May 7, 2009
th' place to be at unc
5/7/09
It was September 1987, I was a junior at Carolina, and I was super-psyched because I was attending my first "literary salon" party at Jenny Offill's house on McDade Street. Jenny was in my creative writing class, as were RJ, Molly, Kristin, Yelvo and a host of other folks who went on to rule their own planets. Jenny had made lemonade, and a bunch of us were sitting in the living room making casual literary conversation, and I have to tell you, I felt like I was finally being invited to the parties I was always supposed to attend.
At these little gatherings, you could say whatever you wanted; you could be as intellectual or erudite or passionate as you wished, and nobody was going to roll their eyes and say "whatever, FAG." You got to try on personas and trot out theories and discard both when either got tiresome. Having spent most of grade school hiding under my desk, and the better part of high school engaging in emotional sublimation, I lapped this up. I was in heaven.
And as I was sipping lemonade spiked with bourbon, a brassy blonde charged in from outside. Her hair was going seventeen different places at once, she wore an oversized white men's oxford shirt, and she was already smiling, mid-story. She had just come from Granville Towers, where she'd participated in some massive "Dating Game" send-up in front of the whole dorm. Pretty impressive for a freshman in her third week at Carolina.
One of the Dating Game questions was "Can tell us something peculiar about you?" She'd replied, "I have little brown specks in the middle of my blue eyes."
I found this interesting. "You do?" I asked. And immediately, this girl leapt across the room, hovered about three inches from my face, pulled down her left eye and said, "Yep, can you see it?" Sure enough, little sunbursts of brown and red in the middle of a massive blue eye. How amazing it would be, to have known right then, that this 18-year-old freshman and I would someday have a little girl of our own, a girl with eyes so blue that I find myself hovering inches from her face just to go swimming in her little skies.
But we had so much time to pass before this chick in the white Oxford and I would see each other in those hues, so many other people to date, to fall for, so many cities to live in, so many jobs to commit ourselves to, so many nights wondering who the other person was, not realizing we'd already met.
Oh, my awesome wife, your birthday is tomorrow, and I just wanted say this: even though we've known each other twenty-two years, and by now you should be so familiar, I still feel the same exhilaration, the rush of possibility, every time I get close enough to see the tiny burgundy sunrises in your eyes. Happy birthday, sweetie!
Swoon!
Beautiful! Happy Birthday!!!
And look at that beautiful burgundy sunset framing 3 pair of amazing blue eyes. Love it. Happy birthday, Tessa!!
As a brother-in-law, let me say this: Meeting Tessa was like meeting someone from a novel, someone who is in technicolor when the world around is black and white. Though as I've gotten to know her, this impression has been tempered. Unlike an F. Scott Fitzgerald character, she has no fatal flaw, no secret shame, no hubristic impulse to disaster. She's just good people.
But still a vivid character. ¡Feliz cumpleaños, corazon!
That was pretty cool. Happy Birthday, Tessa.
You met your future wife a bare month before I met mine! We were both freshmen at UNC. She was the daughter of a Southern Baptist minister, I was a non-practicing Catholic from Illinois. She came in to a dorm room as I was reciting Carlin's The Seven Words You Can't Say on Television. Not so romantic, but our first date was to see The Princess Bride at The Varsity, so that's good.
Happy birthday, Tessa!
wow. just wow. that was amazing.
Happy Birthday Tessa!
yowza.
Happy Birthday, Tessa!
I was at that dating game with Tessa and totally remember that! Didn't she go on the date with Paul D?
I was just having a similar thought about Suz and me the other day since we met in Sept of 87, too. That seems like so many lives ago and to have thought that we'd be where we are now with each other back then, woulda been nuts. To say the least.I miss you guys! Happy Birthday, Tessa!
I really miss you guys. I wish we could be there with you tomorrow. I mean, I wish we could be closer to you guys every day, tomorrow included.
wow, thanks for blowing the curve for the rest of us....really cool move Shakespeare
happy birthday tessa
Very sweet! Is it possible that you and Tessa are starting to look alike?
Happy Birthday Tessa! Today is my husband's birthday too. We're going to Disneyland this afternoon- will we see you there?
Aww, this is nice. It reminds me that when I first met Tessa standing in line at orientation at UNC in 1987, she was wearing an oversized white Oxford too. As soon as you posted that first part of the story, I immediately thought of her. Happy B'day, Tessa!
Thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone! And thank you, darling, for such a lovely birthday blog.
Joanna, Ian and I totally look alike but it wasn't until we had Lucy and were each trying to claim her cute little features as our own that we realized we had a lot of features in common - most distinctly, a mane of ill-behaved hair.
"...I still feel the same exhilaration, the rush of possibility, every time I get close enough to see the tiny burgundy sunrises in your eyes."
My eyes watered reading that. I'm a sap...and a jealous sap at that!
Happy birthday, Tessa!
Happy Day Tessa, and I'm loving this from a biological standpoint. Thanx Ian for the pix; yours and our family both are puddings proof about good 'ole blue eyes. Kudos and happy weekend all!
Tessa, happy birthday! and happy Mother's Day, too. Strangely, I just discovered an old email from you while cleaning out my inbox (after one of my fruitless Peachhead debates with anti-vaccine pediatrician Jay Gordon). I didn't make the Carolina connection then -- and only discovered Ian's blog recently.
This was so lovely. Happy Birth/Mother's Day Tessa! See you soon.
Another set of watery eyes--love you all so much--wishing Tessa another happy birthday, from Texas no less!
Happy Birthday and Happy Mother's Day, Tessa!