Danielle is amazing... I met her in 1990 just after my 20th birthday at a mega-mall in Memphis, TN. She was working in an art supply store and attending Memphis College of Art. I was working in a Bookstore and had just dropped out of Memphis College of Art.
Her workmate convinced her to slip a note under the Bookland gate afterhours and I would find it a day later... she and Hal... would send several more of these notes before I caught on that it wasn't some cruel joke being played by one of my three friends that made up my social network at the time.
Our first date was on Earth Day and by July we were living together in a small back house apartment where my car was broken into three times over six months... rent was $300.
In 1995 we decided to get married... partly because we felt obligated... but mostly to get some cash.
We moved around mid-town Memphis quite often for seven years... looking back now those seven years seemed like twenty. We packed so much into it.
It was perfect… every friggin’ second of it.
In a sense Danielle and I grew up together… I was twenty when we met and just turned forty several months back. I have now spent more than half my life (just barely) with her lurking somewhere around the house. We were just leaving the safety of youth back in 1990 and with help from wonderful parents and kick ass friends we grew up (her more than me).
We can stand in a parking lot around 11:30 at night and solve most of the world’s problems. I might be the one to use gasoline to get a fire going (inside the house)… but she is what keeps me from burning down the house.
Together we allow one another safe haven to explore the world and take risks with complete faith that the other will be hanging out on the front porch if needed.
I will struggle for many years.
