"Her Kind"

Teaching poetry to high school kids all year has distracted me from the fact that I love it. So, this year I have decided to memorize at least a poem a month. The following is one of my favorite poems by Anne Sexton, which I memorized during the month of November last year. November also happened to be my wedding month and I think I scared Mike a little bit with my love for the "possessed witch" imagery. But in all fairness, he did deserve to know what he was getting in to beforehand.

I have gone out, a possessed witch,
haunting the black air, braver at night;
dreaming evil, I have done my hitch
over the plain houses, light by light:
lonely thing, twelve-fingered, out of mind.
A woman like that is not a woman, quite.
I have been her kind.

I have found the warm caves in the woods,
filled them with skillets, carvings, shelves,
closets, silks, innumerable goods;
fixed the suppers for the worms and the elves:
whining, rearranging the disaligned.
A woman like that is misunderstood.
I have been her kind.

I have ridden in your cart, driver,
waved my nude arms at villages going by,
learning the last bright routes, survivor
where your flames still bite my thigh
and my ribs crack where your wheels wind.
A woman like that is not ashamed to die.
I have been her kind.

Better than a night on the town

We love spending date nights downtown but sometimes even better is a pizza, hot cookies, and a good movie.

The History of Love - our story

Several friends have asked for the story about how Mike and I met but I hesitate because the story can't just start and end with that day. So piece by piece here is our story . . .

First Impressions:

Our singles ward has a temple night every other week and afterward we all get together and have dessert at a member of the bishopric's house. Holding a plate of treats, I noticed a new guy sitting in the middle of a group of girls. I went over and told what I thought was a very funny story involving a dog I bought, it barking, and me asking for a refund (all true). Well, I succeeded in getting this guy's attention but not in the way I thought. As it turns out he thought I had to have been very slow indeed to not have known that dogs bark before I bought one.

Random Encounters:

Mike and I would run in to each other at different church activities and events and each time he would say something cute like, "I was hoping you would be here," and "I wanted to call you but didn't have your number." And yet he never got that number and didn't asked me out. Finally enough encounters built and he had sufficiently peaked my anticipation by having every other girl in the ward swooning that he called and asked me on a real date.

The turning point:

On a weekend trip to a friend's house at the beach, we played our final jealousy cards and then folded our hands. He went on walks on the beach with other girls and I let another guy flirty shamelessly with me until the tension broke and we realized the game was not over but just getting to the good part. That's the weekend he made his first move (although oddly I didn't respond - stage fright) and I knew this guy was such a catch I couldn't let him get away.

"Book Boy":

The first time we talked I told him what book I was teaching in my class (Night) and that night he went out and bought and read it. The next time we talked I told him my favorite book (The History of Love) and he read that too so we could talk about it on our next date. And the next time I told him I would never read science fiction and so the next day he brought me a copy of Ender's Game to see just how much power he was starting to have over me. And thus all my students know Mike as 'book boy' from all the stories of my dating adventures.

Holding hands:

We agree that the first time was during the Rose Festival but we still don't agree if it was over dinner (I say he held my hand but I didn't hold his so it doesn't count) or when the fireworks started over the river (now, isn't that so much more romantic).

The History of Love:

I have always been so drawn to Mike and find myself quite smitten even now.

Christmas in China

We had such a wonferful time in China at Christmas. We got to hike the great wall, watch the flag raising at Tainanmen Square, bike-ride downtown, watch the acrobats, visit the Ming Tombs and the forbidden city, and do a lot of hanging out at home.

I have three sisters so this was to be the first Christmas with a boy in the house (besides dad) and not only did we have one extra boy but Mike's best friend started dating my sister at the wedding and he came as well for the week. We had so much fun toghether and all of us girls decided having boys in the house is a fun addition.