The Mayor and I plodded silently across the deep end of the pool and back again. We were far from the splashing and yelling children in the shallows.
The Mayor was busy surveying all that surrounded him and his brow wrinkled in concentration.
Every now and then he would interrupt our silent peace to marvel,"Mommy, It's so quiet down here."
The only other pool patrons nearby were a set of lovers.
She had her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.
Releasing her arms and keeping her legs secured around his trunk, her upper body floated in front of him as if he were swimming in a love apron.
I trudged back and forth in front of them thinking about how you just can't stop touching your partner in that early phase of love.
[As opposed to our current love phase which involves a whole family and is called: WOULD ALL OF YOU PEOPLE PLEASE STOP TOUCHING ME??!!]
I thought back to when K and I were newly in love.
I remembered how K's leg and mine would accidentally rest against each other underneath a table or the way his skin would burn against mine from elbow to fingertip on an arm rest.
Some part of us had to be touching, always.
I remember not being able to resist K. Propelled towards him, I stumbled over my own feet falling for him.
Walking in the pool and holding one of The Mayor's feet in each of my hands, I couldn't help but think that maybe that force I felt back then, pushing me towards K, was The Mayor's two little feet kicking themselves into existence.
Maybe so, maybe so.
When we were done swimming K gave me a mom's night out pass and I took myself to see the film Once.
Driving home I couldn't stomach the radio after the film's great music so I fished around for a tape to feed into the super-modern-cassette-deck-o-rama in my 1995-model-automotive-wonder-vehicle .
By coincidence I pulled out an old and well worn mixed tape, made for K when everything about him was new, labeled You Are All I Can Think About Right Now.
The mixed tape making phase of love...
Listening to the tape my thoughts again wandered back to the urgent feelings I had for K in the early days.
I smiled knowing that The Mayor and The Rooster are growing up in the shade of the strong, old oak grown up out of that early and determined root.
I pulled into the driveway, let one of our songs finish and went into the house.
And then...
Let's just say that K would recommend mom's night out to dads everywhere.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Two Little Feet
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81 comments:
i get to be first...so let me just say that the idea that the powerful undeniable draw of the early days was The Mayor's two little feet kicking themselves into existence warmed the cockles of my heart. :)
and made me wonder if i'm falling for determinism, but hey. :)
bow chicka bow bow? I remember thinking that very thing once myself...how wonderful it was to be constantly physically connected to your man and then…. three children in four years later...how if one more person touched me I would absolutely positively come right out of my own skin screaming. There is such a thing as being over touched.
I actually watched a mama orangutan at the zoo once trying to scammer up a tree out of the way of her baby. The baby grabbed hold of the mama’s butt hair and climbed right up her to suck the life, I mean the milk, at the her breast....our eyes met, that orangutan mama and I, and we had a moment of total understanding.
lovely.
oh wow....wow.....
my insides are as gushy and warm and gooey as melted milk chocolate.
Awwwww, how sweet.
This was such an incredible post, J. I liked it all, every bit of it. I felt the physical disconnect so keenly right after Liam was born, when all the touching was between me and our new tiny baby, who had so very many demands of me, as all babies do.
But the reconnection came back, and your post made me think of all that.
Oh how I miss the "mixed tape making" phase. I think hubby and I need a vacation....we're overdo.
I remember those days of yore....
I totally agree with everything Mary Alice said. There really is such thing as being over touched (and I too had 3 kids in about 3 or 4 years).
My husband just has to hang in there for another 8 yrs or so when the kids will totally ignore me and I'll be begging for attention.
Music, memories and mom's night out = good times.
I'm with Sunshine...G. and I need a vacation, and by ourselves. We've passed through the "mixed tape" making phase of love again, but there's no reason why we can't return to that country for a visit.
Wonderful.
And that same line that grabbed bon did so to me, too.
Oh, yes, mama's night out is a sure bet for dad's like K, alright. ;)
yes it feels like the 'would everyone please stop touching me!' phase is lasting much longer than the 'please touch me!' phase.
Heh. The mixed tape phase. We still have a few of those in the basement, but in some stunning irony, no equipment on which to play them.
This was lovely, J. You and K. have a good thing going there.
Love this post. Love it.
Oh, I loved this. I often think of those early days; how unburdened we were, how free. We didn't notice anyone else in the world.
Except, the differences is we made mixed CDs. Because, yes, I am nearly an infant.
You know, I've been with my husband for eighteen years, and my one regret is that he never made me a mix tape. I love this post, because it's nice to remember when we were that crazy in lust.
