Humor is the Spice of Love

So this next story is a story of my parents' first date. It is a short tale, but it makes me laugh and makes me realize that their relationship is built on trust, loyalty, love and laughter. This is the way their love has been sustained for 33 + years. I guess I never realized how in love they actually are until I grew up and could appreciate it. They aren't perfect and they mess up sometimes, but they laugh through it all. It doesn't mean that they haven't struggled through hardships in their relationship (some of those times may be accredited to me) it means they are wise enough to not take themselves so seriously.

When I was younger I could never sleep, so I used to sit at the top of my stairs and listen to my parents. Often times it would start out as an argument, and then just when it was a bout to erupt into what I thought was a divorce worthy fight, it would instead erupt into a fit of laughter. I never understood it until I had a worthwhile relationship of my own. When Alan and I argue, it always turns into laughter. We definitely have those fights that involve tears, and yelling, and staying up way later than we should to hash it out, but when we are arguing over the little things we never take ourselves too seriously. I consider this a good thing. Hey, it has worked for my parents! Alan and I are a very non-conventional couple and even in the beginning of the relationship we were never super serious! This is another reason I am secure in our relationship because my parents' relationship started like this:

My father hung out with my uncle growing up. It wasn't that surprising. Two big Southie families found each other and hung around. It was the 70s and Southie was a fabulous community then. My father is one of 7 and my mother is one of 9. She is the youngest girl in her family, and was the Tom boy of the family and always hung around the boys. My father was the oldest of the 7 and found every excuse to get out of the house! My uncle and my father were best friends and my father was always hanging around at my grandparents' house.

Well eventually my mum and dad noticed each other. The whole how dad asked mum out has always been a blurred line, and I'm pretty sure it involved some sort of fight between my uncle and father, but never the less they went out on their first date.

My father took my mum out to a seafood restaurant and my mother ordered the most expensive thing on the menu! Lobster of course! My father was then stuck order in the blue fish (which, according to him is the most disgusting fish to swim in the ocean) which was the cheapest thing on the menu and he still hasn't forgotten it! Anyways, as they reached the end of their meal my mother went to eat the Parsley garnish on her plate. My father told her that she wasn't supposed to eat it. She laughed him off and ate it anyways.

Then, in a turn of events, my mother started choking on the Parsley! My father quickly gave my mother the  Heimlich Maneuver in the middle of the restaurant and the rest, as they say, is history.

A Parachute in an Oak Tree

My Grandmother was in the Women's Land Army in England during World War II and my Grandfather was in the 82nd Airborne. This is their story, and the reason I will always be a hopeless a romantic and believe that fate plays a part in all of our lives.This is also the reason I chose my blog name.

Grandpa was doing practice jumps over the Welling Valley in England which was right down the street from my Grandma's house. He was the last to jump and something happened with the wind speed and he was shifted and he ended up landing in my Grandma's Oak tree in her front yard.

Both my Grandma and her father rushed out assuming he was  German soldier trying to attack their town, so my great grandfather had his rifle and my grandmother had a pitch fork and they were questioning his allegiance. Once they realized he was an American soldier they invited him in.


He didn't leave for a for week and he only left because he was afraid of being AWOL. During that time he and my Grandma decided they couldn't live without each other and she made plans to move to Boston. It is the first and last time she has ever been on a boat (apparently there were rough seas during her trans-Atlantic voyage.)

Before Grandpa came back she made her wedding dress out of the ruined parachute from my Grandpa's practice jump! He left her at the altar twice (because his homecoming date kept getting pushed back.)
And then they lived happily ever after with their 9 children in Boston.

My Grandma and Grandpa were so in love. On the day my grandfather died they danced together around the kitchen before they sat down for there nightly tea. They both dozed off and he died of a heart attack in his sleep. They were holding hands.