TBT - Salad Bar Man, 2009

It's a bird... it's a plane...it's Salad Bar Man!

This week's throw back thursday post is dear to my heart because it was the first thing I ever drew for my husband. Of course, he wasn't my husband at the time. In fact, he only barely acknowledged my existence at the time. Okay, maybe not barely, but we had only spoken a few times.

Brian had come to volunteer for two weeks at Redcloud Ranch where I was working for the summer, in Colorado. Because he began volunteering after we had gone through staff training, he wasn't able to help with all the really fun stuff like leading and running the high ropes, repelling, mountain biking, etc. Instead, he was used in the kitchen, mainly helping to prep the 15 foot long salad bar (you can imagine all the chopping involved).

Like a true champ, he chopped his way through 2 weeks of meals. Three days before he left, we had our first conversation while throwing a football around during a camp fire. The only other real interaction we had was when I taught all the male staffers to do the Hoedown Throwdown–yes, Miley Cyrus' song and dance. We performed it for the Variety Show on Thursday nights. That Friday he was leaving. I volunteered to make him a few going away presents, so as a group of staffers waved goodbye to all of our guests, I madly went about trying to decide what to make.

This was the result ("A bit of silliness, really." Name that movie). A goodbye/thank you card with a caricature of Brian as "Salad Bar Man" on the front. Inside the card reads:

Brian, Brian, he's our man, 

if he can't peel 'em, no one can!

Most people make jokes about his abs, but I always tell them there was nothing implied, that is just the way caricatures are usually drawn. :) Besides this card, I also made him a t-shirt with a big superman "S" painted on it (which he still wears occasionally, as an undershirt, just in case a situation arises...).

I grown to love the story of how we came together, especially because it wasn't "love at first sight", for him anyway. But it would be unsatisfactory to leave it there and not also say that this TBT post is primarily special because it marks the close of the 4th year of our marriage, and the opening of the 5th. This card is framed and sits on our office desk; a memory like a vector–it has a starting point and a direction, but no end.

Happy Anniversary to my handsome, honorable, goofy, and loving husband. 

Thanks for your willingness to hold me through the tough times, 

encourage me through the craziness, and make me laugh through it all. 

I love you!