The Beginning

I was inspired to write today's post after one of my friends commented that Jimmy was starting to look like a certain biblical figure with his shaggy beard.  
"If only he had long hair!" She lamented.
Well guess what?  He did have long hair at one point.  Really long hair. Unfortunately, the long hair and beard have never coincided.  Or maybe that's a fortunate thing.  Of course I'm going to post the photographical evidence for your viewing pleasure, but I thought I'd mix the pictures in with the story that began 13 years ago with the blossoming of our relationship.

I remember seeing Jimmy on my first day of grade 10 in the cafeteria and thinking he was cute.  Jimmy will correct me because he says that he wasn't at school on that day, his first day of grade 12.  Where was he?  Off somewhere playing lacrosse, of course.  Regardless, it was near the beginning of the school year. Being that he was in grade 12 though, I brushed off any thoughts of anything coming of it.  
So imagine my surprise when one afternoon in January my friends and I were accosted in the common room by Jimmy and his friends.  Their calls of "Hey you!" just couldn't be ignored.  Once we realized they were talking to us, the serious conversation began.
One of Jimmy's friends broke the ice in telling me that Jimmy liked me.  Jimmy immediately turned red and ran from the common room, giving solid credit to his friend's claim.  With Jimmy out of ear shot, his friend could begin his interrogation in earnest.  He asked questions that I'm sure are used today by dating services the world over.  

Rocking the his and hers G Shock watches.

Things like: "Do you like guys who play hockey?  Well Jimmy plays hockey."
Or: "Do you like who play rugby? Cuz Jimmy plays rugby."
And my favourite: "Do you like guys who chew tobacco?"  The answer to this one was a definite no, and Jimmy's friend, clearly wanting to preserve Jimmy's dignity, responded, "Well that's okay, Jimmy only tried it once, and he threw up afterwards." Dreamy!
Displaying a level of class I haven't seen since, Jimmy's friend reached into the nearby garbage can, pulled out a slip of paper, wrote Jimmy's phone number down, and collected my number to pass on to Jimmy.  And then . . . nothing.  Well, that's not true.  I did notice Jimmy taking the long way to his afternoon classes, going through the grade 10 hallway to pass by my locker, but he never said anything or acknowledged me in any way.  So after a couple of weeks, I very uncharacteristically decided to take matters into my own hands and phone him.

Remember those days when no one had their own cell phone and you had to phone their home number, all the while fretting that their mom or dad would answer and wonder who this girl was phoning their son?  Definitely sweat inducing.  
So Jimmy and I would talk on the phone most everyday, and every time the weekend drew near I would hope he would ask me to go out somewhere with him. And every weekend he would tell me that his friends were coming to pick him up and he'd call me before he left. And he would call me before he left, and then go out.  With his friends.  And without me. 
Finally he did extend an invitation to his hockey game, which I demurely accepted. However I made a serious error.  I secured a ride from a guy friend.  And my arrival at the arena with said guy friend was not taken well by Jimmy.  What can I say, I was naive!  So, while Jimmy spent the next few weeks giving me the cold shoulder, this guy friend was beginning to show signs that he wanted to be more than friends, and I panicked, because my one and only weakness is that I can't bear to make people angry or hurt their feelings.  

I couldn't see any way out of this one - one of these guys was going to be angry and have hurt feelings.  So, how did I solve this dilemma?  By chickening out and agreeing to date the guy who asked first, and as in any romantic comedy, it was not Jimmy who asked first, or at all, for that matter.  You may have guessed that Jimmy stopped speaking to me at this point, and his loyal friends weren't very friendly in the halls at school.  So how did we end up the blissfully married couple we are today?  Seeing as this is already incredibly long winded, I'll fill you in on the rest tomorrow.  Hopefully the pictures of Jimmy's luscious locks will hold you over till then.