An Ode to Shay

Dear Readers,

There's someone I'd like to introduce you to, if you haven't met already. His name is Shay, and today's his birthday.

Shay and I worked together at Moxie Java almost a decade ago. I begged him to cover a shift for me the first day we met. He reluctantly agreed, and I promised to bake him cookies and I gave him a hug. I never came through with the cookies.

On Sunday's, Shay would come in and hang out at the counter while I made drinks. He'd strike up political conversations with me just to watch me get mad. One day we made arrangements to hang out at the art museum together. I showed up at the museum, found it to be closed, and left. Shay showed up about 10 minutes later, and waited for me for an hour. He thought I had stood him up. The next day, after his mother encouraged him to, he called me to see if I wanted to grab something to eat. I didn't, but a little voice told me to go anyway. We talked until 5:30 the next morning. We've been together every day since.

We went for a walk one day. It was a very cold day, the Tuesday after Valentine's Day. He acted very strange that day, he wouldn't let me touch him or get to close. He took me on a walk through the MK Nature Center. We found a quiet place to sit down, and he went off on this speech about how people get to a place in their lives where they have to make changes blah blah blah. I thought he was breaking up with me, and I was making plans in my head to move back to the east coast to get away from him. Instead of breaking up though, he pulled out a ring and asked me to marry him. Most girls hope for a romantic experience...I like one laced with a little cruelty. I punched him. And then I said yes.

Since then, I have had the privilege of being around Shay most every single day. I know just about everything about him. I know about his talent as an artist, and it never ceases to amaze me. I know his patience and love as a father. I also know that he can spend hours with video games and comic books, enjoyed going to Comicon more than he will admit, and that his taste in music is so vast to the point it's obnoxious. Perhaps his most outstanding quality is his ability to put up with me. Lord knows I've tested him over the last 8 years. That's why he makes such a good high school teacher...next to me, teenagers are a piece of cake.

And so I dedicate this blog to my dear, sweet Shay, and wish him the happiest of happy birthdays. I hope that his 31st year is among his best. And in case this message doesn't scream it, allow me to say: "I'm in love! I'm in love! And I don't care who knows it!".

Sincerely,
h.