Sunday, July 15, 2007

What Were We Thinking?


The answer is true to the following statements:

1. When Rex picked me up for our first official date, I wore a pleated skirt, a coat from 1960, vintage cat eye glasses and sported bright red hair (that I maintained to the tune of 100.00/month - ahhhhh, the days of wine and vanity).

2. Rex had his hair parted to the side, a unibrow, tight 501 jeans, a long sleeve shirt buttoned to his wrists and proceeded to wear bright green pants with a red turtleneck to a Xmas eve dinner later on that year. That would be his last time doing that.

3. I went from show to show, always paying rent, but somehow not having a lot left over at the end of the month. I lived in a magical apartment overlooking a nursery school. I used to drink coffee on the porch and throw Hawaiian parties in the driveway where lots of people got "layed".

4. Rex lived at his parent’s house until he was 24 so that he could afford the down payment to his first condo. (One that I bitched about for two years due to the location. I still feel bad about that as it provided us the down payment for a home I love even more than my second floor apartment.)

5. My idea of a day off is sleeping in, eating too much, over scheduling and under accomplishing.

6. Rex's idea of a day off is getting up early, drinking a healthy glass of milk with some fruit, mulching a tree and prepping a 72 page document for some hoity toity CFO doo hicky type person.

If someone asked us if we knew of all these differences before we got married, we could only answer "I do."

This leads me to today's stranger post. It involves a woman we saw at Old Town San Diego last night. We were all seated at a table with family and old friends in an authentic Mexican restaurant. Mariachi music was in perfect harmony with the summer evening and fish bowl margaritas. While Stink was too busy with his new coloring book, Pipsqueak clapped her hands while a white haired lady danced and danced to the horns. I thought she was part of the act, but turns out she was a patron just drunk off her rocker. (One could say "drunk off her rocking chair".)

While Rex chatted up my friend's husband, I stopped the old lady in front of a water fountain and complimented her skills. She looked at me and said, "I'm too old to care what anyone else thinks."

I wonder what she was like at 29 - the year I met Rex. Was she always this free spirited, or was it something that she learned? In any case, it reminded me to find some of my old photos (like the one above, taken in 1999) and get inspired to funk-di-fy myself a bit more. I might not have the cat glasses anymore, but there's a lot of meow left in this ol' tiger. Hell, I need something to embarrass my kids with.

What about you? Got any tricks from yester year that it's time to display again?

6 comments:

Liv said...

I really liked that. I feel like I "know" more about you in that I don't really know you, but geez...come on, you know what I mean, right?!

You would say "I do" again, and please confirm to me that you have told Rex that you feel bad about bitching about the condo. These boys do carry wounds.

Andrea Frazer said...

Liv, I did indeed apologize to Rex about bitching about his condo. In fact, I have apologized on several occasions throughout our marriage, including just last night. He's also told me that although he didn't want this house at first, he's so glad I pushed him to go up a bit in price and have faith we could manage it. He's sorry for being so stubborn. (Though I'll NEVER forgive his decorating tastes. He used to have end tables shaped like treasure chest from 1968. The kind with the rope pullies? Shiver me timbers!)

Susie Q said...

This was wonderful...I am sitting here with the biggest smile on my chubby, round face.

Why have kids at all if not to embarrass 'em?? *sly grin* It is what I love for at m ripe old age!

Hugs,
Sue

Princess in Galoshes said...

Mmmm. The Funasaurus and I are rather different, too. But we are a really good balance for each other, which I think gets us through a lot.

And as far as tricks from yesteryear... I tried to break out my drinkin' skeelz over the weekend, and got skunked by my 95 year old grandmother. So I am currently embarassed... and hung over.

Cheryl Wray said...

I LOVE the picture. And isn't it amazing how people come together? G and I have always been so different and we knew we were the moment we met--but it didn't keep us from being irrevocably drawn together (perhaps more because of it). And now we're so much more alike! too funny!!
I love the woman at the restaurant!

Gretchen said...

Well...on my first date with Big, in 1984 on Sept 15th, and I was 15 and 1/2. I wore a magenta bat-wing knit shirt, with black pinstriped trousers and dove grey flats. He wore a kelly green and navy striped rugby shirt, Levi's, and Adidas sneakers. We went to The Karate Kid. He kissed me 3 times. No tongue. Nice kisses. We were married in 1990.

In terms of tricks to display...well, today, in the car with my best girlfriend and our 5 kids, I did a mean white-man-overbite butt dance to Stevie Wonder's "Superstition". It was cool.