20 years

Dang I wish I had photos for this entry.

20 years ago, my life pretty much changed forever. Not that I knew at that time it would... but it did.

You see... there were two best friends who attended different Jr High schools. Jenifer and Lorie both lived in my neighborhood, but one attended Evergreen Jr High and the other, Granite Park Jr. These two friends decided to put on a smashing Halloween Party in Lorie's backyard, inviting classmates from BOTH Jr High schools.

It was to be an OUTSIDE party - complete with food and dancing. I was terribly excited to attend and decided to dress up as "Cleopatra". I wore a long, purple dress that was my Mothers, sprayed my hair black and straightened it, and adorned my head with jewels. Thinking back, since it was such a cold night, wearing sandals was NOT the best idea.

I remember walking in to that backyard, amazed at how many people were there. So many I didn't know (since they were from another school) but so many that I DID know. People were talking, dancing, eating... having a great time. I was shy and stood to the side, watching my friends have a good time and wishing I had the nerve to join in on some of the fun.

Across the way was a boy, dressed as a Genie, standing with his friend, dressed as a baseball player. We glanced at each other every now and then for what seemed like hours until, FINALLY, the Genie came over and asked if I wanted to dance.

I accepted, and we did the "side step, jr high slow dance" and the song ended. I smiled, said thank you and walked back to my corner.

A few minutes later, the Genie came by again. Without saying anything, we started dancing again. And kept dancing. And dancing. My toes were frozen - he must have been awful cold too since he was wearing that Genie costume that consisted of puffy pants and only a vest for the top.

Too shy to say anything to each other, we never found out names. I would leave the party as soon as one friend came and grabbed MY Genie to take him to the gazebo to "marry" another friend. (grrrr Jenifer... can I ever forgive you for taking my Genie Man??? *winks*)

I left the party with only memories - no name but "The Genie". I knew he must be from the "other" school since he didn't look familiar, and I was pretty sad that I never found out who he was.

Years pass. We move on to High School where I become friends with a few of the Madrigal girls. We start hanging out when one of these friends introduce me to Brian - he's a funny guy and we hit it off right away. Mostly because he was diabetic and I "understood" him since my sister is diabetic also. Our group became GOOD FRIENDS, and I cherished them all. Brian especially. We would call each other after dates (we were both pretty serious with our boyfriend/girlfriend at the time...) and I'd go see him at work.

Sitting in English class one day my senior year I start talking to Jenifer - one of the girls that hosted the Halloween party. We start talking about the people that attended the party, and imagine my surprise when she says "Oh, and Brian was there".

"WHAT?!?!" I say. "You're kidding! Brian and I are great friends! What was he dressed up as?!?!"

And she says: "The Genie"

SHOCK!!!

I couldn't wait to get to his work that night. (He was a server at Frontier Pies.) I asked to be put at his table and tell him when he has a second I need to talk to him.

As he sits down I say: "Do you remember a Halloween party your 9th grade year?"

"Yes" he says... "Oh, but don't tell me YOU were there! The only thing I remember about that party was dancing all night with CLEOPATRA ..."

And I yell out: "THAT WAS ME!!!!"

Brian and I remained friends for a long time. We were never anything more than friends for a long while. When I realized I had "feelings" for him I was scared. I didn't want to "be in love" with him - I knew that those feelings might ruin our friendship - and our friendship was AWESOME and more important to me than anything.

When I finally told him how I felt, I was excited to find out he felt the same. We made "rules". We DID NOT want to ruin our friendship, and we gave it a lot of time before we let the romantic side of our relationship show.

So here we are... married 13.5 years now. Still best friends. And it all started 20 years ago at a silly Halloween Party.

Happy "meeting" anniversary, Gene!

Love,
Your Cleo