Three years ago today, First Valentine went to Heaven. I still remember getting the phone call from Teacher Friend. I was walking across the living room of my apartment and I literally fell ot the floor that Sunday night. I had just seen him two days before. And I had bought cookies to take to him in the hospital on my way to law school the next day. But that day...that opportunity...never came.
Today, instead of remembering the sad, I wanted to remember the happy and the funny and the silly stories about First Valentine. He'd like that better anyway. So Teacher Friend, The Cheerleader and I got together to do some reminessing!
1. Teacher Friend had a twin brother. One day in elementary scohol, we were all sitting around talking about where we were born. First Valentine said Oakland. I said Albuquerque. Teacher Friend said Amarillo. First Valentine looked at Teacher Friend's brother and said, "What about you?" The brother looked at him like he was stupid and said, "Phoenix." First Valentine said cool. He never clicked...nor did he ever live it down.
2. In 6th grade, all of the boys, The Cheerleader and I got sent to the Superintendent's office. Twice. Once for playing tackle football and hurting Teacher Friend's twin brother. And once for playing too rought on the buck-a-bounce and hurting Teacher Friend's twin brother. On the way to the office the second time, First Valentine threatened to beat him up if he got hurt again. Ha!
3. He had this ridiculous inability to say the word "magazine." Instead, he said the "g" sound, like a "j" sound. It drove me crazy. I am about 90% sure that he did it on purpose.
4. First Valentine always picked me as the first girl when choosing teams. Sometimes, like in kickball, this wasn't that much of a gesture because, well I'm just going to say it, I was really, really awesome at kickball. But sometimes, it was making a pretty big sacrifice. Like in swimming relays. The Cheerleader was far and away the best swimmer. But if First Valentine was picking teams, I got chosen first. And we probably got beat. Sorry about that, buddy!
5. One day First Valentine and Teacher Friend's brother went swimming in the stock tank at their house. They didn't have any swimming trunks, so they just went in their underwear. Apparently they got worried that they might get in trouble for swimming, so they didn't want any evidence. Apparently they buried their underwear somewhere near the tank and went commando the rest of the day.
6. In second grade, First Valentine and Teacher Friend got in trouble. Another boy wrote Teacher Friend a note that said, "I love you, I love you, I love you" and they wrote back, "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you." They had to write sentences as punishment. I don't think "I hate you" was the sentence they were assigned!
7. One day, First Valentine, The Cheerleader, another boy and I all got in trouble for something in Mrs. Graham's class....probably passing notes. If not, we should have gotten in trouble for that. Our punishment lasted about 5 minutes until she realized that she left something at her house and sent the four of us to go get it. I think times were different then....what teacher sends 2 boys and 2 girls to her house during the middle of school?
8. In high school, First Valentine convinced The Cheerleader to try chewing tobacco for the first time at baseball practice. He was a bad influence.....she threw up on the field!
9. Once in high school, First Valentine took me to a football game in a town about an hour or so away. He was driving the shiny red camero that he loved. I mean...LOVED....like pulled out some sort of cleaning rag to wipe it down after we got off my dirt road and back on the highway. Well, somehow, I convinced him to let me drive it part of the way home that night. I have never seen someone that nervous in a car (and if you know my mom, that's saying alot!) and I finally just pulled over and told him to drive because he was killing my fun.
10. You already heard about how he saved me from failing Home Ec in the 8th grade. (If you missed that prior blog--go read it. It's a good one.) This explains why I had gone out and bought cookies to take to the hospital, rather than making them myself. He knew me too well for that.
Anyway, now you know First Valentine a little too. And now you know why August 31 is such a hard day for his family and friends every year. Please keep his family in your prayers today.
Today, instead of remembering the sad, I wanted to remember the happy and the funny and the silly stories about First Valentine. He'd like that better anyway. So Teacher Friend, The Cheerleader and I got together to do some reminessing!
1. Teacher Friend had a twin brother. One day in elementary scohol, we were all sitting around talking about where we were born. First Valentine said Oakland. I said Albuquerque. Teacher Friend said Amarillo. First Valentine looked at Teacher Friend's brother and said, "What about you?" The brother looked at him like he was stupid and said, "Phoenix." First Valentine said cool. He never clicked...nor did he ever live it down.
2. In 6th grade, all of the boys, The Cheerleader and I got sent to the Superintendent's office. Twice. Once for playing tackle football and hurting Teacher Friend's twin brother. And once for playing too rought on the buck-a-bounce and hurting Teacher Friend's twin brother. On the way to the office the second time, First Valentine threatened to beat him up if he got hurt again. Ha!
3. He had this ridiculous inability to say the word "magazine." Instead, he said the "g" sound, like a "j" sound. It drove me crazy. I am about 90% sure that he did it on purpose.
4. First Valentine always picked me as the first girl when choosing teams. Sometimes, like in kickball, this wasn't that much of a gesture because, well I'm just going to say it, I was really, really awesome at kickball. But sometimes, it was making a pretty big sacrifice. Like in swimming relays. The Cheerleader was far and away the best swimmer. But if First Valentine was picking teams, I got chosen first. And we probably got beat. Sorry about that, buddy!
5. One day First Valentine and Teacher Friend's brother went swimming in the stock tank at their house. They didn't have any swimming trunks, so they just went in their underwear. Apparently they got worried that they might get in trouble for swimming, so they didn't want any evidence. Apparently they buried their underwear somewhere near the tank and went commando the rest of the day.
6. In second grade, First Valentine and Teacher Friend got in trouble. Another boy wrote Teacher Friend a note that said, "I love you, I love you, I love you" and they wrote back, "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you." They had to write sentences as punishment. I don't think "I hate you" was the sentence they were assigned!
7. One day, First Valentine, The Cheerleader, another boy and I all got in trouble for something in Mrs. Graham's class....probably passing notes. If not, we should have gotten in trouble for that. Our punishment lasted about 5 minutes until she realized that she left something at her house and sent the four of us to go get it. I think times were different then....what teacher sends 2 boys and 2 girls to her house during the middle of school?
8. In high school, First Valentine convinced The Cheerleader to try chewing tobacco for the first time at baseball practice. He was a bad influence.....she threw up on the field!
9. Once in high school, First Valentine took me to a football game in a town about an hour or so away. He was driving the shiny red camero that he loved. I mean...LOVED....like pulled out some sort of cleaning rag to wipe it down after we got off my dirt road and back on the highway. Well, somehow, I convinced him to let me drive it part of the way home that night. I have never seen someone that nervous in a car (and if you know my mom, that's saying alot!) and I finally just pulled over and told him to drive because he was killing my fun.
10. You already heard about how he saved me from failing Home Ec in the 8th grade. (If you missed that prior blog--go read it. It's a good one.) This explains why I had gone out and bought cookies to take to the hospital, rather than making them myself. He knew me too well for that.
Anyway, now you know First Valentine a little too. And now you know why August 31 is such a hard day for his family and friends every year. Please keep his family in your prayers today.
4 comments:
Thanks for posting this! Always a tough day, but enjoyed hearing the funny stories and remembering him!
oh goodness....that is really sad, but im happy you made an effort to focus on the good of him (i had to retrack and read the story of him first!). :)
What great memories you have with this bunch of friends, I really felt like I knew him from your stories. Hoping you made it through the day with happy thoughts :)
I always think of that video that I think Teacher Friend had of some class play or performance of some kind. First Valentine was standing in the back row and all of a sudden he disappeared from the screen because he'd fallen off the stage!
-College Roomie
Post a Comment