Natural

So, what's the next greatest love affair? Do you really have to guess? Gander, of course. (This is the first of several posts about the music I associate with the ones I love. G and I have been together over 15 years so there are ample opps for musical inspiration.)

I'd known Gander for a about 6 months or so at this point and I was still dating Adam. G and I worked together at a little downtown theater in a bad neighborhood. Nearly every night we'd gather there and work, painting sets or running lines or dealing with ticket issues. Every night he'd usually be the one to walk me to my car or grab a drink with me and listen to me complain about my failing 'ship.

I liked him a lot, but I had a few preconceived notions about him. He seemed pretty preppy and I was fully vintage at that point. He wore a tie. I wore combat boots. I wanted to stroke his hair when he filed papers, which gave me great pause. I nearly did it once, too and it was if my hand had a mind of its own and I literally had to stop it and pull it back before I touched his golden hair.

As I grew closer to him, I would purposefully asked him to escort me through the dark wet Seattle streets to my beat up truck. He'd just drop me off and turn on his heel and head back to the theater.

Huh. I thought. Not interested in me. Of course, what I didn't know was that he was apparently completely gone for me, but was far too ethical to poach another man's woman. Even though I was giving him all the signs of the impending break up in that typical 20 something passive aggressive way.

One night, we had a cast party and I showed up decked out in my punk Audrey Hepburn look, hair askew, boots a laced up, with the news that Adam and I were no more. He brought a date. Who wore a vest and pleated pants. I died inside. I realized that he'd never date a girl like me.

I was a bitch to the sweet girl in the pleated pants and she left him at the theater. He had me drive him home. We got in a fight about it.

The next night we made up. And got together.

The next few months were spent in a haze of absolute love, talking for hours about what love meant, never leaving each other's side, diving into how it felt, occasionally debating whether it was scary or...natural.

And this song played constantly on my tape deck in my beat up old truck.



And it was.