Four Years Ago Today…

…I came home from an evening at Kevin’s to find that my apartment had been robbed.

It was not a pleasant experience, but the cats were okay and they didn’t get the computer. It did mean that I moved in with Kevin in one day instead of a week or two, as had been the plan.

My memory of the day, actually, is not of “Oh god, burglary!” but of the kindness of my friends. My buddy Otter called me up and said “Do I need to come over?” and I think I said “…I don’t KNOW!” To which she said “Right, getting in the car now.” She trucked a jeepload of stuff to Kevin’s house and fed me while I was still dithering about police reports. My friends Mike & Amy & Wes showed up that night and they fit EVERYTHING into Wes’s truck and a couple of cars and drove the whole thing to Pittsboro. While geography means that I don’t see those guys very often any more, I will never forget that.

And of course, the nice police officer who, when a moderately hysterical woman grabbed him and yelled “WHAT KIND OF SICKO STEALS A PERSON’S SEX TOYS!?” said “Oh god, lady, I don’t know!” and did not charge me with assaulting a police officer’s lapels.

In four years, Kevin and I have largely transformed his house, as much as one can with flooring and paint and ruthless decluttering and random art. He has been the best roommate ever and he doesn’t seem to mind if I wake up one morning and decide to paint the hallways turquoise.  The walls are filling up with souvenirs of our travels together—Talaveras crosses and art from friends and interesting skulls acquired at random locations. I turned him on to Dr. Bronner’s soap. He taught me how to organize an inbox. We negotiated laundry-related divisions of labor. I took over all the yard work and put in enormous flower beds and slightly less enormous vegetable beds. He gave away the lawn mower and learned to cook beets. I got his beagle. He got my Little Orange Cat.

It’s been a lovely four years. I hope we have forty more.

7 thoughts on “Four Years Ago Today…

  1. Liz says:

    That… almost made me tear up a little. I think the fact that I’m still on coffee caffeine jitters prevented the tears from materializing, but yeah. You can call me a big softy, it’s ok.

    Here’s to 40 more years of… um… things!

  2. The Gecko says:

    N’awwwwwww. You’re lucky! I envy you that you have people who’d rush over to HANDLE THAT SITUATION for you.

    As a sidenote: I love that you have a friend nicknamed “Otter”. People here just call me “Jimmy” which I’m not overly fond of, but don’t fight, because that would just make it worse. “Otter” is a much more kick-ass nickname.

  3. tanita says:

    Wow, that’d be my takeaway, too. “Well, they didn’t get the computer…” Which is not to say I would value the sex toys less. I would be PEEVED. And more than slightly squicked.

    Cheers to you two, and also, as my Polish friends say, Sto lat! Why stop at a mere forty years more?

  4. Smitty says:

    You know the weird thing? I remember you blogging about that. I’m eighteen. I’ve been following your blog for more than half my teenage years O.o

  5. C. S. P. Schofield says:

    In spite of the alarming police idiocy I read about every day, nearly every police encounter I’ve ever had has been cordial (the sole exception being a jerk who was loathed by his own department). I still (20 years later) fondly remember the young cop who walked a couple of blocks to tell me that my Lady had hit a child that ran out from between parked cars (the kid had immediately gotten up and run off, so my Lady had asked that the cops be called to try and find him/her/it) and was in no shape to drive and needed a hug.

    The kid was OK, BTW. My lady had been driving under the speed limit on our access road, and has good reflexes.

  6. Tara says:

    Oh wow! That means that I’ve been reading your blog for more than 4 years because I clearly remember reading about that happening and wishing I could help.

    I also wondered whether there was a market for 2nd hand sex toys and then my brain shut down out of self preservation.

    Here’s to at least 40 more!

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