Today marks 13 years that Jessica and I have been together and I thank God for every one of those years, and however many more He chooses to give us.

Jessica and I met while we were both working at Food Lion. I was the dairy guy, and she was a cashier. I can still remember the first time I actually noticed her. She was giving one of the baggers a hard time while she was scanning groceries and I laughed at what she was doing to him, and she glanced up at me and started laughing with me. It was then that I started to pay attention to her when she talked, or when somebody else was talking about her (usually managers complaining to each other about her asking off for church events). This was another thing that caught my attention. She was dedicated to church, which was something I definitely wanted in a girlfriend. I knew a church-going girl would have morals and be trustworthy. My last ‘girlfriend’ was the exact opposite of that (and I don’t mean to offend her if she’s reading this, but she was young at the time, and it was to be expected).

As time went on, she and I began to talk casually when she would take her breaks. She’d spend her break sitting in the dairy aisle talking to me about various things (usually work-related) but I always wanted to know about what she was like outside of work. I remember her telling me about her intention of going to the Cincinnati Bible College to get a degree in Deaf Ministries. Needless to say I was shocked to hear this because I couldn’t imagine that anybody would want to do sign language stuff unless he/she was deaf. I really couldn’t say much though because I had many weird desires myself (I read economics, physics, math, chemistry, english literature, and several other nerdy books in my spare time). At this time I had planned on being either an economist or something to do with physics.
During this period I quickly learned a lot about Jessica. I found out that she didn’t like to be called anything but “Jessica.” I called her “Jess” or “Jessie” once and I was promptly told that her name is “Jessica”, and to never call her anything else. At first I was offended by this, but then I figured anybody who wanted to go to school for deaf ministries was bound to have some weird qualities here and there.

I also learned that she was not the type of person to take any crap from anybody. I had seen (and heard) her stand up to two of the meanest managers we had ever had in our store and survive to tell the story. I always admired her for that. I would later discover that she is that way with everybody, period. At one point in our dating lives I asked her to let me know in advance if she was about to get nasty with somebody at a store so that I could go hide and act like I didn’t know her. She started warning me and true to my word, I would go hide. I thought it was embarrassing at the time, but I’ve gotten used to it over the years.
Months after our little talks in the dairy aisle, I decided to ask her out. After weeks of deliberation (on her part) we finally went out on a double date on November 25, 1994.

On this date I saw a young woman who prayed at our dinner when all of the rest of us were sitting there running our mouths. We hit it off well with each other and we began to see more and more of each other outside of work. She came to my house and hit it off so well with my parents (especially my mom) that she started coming over to my house to hang around with my mom when I wasn’t even at home. My mother loved her which made me love her all the more. Jessica spent so much time at my parents house that her own mom began to get mad at her for not spending any time at home with her own family. I can’t count the number of times Jessica would go out shopping with my mom and come back to tell me about the adventures she’d had with my mischievous mom. When the two of them got together, something outrageous was bound to happen.

I’ve always been shocked that Jessica stuck with me at first. You see, at this time I was a perfectionist to the point of being borderline OCD. I ate the same things on the same days/nights each week, and I had a routine that my life fell into that made me seem like an old man. Also, I didn’t throw away mail at all. I kept ALL OF IT, including junk mail. I’d put it all in boxes and store it in my parent’s attic. When she discovered this, she started helping me get rid of it. I remember the first time she ripped up some junk mail of mine and threw it in the trash can. I honestly felt like I was going to have a panic attack. I wanted to pull that mail back out of the trash can and tape it together and put it in my box, but I knew she wouldn’t let me. I freaked out on her a little, but I let it go. I was also a neat-freak. I made up my bed every morning as soon as I opened my eyes. I couldn’t stand to see it messed up, and it bothered me when Jessica would come over to my house and sit on my bed and mess up the covers. I didn’t realize it at the time, but Jessica says she remembers seeing me cringe when she’d sit on my bed. She has also told me that I used to go straighten it up when she’d get up. I was also a nut-case about the way my clothes were hung in my closet. They all had to face the same direction with the hanger pointing to the left shoulder of the shirt. To be honest, I’m still weird about that even today. This is one thing I never got over. You might think she turned me into a slob, but she actually helped me get past looking at the little things in my life like that didn’t really matter and start enjoying life.

