Today is a special day for my wife, Jill. Today is her birthday and so hard to believe that it's her 60th. Her name is said to mean youthful and it fits. Between her height ( she is all of 4' 12" tall ) and cheery round face with sparkling blue eyes she's been mistaken for someone far younger many time. Even real kids have mistaken her for one of their own at times. I suspect her Swedish heritage includes some of the wee folk. 😊
I met Jill during my senior year in college at a AD&D game hosted by one of her friends from her hometown as a welcoming mixer to River Falls. Secretly Rhonda was hoping to set Jill up with the game referee, Steve. Steve had invited me to come along because he believed that I was a good player besides needing extra bodies for his campaign. I ended being a team leader. Not the normal place for a wizard character who should command from the rear if at all. At one point a very new and now distraught Jill was stranded with her horse soundly snoozing - it having drunk from a steam full of sleeping potion. Out of kindness I reversed the spell, thinking that the matter was no big deal. Later I did make a polite suggestion for a meeting at the local Brathaus for some wine and popcorn.
We met and met again. Talk, talk and more talk. Chatting into the small hours. It became obvious we were very fond of each other. Initially Rhonda was beside herself, but she eventually saw how much I cared for her good friend. Steve was not short-changed either, he ended up going out with the girl I had dated a few times with they becoming a steady couple as well.
I graduated from UWRF first, Jill the year later. She's a genius with the manipulation of words as well as being very good at digging through resources to find things. That skill helped her find the job listing that led to my career at LLNL. Our honeymoon was traveling to Livermore. The flight out to California was her first time away from Minnesota and Wisconsin. My left hand was almost purple from her death-grip during that flight, but I did not mind.
We set up housekeeping in that strange new land, first in an apartment and eventually a townhouse. Jill landed a job at the library in the nearby city of Pleasanton. There she proved to be a hard-worker and always eager to be of help to others. From doing extra chores like reading shelves for correct book location to making closing announcements despite being a fairly shy person to helping chase down escaped turtles from the children's section Jill did her best and then some. When retirement finally came around the staff threw a massive party in her honor. I was proud to see that so many came to say goodbye to "Little Miss Jill".
Now we are back in Wisconsin. Close enough to Minnesota that Jill can visit her hometown up north with not much effort. The people here are friendly and quite a few have taken a shine to "Little Miss Jill". She can run around in her Vikings memorabilia with only a small chance of enduring some friendly ribbing from Packer fans here with her joshing them back in good-natured fun. She is the epitome of a sports nut, enjoying multiple baseball and football games while curled up in her recliner with a word-puzzle book, a snack and some Pepsi.
After 36 years of marriage I will still use "please" and "thank-you" with Jill - I still love her, even more now in many ways. So today I'm going to be making a special treat she first fell in love with during our college days. That being gyros sandwiches.
I don't have a vertical rotisserie like the greek restaurants have, but my version is still pretty tasty. Knowing how much she will enjoy some of these "lamb burgers" makes the effort well worth the time spent.
After all - I love her dearly. She is my marmot, shortkin, da runt, and many other gentle sayings about the person who describes herself as Undertall. I love to give her pick-me-up-hugs and squeaky kisses. All to bring out that sunny smile of hers. Especially on today, her birthday.
I met Jill during my senior year in college at a AD&D game hosted by one of her friends from her hometown as a welcoming mixer to River Falls. Secretly Rhonda was hoping to set Jill up with the game referee, Steve. Steve had invited me to come along because he believed that I was a good player besides needing extra bodies for his campaign. I ended being a team leader. Not the normal place for a wizard character who should command from the rear if at all. At one point a very new and now distraught Jill was stranded with her horse soundly snoozing - it having drunk from a steam full of sleeping potion. Out of kindness I reversed the spell, thinking that the matter was no big deal. Later I did make a polite suggestion for a meeting at the local Brathaus for some wine and popcorn.
We met and met again. Talk, talk and more talk. Chatting into the small hours. It became obvious we were very fond of each other. Initially Rhonda was beside herself, but she eventually saw how much I cared for her good friend. Steve was not short-changed either, he ended up going out with the girl I had dated a few times with they becoming a steady couple as well.
I graduated from UWRF first, Jill the year later. She's a genius with the manipulation of words as well as being very good at digging through resources to find things. That skill helped her find the job listing that led to my career at LLNL. Our honeymoon was traveling to Livermore. The flight out to California was her first time away from Minnesota and Wisconsin. My left hand was almost purple from her death-grip during that flight, but I did not mind.
We set up housekeeping in that strange new land, first in an apartment and eventually a townhouse. Jill landed a job at the library in the nearby city of Pleasanton. There she proved to be a hard-worker and always eager to be of help to others. From doing extra chores like reading shelves for correct book location to making closing announcements despite being a fairly shy person to helping chase down escaped turtles from the children's section Jill did her best and then some. When retirement finally came around the staff threw a massive party in her honor. I was proud to see that so many came to say goodbye to "Little Miss Jill".
Now we are back in Wisconsin. Close enough to Minnesota that Jill can visit her hometown up north with not much effort. The people here are friendly and quite a few have taken a shine to "Little Miss Jill". She can run around in her Vikings memorabilia with only a small chance of enduring some friendly ribbing from Packer fans here with her joshing them back in good-natured fun. She is the epitome of a sports nut, enjoying multiple baseball and football games while curled up in her recliner with a word-puzzle book, a snack and some Pepsi.
After 36 years of marriage I will still use "please" and "thank-you" with Jill - I still love her, even more now in many ways. So today I'm going to be making a special treat she first fell in love with during our college days. That being gyros sandwiches.
I don't have a vertical rotisserie like the greek restaurants have, but my version is still pretty tasty. Knowing how much she will enjoy some of these "lamb burgers" makes the effort well worth the time spent.
After all - I love her dearly. She is my marmot, shortkin, da runt, and many other gentle sayings about the person who describes herself as Undertall. I love to give her pick-me-up-hugs and squeaky kisses. All to bring out that sunny smile of hers. Especially on today, her birthday.
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