The Authoritative History: Part III

The First Kiss

Remember that scene in Back to the Future after George McFly won the love of Lorraine by telling Biff to "take his damn hands off her," and they are slow dancing in the Enchantment Under the Sea gymnasium, and they decide they are each other’s destiny ? Then Lorraine says, “Aren’t you gonna kiss me, George?” And George bumbles around like an idiot before finally kissing her and saving future?




“I’ll tell them I was like George--totally awkward.” said Roo one Friday. We were on our way to have dinner with his family before going to see Back to the Future at an outdoor venue, and since in the short time we’d been dating (maybe two weeks) we’d become the source of much good-natured mockery (because we still lived together) we were sure there would be much hounding over whether or not we’d kissed yet. So Roo was preparing an answer to fend them off—even though we hadn’t actually kissed yet.

Maybe you’re wondering how it is that Roo still lived in my house even though we were in love and as good as engaged—how my protective father and conservative mother allowed it. Well, after our trip to California, the four of us got together for a what-do-we-do-now summit. Over chips and salsa, we determined that Roo shouldn’t have to move out—he was just starting a new semester of school, plus we all liked having him around. The parent's trusted us. We laid down some ground rules and steeled ourselves for the raised eyebrows that our situation would cause among neighbors and relatives. Did I mention I was a senior in high school at this point? Except for a few minor snags, this arrangement worked really well. In fact, we were just like every other dating couple except when he picked me up for a date all he had to do was stand in the kitchen and call, “Ready?” And when the date ended at the doorstep, we both went inside and watched the Late Show in our pajamas with a bowl of Chex.

Anyway, that night—the kiss night—we finished dinner and were on our way to the outdoor movie. Roo drove while I was trying to reign in my giddiness, for I was sure Roo was trying to tell me something with all that kiss talk in the car earlier—something like, ‘get the chapstick ready, my love, because tonight is the night.’

Back to the Future is good, but Back to the Future on a giant screen in a park when, despite it being September, the night air is still thick with summer—then it is really good. Watching it with my head resting on Roo’s chest—that made it great.

So as we watched the movie, I was sure that right when Lorraine said, “Aren’t you going to kiss me, George?” Roo would sweep me into his arms and kiss me for the first time.

That part approached.

Annie: [uh oh! I can hear Roo’s heart beating faster! He's getting nervous! Here it comes!]
Back to the Future: [George and Lorraine kiss, Marty doesn’t dissolve away, the dance ends, they go back to 1985, and Biff is waxing George’s car]
Roo: [this movie is dang good. I’m gonna watch it again when we get home.]
Back to the Future: [end credits roll mockingly by]

The park is left crowdless and I remain unkissed as we make our way back to the car.

I was hurriedly putting together a contingency plan. My first strategy was to cuddle up against Roo while we walked, real affectionate and, I think, obvious.

He just keeps walking.

Plan B: I slow down. I start lagging behind with my hand tightly around his. He asks me if I’m okay. Not the reaction I was hoping for so I move on to Plan C.

Plan C: I stop and say smilingly, “Aren’t you going to kiss me, George?”
Roo is taken aback and laughing awkwardly. He bumbled a little then said, “Uh…ok.”

So we kissed for the first time in the dark park, serenaded by Huey Lewis and the rolling credits of the movie.

Intergalactic Birthday Greetings...

To ROO:

Another Rooism...

Roo likes to talk about kangaroos. So yesterday while I was cutting his hair, he was going on and on about the general awesomeness of kangaroos. Hoping to catch him in a trap and expose his vanity, I asked him why he likes kangaroos so much (suspecting it had something to do with his own name…).

Annie: Why do you like kangaroos so much?
Roo [defensive]: well, can you think of anything better than a kangaroo?
Annie [condescending]: I don’t know…maybe Peace.
Roo [sassy]: yeah, well does Peace have a pouch?

(ah snap)

Since Peace is not a marsupial, my argument was rendered invalid, and I had to accept the general superiority of Kangaroos over Peace.

An Authoritative History of Annie and Roo: Part II

How we stopped being "just friends":

As the summer wore on, a few…irregularities caught my attention about my new best friend:

1. In crowds large and small, we tended to make eye contact across the room—the kind of eye contact that feels magnetic, impossible to break, and as though your insides are on fire (in a good way…I’m not talking heartburn here.) This never happe

ned with any of my other friends, it was a phenomenon specific to Roo.
2. I also never imagined I would turn down a date with my secret high school crush in order to hang out with my friends. But I did when Roo was my other option.
3. When I went to the movies with my other friends, I would concentrate on the movie more than the feeling of our elbow touching on the arm rest. This was not the case with Roo. “Seabiscuit” would not have been nearly as enjoyable except that it allowed for lots of elbow-touching dwell time.
4. At night we’d watch Star Wars outside on his laptop, and the best part of the evening was when he reached over to cover me with the blanket. I would have been annoyed with any other friend for blocking the screen just as the Death Star was about the get blown up. But I didn’t mind so much with Roo.

5. One Saturday towards the end of summer, after a long day of painting the deck together, I went into my room and found the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen: a leather-bound, gold-leafed, lovely copy of “David Copperfield”, my favorite book. The note inside said, “Please don’t get me anything in return. –Roo”. I hugged him for the first time that day.

