Love like that

There are a few things I wanted to write about and, for the past two hours or so, I have been trying to figure out if I should just write them all together in one post or split them up. But then...I somehow walked into this:

A little background first...J's mother passed away 5 years ago. She was an amazing woman that everyone loved. I miss her but I know that J and Mick miss her more than I could ever imagine.

Mick, J's dad, has been dating. He's recently single again since his girlfriend broke up with him about a month ago. We live in a very small town where everyone knows everyone and he's been struggling to find a single woman to date. So we signed him up for a few of those online dating sites. It's funny because, since this is such a small town, the women that he is finding on these sites, he actually knows. And the conversation I walked in on was between him and J about these women.

Mick: When she was young (one of the women he saw on the site) she was built. Built like a brick house. If her face was a little bit better she would have been...whoa!

J: (laughing at her fathers choice of words.) I can't picture that.

Mick: Well, now. Back then, I was hot. I had long hair, all muscles. I wore the tank tops and women couldn't resist my blue eyes. (Note: He does have some beautiful eyes. Lucky for me, J inherited them.) I worked down at the mill. And I would hang out with all those girls, flirting.

He gave us detailed recounts of what these women looked like when he was a kid.

Mick: And your momma. I think she got to me the most because she would act like she wasn't interested in me.

Me: She played you.

J: Momma played you and you fell for it.

Mick: (laughing) She did. I know she did. She would talk about some boy at school and it would just burn me up. And she wouldn't act interested in me when all the other girls were throwing themselves at me. That just made me want her more.

J: Mom pulled your strings. She knew what she was doing.

Mick: She did. And I believe that it was the best thing that could have happened. I fell for her. And I'm glad I did. She was the best one. The best one for me.

He went on to tell us how certain family members were against them dating. Mick was a city boy and they didn't like it much. And how one of J's mom's older sisters helped convince everyone that they should be together.

My parents, they were divorced when I was little. I can't really remember any happy times between them. J's parents...married and as much in love the day she passed away as they were when they were just teenagers. They were married for more than twenty-five years.

And he still loves her.