Twelve years ago . . .

. . . I went out on a first date.

She was bright, beautiful, funny, fiery, and wonderful. We had met a few times, starting with a chance encounter in a mutual friend’s car, and had spent another chance-encounter evening hanging out together just a few weeks before. I was always very nervous around women, at least romantically, but I liked her enough to get up the courage to call her and ask her out.

She said yes. I was thrilled and terrified at the same time.

I went to pick her up and met/got grilled by several of her friends, who apparently decided I was acceptable and let me take her with me. We went to dinner (at the Mad Greek) and had a very nice time. Afterward I asked her if she would like to do anything else—I just didn’t want the evening to end. She said yes. We wound up going to see Pulp Fiction (at Liberty Hall). Then we went back to her apartment and had tea. Her cat came out and jumped into my lap, which surprised her—he didn’t like most guys. And I was definitely not a cat person at the time.

We had a wonderful evening. I asked her out again soon after.

Now we are married and have two children. And I’ve never regretted asking her out that first time.

Happy anniversary of our first date, my love.

Will you still need me, will you still feed me . . .

. . . when I'm sixty-four?

That’s how old my mother would have been today.

Not so old, really. Still young enough to be spry and active, certainly. Still young enough to chase after her grandchildren, and hold them, and read books to them. Still young enough to chase us out of the kitchen when she’s cooking, and to fall asleep in front of the television and then tell us she’s not asleep when we urge her to go to bed.

It’s strange what time can do. Some days everything seems fine. Then suddenly I’ll think of Mom, whether it’s because something reminded me of her or just completely at random, and I can’t see for the tears. I can still hear her at times, and I can see her laughing and then covering her mouth or tearing up or just smiling. She’s still with me. She always will be.

Tonight I will once again eat Godiva chocolate ice cream in her honor, and I encourage all of you to do so as well. Whether you knew her or not she would appreciate the gesture, and as a good Jewish mother she’d be happy you were eating well.

It’s hard to be sad on a day like this. It’s sunny out and in the fifties, which is perfect weather in my opinion. I have a wonderful wife and two incredible children. I have good friends and close family. I have a good job and a good career. I have a lot going for me. I just wish my mother was here to share it all. But I know that she’s still with us in whatever way she can be, and that she’s proud of us and happy for us and wants us to be happy as well. Days like this, it’s hard to remember that, but that just makes it even more important.

Thanks, Mom. I love you. Happy Birthday.

Hmm . . . new books

Just found out that the Star Trek Corps of Engineers anthology containing my second two-parter, Creative Couplings--the one I wrote with Glenn Hauman--will be out some time next year. Cool.

That got me to wondering, though, what had happened to my first two-parter, Collective Hindsight. So I did some checking.

Turns out it'll be out in two weeks. It's called Aftermath, and you can find it here.

Nice. Now I just need to get copies, preferably in time to show them off to my family when they come up for Thanksgiving. :)

Catching up

Let’s see, what’s gone on since my last post?

I wrote and turned in a project, on time, so that’s all good.

Took our daughter trick-or-treating on Halloween, which was amusing. She was dressed as a princess—see the lovely wife’s LJ for pics—and loved going out, loved getting candy, loved seeing other kids. But she was too shy to say “Trick or Treat!”—I got her to the point where she’d at least hold out her bag, while smiling shyly and looking away, then she’d whisper “Thank you” after they gave her candy. Then she’d drag me to the next house. And she insisted I carry her half the time, because she was too scared to stand at the doors. Fortunately the neighbors were amused and understanding. I had fun going around with her, and it’s nice to meet a few other people on our block.

We also met several other kids her age, including a little girl who now lives two doors down. I’m hoping the wife will go introduce herself to them soon—between them, us, and the little girl two to three doors on the other side we could start a nice little local playgroup, which our daughter would love. She’s starving for friends her age, really.

Got together with Qadgop and Mook on Friday to watch noir films in prep for the noir game Mook’s going to run for us. We’ve stopped playing Serenity—the second adventure didn’t really take off, in part because we kept not being able to play, and we were all a bit lackluster about it continuing so I called it off. We’re doing noir (using M&M) for a little while instead, and then playing Mage starting in January, possibly alternating it with something else. So we watched The Maltese Falcon and then Sin City (three-fourths of it, anyway), which was a fun double-feature, and hung out. It was good.

Went out to the wife’s grandmother this weekend—drove out Saturday late-morning and got there in time for lunch, then headed back yesterday just before noon (I took the day off work). It was nice, as always—she’s a sweetheart and adores the kids, and our daughter is always thrilled to spend time with her. We didn’t do much while we were there, though I did manage to read a novel and do some work during the quiet times.

Not much else, really. I’ve got the new novel to start on, and the project I worked on this weekend, plus a biography to write and a YA book to write and another project that needs a background story. Some of those are due this week, some next week, and the novel’s due next month. So yeah, I’m keeping busy. :)

We’re also starting to get ready for Thanksgiving—only two weeks away!—and for paintersam’s visit next week. I’m psyched—I’ve taken the day off next Wednesday so we can run around and hit museums and so forth. And yes, I’m dragging him to lunch with me so he can see the crazies I have to deal with all the time. :)