Our Story

It's occurred to me that I've never really posted a detailed account of my life story. Or rather that's what this blog is, perhaps, a work in progress where I can account for all of the events that have led up to who I am today. But there are things I don't want to forget, things that I can feel slipping as life moves forward. So I'm taking the time to remember the details.


February 25th 2001
I was seventeen years old when I first met Mike. And I was dressed like a clown, complete with fuzzy yellow wig, rainbow flowers painted onto my cheeks, and a big giant striped outfit.

No one that I know can say that they met the love of their life, the would be father of their children, while dressed up like a clown. As embarrassed as I was way back then, I can look at it and laugh today. We'll always have a story, that husband and I.

I was working as the Burger King clown and had just finished up a birthday party for a little kid where I got to play Simon Says and crawl around in the play place for an hour and a half. It wasn't a bad way to spend an evening. Plus I made tips, always a perk for a seventeen year old working for minimum wage (which, let me tell you, was significantly less in 2001 than it is now). When I went back to change after the party was finished I was asked to serve food to the drive thru for a few minutes while a co-worker ran an errand. Of course there was no time for me to take my costume off and I figured that it would only be a few minutes, so I'd live and there would be no damage done.

Enter four rowdy teenagers who thought that it would be the funniest thing ever to walk through the Drive Thru. (We were young, obviously our, or rather Mike's, sense of humor is reflective of that) The manager on duty that night didn't think it was so funny though, and stuck his head out the window and yelled at the loitering teenagers, telling them that if they wanted their food that they would have to come inside and pay.... something about Burger King being liable for them getting ran over in the parking lot for being stupid, I don't know, I was too mortified to remember exactly what was said. Of course after the yelling the manager retreated to the back leaving me all alone, dresses up as a stinking clown, to deal with the fallout.

The four boys came in, laughing. But one, the polite one, the one with the gorgeous green eyes, apologised. He paid for the food with a crooked smile and was gone. A second later my co-worker was back, relieving me of my drive thru watching duties. I ripped the bright yellow wig off of my head and ran outside hoping to catch the boy who had left me speechless.

I'm a shy person by nature, I always have been. So this was huge for me. I had no idea what I would have said to him if I had caught him, if anything. But I tried. Unfortunately he was long gone. All I knew was that he had long hair, midway to his back, pulled into a pony tail, with fire engine red streaks running through it, and he had kind eyes. I secretly hoped that he would come back in again, because I was sure that I would remember him if he did.

Later that night after I had gotten home, and took the longest shower possible, scrubbing the face paint and stink of greasy cheeseburgers off of me, I plopped myself down in front of my computer.

In 2001 AOL Instant Messenger was all the rage. Everyone had one, each with a quirky screen name that was unique to them. Mine was Tigerlilyz, complete with that arbitrary "z" at the end to make it stand out. I was mid conversation with a friend telling her all about the hot stranger that came into my work that night when I got a random IM from someone who was not on my friend list. I clicked to accept, and as luck would have it, it was Mr Green Eyes himself.

We chatted for a bit and made the Burger King connection, or rather I told him of the Burger King connection since the picture on my profile looking nothing like that evening clown attire. He asked me out for the following night.

To Be Continued...

Click For Part Two