6. Of all my friends, Roo was the only one I was hopelessly in love with.

Unfortunately, any course of action beyond friendly association was fraught with complications. He was four years older than me and lived in my basement, after all. And since neither of us dared to do anything about it, fate had to intervene in the form of food poisoning.

We planned a vacation to California—my parents, Roo, and I. We’d stay at Roo’s parents’ home, go to Disneyland, the beach, and a John Williams concert in Hollywood. I was so excited! I was excited the month before, I was excited on the drive down, and I was excited when we finally arrived. Then my excitement turned into nausea which manifested itself on the bathroom rug of Roo’s parents’ guest bathroom. I got the most horrendous food poisoning ever heard of and consequently spent our entire first night there huddled on the bathroom floor trying not to die.

The next day was to be our Disneyland day. On top of feeling death’s icy hand violently man-handling my insides, I felt guilty for being sick. Roo and I had been so excited for Disneyland. We both loved it and had been talking about it for a month. And there was no way I was going to disappoint him, so when I finally emerged from the bathroom, pale faced, sleep-deprived, and hardly able to function under my own power, I straight-up lied to everyone and declared that I was perfectly able to go to Disneyland.

I made it through the front gate before I threw up in the prettiest flower bed in the happiest place on earth. They all tried to convince me they wouldn't mind if we just went home, but I was determined--I would be riding Splash Mountain that day even if it killed me...and the likelihood of death occuring was ever increasing. My mother consented, then advised, "You better hang onto someone. You look like you're going to tip over." Who should conveniently be standing next to me but my good friend, Roo. He offered his arm with a smile, and had I been physically capable of smiling, I would have smiled back.

We spent the whole day that way, arm in arm, except for the times I'd have to find a flower bed to throw up in or a bench to lay on. I'd never had someone's arm to hold before. And suddenly everything about Disneyland became even more magical--the rides were more fun, the colors much brighter, the fresh fruit much tastier (on the way down, not so much on the way back up...). Roo sat and watched the fireworks that night with my head resting in his lap, stroking my hair. I couldn't see the colored explosions above, but I felt the resonating bursts inside my heart all night. Meanwhile, Roo lost all feeling in his right foot.

At the end of the day, the score was

Death:0

Annie: 1

Though the nausea wore off, the need to hang onto Roo did not. I went from holding his arm to holding his hand. And at the end of the trip, we looked at each other and said, "what now?"

So I told him that I was in love with him, and that I would be forever and he agreed.

Then we decided to start dating.

The Authoritative history of Annie and Roo: Part 1

We haven’t had much going on lately to blog about, so on this Flashback Friday, I’ve decided to delve back into the annals of my history with Roo and teach you all about us.

Today’s lesson: How We Met…

It all began with me waiting impatiently at an airport late at night, and ended as most love stories do: with me throwing up unabashedly in a well-manicured Disneyland flower bed. But I’ll get to that later…So I was waiting in the airport for my brother, Jordan, to return from his mission to Romania. The plane was late, so I spent the time watching the people—particularly a few young guys who were also waiting for someone. When Jordan finally arrived, there were many there to greet him, including the few young guys I’d noticed before. That was when Jordan introduced me to one, Roo, a former mission companion, and I thought, “Your name is Roo?”
And I said, “Hi, Roo.”
Then Jordan announced that Roo would be living in our basement while he attended BYU. I looked at Roo and decided, “I can live with that.”
So Roo took up semi-permanent residence in my parent’s basement. Meanwhile, I lived there too, just a stair’s flight above him. Though wary at first, I soon let my guard down when I found he could quote “Back to the Future” and play the guitar—a quality that I revered as God-like.

Roo became just another member of the family. He did house work, he did yard work, he ate and visited relatives with us. And during that time, he and I stumbled onto more and more aligned interests until we stopped being acquaintances and grew into friends. One day my mother insisted that he help me fill the gas can for the lawn mower. My first clue that we were friends: The thought of him occupying my passenger’s seat in the car, which would require we engage in conversation, did not turn me into an uncomfortable, awkward mess; second, he heard the CD I had going and he said, “this is a great album.” And my heart warmed.
Another time he interrupted my piano practicing by offering to play a duet with me on his guitar. We decided we would need music, so we went to the music store together. A few times.

Over morning cereal, before we’d go our separate ways, we’d talk about the places we wanted to see and the people we knew. At night we’d sit in our pj’s with my dad and watch old documentaries and heckle Adam West as Batman. 

We climbed mountains together, we quoted Holy Grail, we watched thunderstorms, we ran errands for mom, we did yard work, we talked about music, we liked the same movies. My usual awkwardess was strangely absent when I talked to him. And he was really good at making me laugh — but all the while during these months I was just Jordan’s little sister to him and he was Jordan’s old friend to me.

For now...


Next time: stay tuned for an exciting, unanticipated turn of events!

An Anniversary...

Today 64 years ago, Auschwitz was liberated.

I cannot ease the suffering of any of those people.

All I can do is remember that they suffered, and ease the suffering of someone else.

A Rooism...

One afternoon, Roo and I were standing together looking out the window of our apartment at the parking lot below--probably spying on some neighbor.

As we stood next to each other, making wild conjectures about the person below, Roo stopped mid-sentence and looked me up and down.

Looking concerned, he asked, "Are you really that short?"

I just laughed.

And grew a little bit shorter.