It’s summer time so unless my younger girls suddenly develop a thrill for the thrift I’ll be limited on my trips to my various favorite stores It’s not like I need to go, I do have plenty in my wardrobe to keep me properly clothed for most occasions, I even have inventory to sell. (http://nayaudo.com) but I still LOVE to go. You seriously never know what will be there just waiting to be discovered. I miss getting lost in the racks, going through each item hoping the next will be a hidden treasure. Ok…I must stop 🙂
Instead I shall talk about my husband. I love him, I’m not afraid to say it to him or to anyone else. We’ve been together since we were 17 years old. High school sweethearts if you will. I met Tommy when he was sitting on the stoop of a local store. It was a Sunday in the Spring. He was trying to change the shoelaces on his sneakers by burning off the old ones. They were tied together so much they kept breaking I asked, “Do you always burn off your shoelaces?” He looked up at me and I remember almost swooning at his green eyes which were bright green against his olive toned Italian-American skin.
Tommy answered, “No, I had to tie them together”. I think we made small talk I don’t really remember. I just remember those eyes.
The following September, Tommy started attending the same high school as me. He was asking around for “Menay”, however I went from being a brunette to a blonde. Tommy is describing me to people and everyone is saying, “Yes I know her, she’s blonde, white leather jacket…” and Tommy is correcting them saying I had brown hair. (But seriously now, how many Menays are there??) Finally, Tommy’s best friend yelled at him that brown hair Menay and blonde Menay were in fact the same person :).
We became fast friends, we enjoyed each other’s company so much and we laughed. He could always make me laugh. Tommy used to draw comic strips of all his friends. I had a starring role in quite a few. In fact in one comic, Tommy declared he would marry me. I dated other guys, he dated other girls but we still remained friends. We were afraid to date each other for fear we would ruin our friendship if things didn’t work out. Finally we just went for it and got together and became a couple. We had the usual teen angst break ups and “I need space” baloney most very young couples go through. Looking back it’s so silly. Only now do we look at each other and shake our heads.
We dated until we were 23 years old then Tommy proposed. In front of The Christmas Tree at Rockerfeller Center. Of course I said yes. We were engaged for two years until I graduated college, we were married on November 12, 1995. And the rest as they say is history.
Menay O; mom to 4, Christian and thrift shopper on the side... 