Love Is........a Mixed Tape

Hubby is romantic, in his own way.

When we met in college, he had a unique-ness about him. He was kind of a sloppy eater in the dining commons. He liked to tease my friends who I bunked with in the dorms. And, it was cute how he assumed since my hometown was near his, I would be more than happy to have him accompany me in a ride home. It was my duty, after all, as a cute stranger.

One night when we were going to go out to dinner I remember coming back from a class to find a post-it on my door.

"There are some pretty good lookin' steaks bbq-ing on the grills outside the D.C., can we postpone our date and head down there tonight?" I didn't mind, he was very sweet and his relaxed demeanor grew on me. Cute too, but I'm not gonna get all mushy. I wanna make sure you can hold on to your lunch!

It may be that this next tidbit about him is the VERY reason he and I got together...the reason we fell in love and are together still, after 16 years (12 married).

2 words. MIXED TAPE.

I don't believe I was ever given a mixed tape before. It must have taken a lot of thought (or not) to get every song on there just right. I wonder if the words to the songs swayed him in any way. Hubby likes music for it's instrumental 'coolness' rather than the words. He always says the words often ruin the song....so back then I was probably looking too much into the choices he made. But, maybe he actually channelled his inner romantic. That's what I like to think.

The tapes were much more romantic than the gas cap he gave me for my 19th birthday. My VW Rabbit convertible was very impressed, I on the other hand, thought it was a bad joke and that he really didn't like me at all!

The one tape that I remember most was labeled JSICUWYIM. An acronym for "Just Something I Cooked Up With You In Mind."

I'll give you a minute to grab a tissue.

Songs we remember on it were..

D'yer Mak'er-Led Zepplin
Rocky Mountain Way-Joe Walsh
What It Takes-Aerosmith
Show Me the Way-Peter Frampton
All Right Now-Free
Nothing Else Matters-Metallica
I Want You to Want Me-Cheap Trick

Metallica-pure romance baby!

Although he never did the Say Anything routine outside my bedroom window, blasting Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" on his boom box, I still fell for him. He was original. Still is!