Aha! I wonder how we can persuade our spouses to read certain posts?
Cheers
Awe, the sentimental side. I love this post. Reminds me too, of the old days. Thanks.
You really do it all, don't you? I am, of course, speaking about your writing themes, not the things that make K , well, that make him a happy K, k?
Great post. Moving, witty and seemingly effortless.
Ah, the days of when just holding hands was heaven, even when sitting at Thanksgiving dinner with his parents. Under the table of course.
This is darling, really. This phase of love is a different thing, though isn't it? Something more solid, more comforting?
Oh what do I know, I'm not even married! :)
that was so very very touching.
stop touching me okay?
Loved this and Mary Alice, sharing a moment with the mama orangutan, fabulous!
My husband has finally realized that he gets lucky when I have time to myself. I don't need a night out with him. I just need an afternoon alone to get me ITM.
I was at a beach recently and saw the same sort of thing in a young couple.
Ahhh... mix tapes. I have a few of those kicking around. :)
It's so true... those love feelings. I never had them with the X (So sad. Should have been my first clue....) but I get to have them now... wonderful, wonderful, wonderful....
Oh. I love this. I remember the early days of my hubby and I's relationship. hmmm... those we the days. Now it's not so bad either, just different :)
i love your love.
I am a strong advocate for mom's night. The "feeding, bathing, putting the kids to bed all by myself" routine is justified by the results of Mrs. Joe getting some time to herself.
Mom's night out, eh? hmm...
What a lovely post... I remember those days with Nature Boy. Still have a few now and again...
You're very lucky.
Beautiful post. I loved this line:
"I couldn't help but think that maybe that force I felt back then, pushing me towards K, was The Mayor's two little feet kicking themselves into existence."
bow chicka bow wow love it!
i think my dog is going through the whole "for the love of god will you punks get the hell away from me" stage...so much so, that she's found very creative ways of getting out of the yard
i suppose having 6 "children" the same age would do that to anyone...
Love it.
Aha! So that's what my husband is doing wrong .....
No, really, this made me smile.
Never had children, wasn’t blessed that way. My wife and I only do things like, a couple of times a week she places her head on a pillow on my lap and I stroke her hair while we watch a movie, or I give her an awesome deep foot massage while on the couch, or hug her two or three times a night and tell her things like, “It’s you and me against the world.” I cook her favorites and make sure her car is ready for roll.
Speaking of which, yeah you, a 1995 vehicle. Mee too! I ain’t buying a super model anything. We need to start a club, the late model vehicle club. Sorry, not to get you think’in about late model vehicles. Now I’m depressed. I’m a late model vehicle.
Three cheers for rekindling the flames! That attraction does dwindle over time, but sometimes just the right song or old photo or whatever can bring it all right back to the surface.
Oh how I miss those days. Those early days. Makes me remember why I love my husband, especially after a rough few weeks.
Now if I could figure out how to not be touched for the next few days, it would be all good.
sounds like things are still going strong. :)
I loved this post...I don't know whether to cry or to go make-out with Big Daddy!
Aww, that's great!
I love those new love feelings, but nothing beats the love, dedication and the comfort of not shaving your legs every day that only years later can provide.
The Mayor's two little feet kicking themselves into existence? I love that, Jess. Beautiful.
i have to bandwagon and say "great post."
The thought of a child's two feet kicking into existence in that way is enough to keep me smiling today.
I related to this post on so many levels-- remembering to when Tobin and I couldn't keep our hands off eachother, to the now "everyone get their hands off me" feeling, to the coming home from a mom's night and feeling that old way again. Good writing, Jess.
Awww...that was really sweet. It's weird how things like that occur to you isn't it?
Mom's night out is GOOD. We should have and Atl mom's night out. SOON.
oh yes, the mixed tapes phase, the I can't possibly see you soon enough phase. The BF and I had a convo about trying to get back to that...
Reminds me how my mom always told me "you were conceived out of great love" - TMI then, but you get the picture.
This was so beautiful. You two are very lucky.
Gosh, I love this line:
I smiled knowing that The Mayor and The Rooster are growing up in the shade of the strong, old oak grown up out of that early and determined root.
Thanks for putting a smile on my face!
I think back too about the times when DH and I were newly in love and how we couldn't keep our hands off each other.. 11 years (9 of them married and 2 kids) later, I still find myself drawn to him.
that was me, in the pool, with my legs wrapped around the guy...that's the stage I am at right now and it is lovely.
Bow Chicka Wow Wow!!!
You have me remembering those days too. How each little touched sparked those feelings. Mmmm...yes, these days it is more "PLEASE everyone - just stop touching me!!!"
