Married with Children

So, in order to get out of our apartment on a Sunday afternoon and more importantly to escape an invite from our roommate about the fireside tonight, my best friend, Ashley, and I surreptitiously gathered materials for a little jaunt to a local park. While at the park, we played a few friendly games of Skip-Bo as we talked of reasons why we wouldn't be getting phone calls sooner from the boys we're currently interested in. But, that's neither here nor there. As Ashley and I were laying on our blanket, playing Skip-Bo, a man and woman (husband and wife) walked close to us with a stroller and two separate hammocks. Up to this point, we had noticed that this particular park in Rexburg MUST be a hip-happening spot for local couples on Sundays with nothing better to do than to flirt and lay around in the grass holding hands in the park before dinner. But again, I diverge... so, this married couple begins setting up their hammocks one right after each other in a straight line among the trees nearest us. The woman is pregnant, which somehow I found funny since they have a six-month-old baby. As if the 6 month old isn't enough, they have decided that they want to BOTH have their hands full with two young, screaming babies, dirty diapers and bottles/formula galore! (I know I sound sarcastic... that's the point. Honestly, I really love kids and I only mock because I'll probably be in their shoes in five years.) Now this still is not what I wanted to say about this couple. It was their conversation that was the real kicker. Without anything from the husband or any talking at all for about five minutes as they are in separate hammocks, the wife says: "Hey, I think that these little tables must have been left here from some primary activity or something because they have ribbons on it." Husband: "Uh huh." Another five minutes goes by and the wife is playing with the baby. No talking between the couple. Husband: "Are you hungry, honey?" (It's important to have the pet name in there.) Wife: "No, not really." Silence. Wife again: "Are you?" Husband: "No." Wife: "Well, you must be since you asked me." Husband: "Well, now that you mentioned it, I kind of am a little hungry." Wife: "Maybe we'll go home soon." And then back to playing with the baby. Do all married couples talk like this? Is this why I sometimes find it awkward to talk to my now married friends? This is all reminiscent of the movie "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" when Jim Carrey's character mentions his fright upon becoming the much dreaded "dining dead." Will I become the married with children dead having no real conversations with my spouse? Is this why people get divorced? I don't really know what I meant by this whole blog... just merely getting my thoughts out. I think that married people when they have children all of a sudden just revert to as simple of speech as possible. Maybe it's so they can help their children learn to speak English better by only hearing simple sentence patterns. I don't know, but regardless... I see it happening around me all of the time with such things as: "Honey, what are we going to have for dinner?" Response: "I don't know." Did they have all of their important conversations during their courtship leaving them conversation-less during marriage? Maybe they should have dated a shorter amount of time to save up at least a few more real conversations for marriage. I hope that when I'm married, I can refer back to this blog and see if my conversations with people really have diminished to kids, food, husbands, and television.

Four Hour Vespa Ride

So today I went on the best DAMN ride of my life. My friend, Matt, recently purchased a 1978 mint condition vespa from The Scooter Lounge in Orem, UT. It's hard core. Color: White with a forest green stripe down the front. It has a large black leather seat and even a tiny little back rest for passengers such as myself. It's freaking awesome. As my friend, Darcy, told me the other day... you like the vespa, you like the boy. Amen, Darcy. Amen. This vespa is HOT and can surprisingly go around sixty-five miles an hour with two people on it. Yeah, this baby does NOT mess around. So back to the story... I'm lazily laying in my bed today not really having anything to do when lo and behold my roommate knocks on my door arousing me from my semi-conscious state to tell me that a young man is here to see me. Not really thinking about it, I threw on whatever clothes were closest and headed for the living room. Apparently Mr. Matt had it in mind to go on a little vespa ride. We left and drove around for a little while, just like the usual vespa rides (usual being since Sunday as that is when the said vespa was purchased). I was in for quite the "ride" because what I thought was going to be a ten minute vespa ride turned into a FOUR HOUR VESPA RIDE. Have you ever been on a four hour vespa ride? Let's just say that my knees were killing me and we had to stop every thirty minutes or so to stretch out our backs. It was one hell-of-a ride, I must say. We drove through these mountains near Rexburg on this amazingly beautiful trail and we stopped and I got to pick huckleberries. It was awesome. I love huckleberries because they remind me of when I was a kid. How could a ride on a vespa not be good.... period? Let alone coupled with a good looking young man, huckleberries, good conversation, a stop for a Sobe in a Podunk town, and an entire mountain full of trees? You really can't top it so don't even try. I do have to admit that by the end of it, my knees felt as if they were going to remain bent for the rest of my life but that's the price you pay for beauty and fun. In the end I realized the truth of the aforementioned dictum: you like the vespa, you like the boy. Thank you vespa, thank you.