Starting a relationship with Jessica has been one of the most special things God has ever done for me. He sent the perfect woman, my soul mate, along a path that would cross with mine so that we could be together. She has overlooked many of my shortcomings, and straightened out the ones that shouldn’t be overlooked.

She gave me my first Bible. She took care of my mom when my mom got sick in 1995/1996 and I’m forever grateful for that. There’s no way I can describe how much that means to me. She has supported me in practically everything I’ve wanted to do (except storm-chasing). I’m always worried that I’ll become a failure, but Jessica always believes in me the way my mom did (even though she does it in a different way).

So here we are 13 years later. We’ve been married for 9.5 years and we’re now parents to a little girl who has me wrapped around her little finger (yes, I admit it) and God willing, we’ll become parents to a second child in May/June 2008. But I just want to take this opportunity to thank God for my wife, and best friend, Jessica. Through her alone He has given me more than I ever deserve in this life. But He continues to bless and I love Him for what He has done for me.

Mrs (I can call her that now without the whole “My name is Jessica” speech), if you’re reading this, I just want to let you know that this blog post was written for you, and that I love you more than I could ever express in words.

My father-in-law and I went to another great Trans Siberian Orchestra concert on November 17, 2007. This was our second TSO concert and it was just as awesome as the first one.

I see a lot of people hitting my blog in search for “How long is a Trans Siberian Orchestra concert”, so I’ve decided to break it down here for you as to how long the concert actually is, and what happens during this time.

I don’t remember how long the first concert was because I was in awe the whole time. However, since the second concert is still fresh in my mind, I’ll describe it here. Click on the image to the left to see the seating chart and the location where we sat. You’ll see a red dot on section 23 that depicts where we sat.

The show started off with the same theme as the concert we had seen back in 2005, The Lost Christmas Eve. I was pleased with this because I really wanted to see this again. This part lasted about one hour and fifteen minutes. This part of the concert is more of a production, like a hard-rock musical without anybody playing parts. They have a narrator who sets the mood for the songs they sing and then different singers come out and sing songs throughout the concert. Sort of hard to describe but that’s about as good as I can get. One really neat part was that they had snow machines that blew out “snow” on everybody.

The second part of the show lasted about one hour and ten minutes. This was more of a jam-like part of the show. Despite where we were sitting, we had the opportunity to see some of the band members up close. In the back of the arena, behind the sound booth, they sat up a platform where Jennifer Cella and Danielle Landherr came to sing part of a song. We were sitting right in front of them which was pretty neat. Later, Chris Caffery and another guitarist (can’t remember his name, and I don’t see him on the website) came back to the same area and got on a riser that lifted them up while they played. This platform also had some pyro on it that shot some pretty big flames that we could feel the heat from. It’s worth noting that the second part of the show seemed to be quite a bit louder than the first part. My father-in-law and I both agreed on that.

Overall the concert lasted for about 2 hours and 25 minutes. The band and all the singers made themselves available after the show for a meet and greet session (for free). My father-in-law and I went to the floor immediately after the show and talked to one of the sound guys who was nice enough to tells about the desk (or board) and the in-ear monitors they use. The guy got pretty technical on us, but we knew enough to understand that he was talking about some heavyweight equipment. My father-in-law and I went to the meet/greet area and saw a super-long line so we decided to just stand there and check the band out as they got off the elevator (we were standing about 15 feet from the elevator). The band members seemed nice and they signed items and talked to people as the moved through the line. I took some pics with my cell phone but they’re terrible, so I doubt I’ll post them.

Anyway, the show was well worth the $42.50. If you’re considering seeing a TSO concert, do it! You’ll go back to see them every year after that.