This is True Love
Cats: Kids, Movies, Personal|So yesterday my wife was asking me nonchalantly whether I was going to take our two-year-old Josh to my parents’ house for the weekend. Knowing that she had to study for a work-related test coming up, I had been planning on at least a ‘boys day’ to the pool or something. But we had spent our entire three-day Memorial Day weekend at grandma’s house, and poor Josh had been going through ‘Oma’ withdrawal. So I compromised with myself and decided to take Josh for Friday night and Saturday, so he could get his fix, the wife could study and have some alone time, and I could still have Saturday night and all day Sunday at home with the whole family.
Little did I know that this had been a ruse planned for quite a while. Enough of a plan that earlier this week my wife gave me a gift card as an early Father’s Day present, because she doesn’t like to hold back on giving a present to anyone once she’s bought it. It’s a little quirk of hers that drives me up the wall around two weeks before Christmas or my birthday, when she wants to try to give me my present early. But Father’s Day is more of a minor holiday, and I was more than happy to spend the gift card on some stuff I’d been wanting, so all was cool.
Then last night she sends me a text mentioning a surprise for Father’s Day, that I’d find out about today. Okay, weird…I had already gotten my present, but whatever: if my wife wants to shower me with gifts, why not let her? All it means is she loves me. Again, little did I know…
So let me pause the story here to explain to those who may not have spent more than 5 minutes with me that there are but a few things I have been a fan of my entire life. The first is family: I have always loved being part of my family, and moreover, I have always wanted to have a wife and kids. The first part of that wish was fulfilled almost ten years ago when I married my best friend, Jessie, and the second half came to fruition when we adopted our beloved Joshua just over two years ago. The second object of my fandom is Olivia Newton-John in Grease and Xanadu, again because I saw those films as a toddler and was such a fan that I can sing all the songs by heart – in Olivia’s octave. Not usually something I share with the public, but it’s a part of me I can’t deny. The third (though by no means least) is Star Wars, which I saw in theaters when I was about my son’s age, and I have been hooked ever since. The only real limiting factor on my SW geekdom has been money, and a desire for people to at least identify me for myself five minutes before realizing I am a total Star Wars fan. The kind of fan who went to a Star Wars convention in a homemade Jedi costume, complete with a lightsaber hilt made from a real Graflex flash handle. The kind of fan who specifically asked Paul Blake, the actor who played Greedo in the original Star Wars film, to sign an autograph with the post-script “Han shot first.” (Only fellow SW geeks will get any of this.) The kind of fan who bought the dual-action lightsaber for my son’s second birthday so he could wield the mini-saber and learn to dual Daddy with the big saber.
Okay, so you’re getting the picture. The Force is strong with me.
That said, my wife is not with me on this. Never-mind that she abhors Xanadu (amazingly, I married her anyway), but she’s just not a Star Wars fan. True, she lets me geek out, and she actually wants me to get a display together in our family room for all the original SW toys I have kept since childhood. But she hadn’t watched any of the original trilogy until the Special Editions came out. Last week, I asked her off-handedly if she would ever let me build a life-sized R2-D2, and not only did she ask “What would you do with a life-sized R2-D2?” but also had to confirm “He’s the little blue one, right?” I was dumbfounded…this was stuff I learned before my ABCs!
Flash back to this afternoon, when I bring Josh back home to Mama. We come in, and my wife tells us both to come sit on the couch, while she shows me the surprise. I’m really glad she had me sit down, because I probably would have fainted. She has me close my eyes, then open them a few seconds later, to see this:
I was looking for evidence this was a fake tattoo.
WOW. Crossed lightsabers with Josh’s and my names. On her arm. I couldn’t believe it…it had to be fake, like she had gone to a face-painter or something. But she insisted it was real. Wow. Here’s a detail from the above photo:
Yup, it's real, alright.
Aside from some shock and mild disappointment that she had sprung on me this kind of permanent (and, let’s face it, not un-expensive) addition to her body, I was completely blown away that she would do such a thing–especially an undeniable Star Wars reference in a permanent homage to me and our son!
It takes a special woman not only to love such a fervent Star Wars fan like me (and allow our son to become trained in the ways of the Force, as well), but also go the extra mile to do this:
This is true love.
What a fantastic gift! I can never, EVER question this woman’s undying, unconditional love for me. I love you, my darling wife.