Okay, thanks for the link to the movie! I live in the southwest corner of OK and doubt very much that it will come to a theater here. So, I'll just add it to my netflix cue and watch it with my sweet husband when he comes home from his deployment.
There is something to be said for the comfortable, steadiness of mature love, isn't there? I'm just so sure of my husband. And that is a wonderful feeling. Not the electricity of our early days together, but a different kind of wonderfulness. Thanks for a beautifully written post.
What a sweet story! :)
I hate feeling myself pull away physically from my family. I hope they know that I love them, even if I don't feel like being touched by them 24/7.
I sometimes long for the white-hot early stage....but then I know I would not trade what I have now.....at least on most days!
I am all about love after a little R and R! :)
Mom's night out? I've never heard of such a thing. Lucky you!
Oh yes -- that feeling.
In fact, when Hubs and I first started hanging out, I was so overcome that I hit on him. Twice.
Luckily, he didn't protest.
How heartwarming.
And, I wonder if young-uns even make mixed tapes anymore. I have a feeling he'll be offering these nights off more often!
"Walking in the pool and holding one of The Mayor's feet in each of my hands, I couldn't help but think that maybe that force I felt back then, pushing me towards K, was The Mayor's two little feet kicking themselves into existence."
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
It comes in waves, I think. After you've been together for a while, you don't have to touch ALL THE TIME, but sometimes you do anyway.
I just found a whole stock of old "I am freshly in love" mixed tapes.
I listened to them all afternoon while my husband rolled his eyes at me.
He wasn't rolling his eyes later that evening. Eh-hem.
Great post. I'm feeling all warm and tingly again. ;-)
What a great post. I love the sturdy oak. What a great way to look at a strong marraige. Even better that you still get to play in the roots from time to time.
you are such a good writer. I loved it. beautiful beautiful.
what a beautiful nod to love and time.
and what Bon said. It was exactly what I thought when I first read your words and she put it so perfectly.
Beautiful. I loved the memories you brought back for me as well. Thank you.
(J and I made "mixed CD's" for each other when we were dating. Fun to remember.)
Ah, the mixed tape. I have a few of those, too. "Sweethearts" today don't know what they're missing....
Great post. Now I have to touch my kids all the time. (Ok that sounded better in my head.) I have to kiss those skinny arms and sweet necks. Of course it's not the same as first love, but it is fun in a different and still wonderful way.
Ahh I remember those days - hang on - it was this afternoon - what am I saying?
Ah, the Joys of being an ex-Solo mum with a new partner!! I still get fresh mixed CDs. :)
Now you've gone and got me all nostalgic, remembering the days before Tiger Jr. discovered golf and the Direct TV sports package. Sweet times. Glad you found yours again.
Oh, my. I get all shuddery just rememebering that phase.
What a beautiful post! So very right on.
*sniff*
Damn, you melt my cold, dead heart with your sweet words.
Oh, and...
Bow chicka bow bow
Fan-tastic!
How I love you!
And your writing.
And every time I hear Bow Chicka...I think of you!
Gorgeous!
After reading this:
I trudged back and forth in front of them thinking about how you just can't stop touching your partner in that early phase of love.
[As opposed to our current love phase which involves a whole family and is called: WOULD ALL OF YOU PEOPLE PLEASE STOP TOUCHING ME??!!]
I burst out laughing and my colleagues all looked at me funny. Obviously I can relate.
I wish my husband realised that mom's night out is a good thing.
That was so beautiful! I'll have to have hubby read....he's all up for bribes! I love it when you get serious.....but I love the humor you always share equally! Thanks for adding me to your blogroll (it took me a while to even figure it out...whew!)
Aaaaaaw! It's funny how love grows, isn't it?
Thank goodness we have those mix tapes to bring us right back to the beginning!
That's a great post. It makes me think warm thoughts about the husband. He still makes me mixed CDs which I must admit I probably take for granted.
I feel like we are slowly but surely creeping out of those disconnected days after having a baby.
on a side note, I posted about my wonderful Saturday which included lots of "me time." The husband was certainly paid back accordingly. ;)
I'm not sure where to start. All of it. I loved all of it.
I think specifically of that burning touch contact in the beginning all the time. That is love to me.
Perfect.
I just love this post.
I miss the mixed tapes days...dammit I'm going to make a CD mix for my husband. ;)
Recently I wrote a story for a class that involved a mix-tape and one of the people critiquing it wrote, "AH THE MIX TAPE!"
Is that like the modern universal falling-in-love language?
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