and we have an amazing daughter, and we bought a house together, and did all those things that 16 year old punk rock me would probably think I'm a sellout for but I wouldn't change it for the world.
Speaking of buying a house, and of anniversaries, it was about this time last year when we were in the final stages of buying this house. The 25th will be the official anniversary, but as long as we're celebrating anniversaries, we may as well celebrate it today.
Changing gears completely -- the first two sessions of the Apocalypse Keys game I'm playing in and have been uploaded to YouTube, if anyone has any interest in watching. It's a really cool game with interesting drifts to the core PbtA mechanics, and it captures the feel of Hellboy/BPRD really well. Plus I play a Victorian ghost who is friends with a cowgirl angel with fire wings, a socially awkward alien, and a clone who erroneously thought she was the last of her kind. What more could one ask for?
Session One: https://youtu.be/E-LCDk-Yvak
Session Two: https://youtu.be/4wFpxpiQYI4
Lately, gaming has been one of the most essential activities in my life, keeping me connected with folks outside my immediate bubble and being kind of the perfect self-care activity: it's escapist but not avoidant, it requires critical thinking skills, it's social. I'm really thankful for my local group (playing over Discord, of course) and The Gauntlet gaming community. During such distressing times, playing tabletop roleplaying games has really been a lifeline.
I hope everyone has a safe and healthy holiday. Enjoy the time with family, whether biological or chosen, and celebrate being open and upfront with others about gratitude. Also, I encourage you to watch this video which adds an important perspective about Thanksgiving from various Indigenous folks and listen to this classic song.
Love y'all.
j.