I wrote this story before Parish and I got married and just wanted to share it with you...I swear...I could write a book about him!
After the first 2 years of our relationship I came to the conclusion that I will be forever, sleeping with a dreamer.
The person I fell in love with is a wonderful man. He is kind, considerate and hilarious – even in his sleep. That’s right. I am marrying a wildly hilarious dreamer. He keeps me entertained with his witty charm, his loveable laughter and his steadfast humor as much as he can. That is Parish – that has always been Parish, ever since I met him 12 years ago.
He was always the type of guy, to me, that I could see myself with, the type of guy that I deserved. He was handsome, charming, witty and he always knew the right thing to say to make your heart melt.
Parish was always the guy that I would think of, especially when a relationship of mine ended. He always knew what to say when I got my heart broken and he always knew how to make me smile. He was my “untouchable.” You know, the type of guy you would love to just grab and hug and hold hands with, the person that made you feel special.
My crush on Parish started in 9th grade, and it was always in the back of my mind throughout my high school years. I never acted on it because we were just good friends. When I saw him the first thing that attracted me to him was his personality, he was outgoing, always smiling and saying hi to everyone – even if he didn’t know their name. Shortly after that I realized not only was he funny and so sweet, he was also very cute!
Never in a million years did I expect that I really would be spending the rest of my life with him. If someone had told me that he was the one I was going to marry – I would have died laughing. I always thought I never had a chance with him.
To Parish, I was always “kiddo” or “Hawk” and always a friend. Growing up, we lived about a mile from each other, he was older than me, but we did have a lot of mutual friends. Then, he had been living in St. Cloud for about a year when I moved in to my dorm at St. Cloud State University.
We did flirt casually when we would see each other in St. Cloud – harmless really. Then we would go our separate ways and I would have a severe case of “Parish on the mind” for days and days later.
It was January 1, 2004 that changed the rest of my life. It’s funny how things work. The night before was New Year’s Eve. My friend Sara and her husband Paul and I went out on the town with some other friends and my “love interest” at the time. Let’s just say things didn’t work out between me and the other guy and I was once again considered a better friend than anything else.
The next day I was determined to stay in bed. I needed to take some time and think about my life. Maybe I was just needing to drown in my sad love life – or lack there of. One thing’s for sure – I needed to snap out of my funk.
My roommate at the time said that she wasn’t leaving the apartment unless I went with her. She was meeting some of our friends at Buffalo Wild Wings and wanted me to join her. The last thing I wanted to do was get ready for a night out, much less think about drinking another sip of alcohol. But I figured, why not! Things couldn’t get much worse than they already were, so I literally threw my hair in a ponytail and pulled on the first outfit I could find. I didn’t care what I looked like – I didn’t care who I saw and I really didn’t care too much to even be there.
When we arrived at Buffalo Wild Wings – I ordered my favorite drink of all times - a Diet Coke. As soon as I started sipping my drink and chatting with some friends again, I got this feeling that someone was looking at me. I glanced over across the bar just to see a friendly face smiling at me. I immediately got butterflies – oddly enough and stood up to meet him half way. It was Parish, and I knew he was coming over for a hug. I couldn’t bear the thought of smelling like last night so I reached into my purse and sprayed myself with perfume. So glad that I did! Not only did I get a hug, but I also got a kiss on the cheek.
That was different. We had never kissed before, not like that was a “real” kiss or anything, but it was definitely a new experience with Parish. I introduced him to my friends sitting at the table, Mariah, Carrie and Jamie. Of course, quick-witted Parish made them laugh right away. He said, “Oh, Mariah and Carrie – I bet if we put you two together you’d sing one hell of a song.” I didn't say it was good humor! Haha.
From that moment on, I had forgot about the night before, pulled myself out of that silly sorrow I was wallowing in and started smiling again. Just from that one comment (and kiss on the cheek) he made. It was always like that with Parish and I – he always knew what to say to make me smile and forget whatever it is that was bothering me.
Like I said before, something was different about seeing Parish this time. When he was leaving to go back to his friends, he gave me his phone number. He told me to call him everyday for two weeks, and if I missed one day – the two weeks would start over. The last thing he said to me was, “You look great!” and then he gave me another hug. I looked great?!?! Are you kidding me? I hadn’t showered in 24 hours, was wearing the same jeans from yesterday, didn’t have any make up on and I looked great?
The next day I started my mission – I was going to call him everyday for two weeks. I finally was going to take a chance at the thought of Parish and I becoming more than friends. But he was so hard to get a hold of!
My graduation party from college was on January 10 and I left him a message asking him to come. He was out of town at the time and couldn’t make it, but he called me the next day asking if I would want to come to H.R. Pesty’s, a bar in Waite Park and meet him for a drink. I, of course, accepted the invitation (and was very surprised that he called me).
I made my friend Brianna come with me to Pesty’s so that it wouldn’t be awkward. I knew that I started to have feelings for Parish and yet I was hopeful because he actually called and asked me to meet him somewhere.
When I got there, Parish met us with a hug. Later, Bri would comment to me that she could tell something was different between us. She would be the one to notice too since she hung out with us before just as friends. Before I knew it – Bri had to leave and she kindly asked Parish if he would give me a ride home, needless to say he happily accepted! In my mind I was thinking, oh my gosh – what am I going to do? How should I act?
That was January 11, 2004 and we have been together ever since. We have had our share of good times, bad times, sad times and happy times and I wouldn’t trade him for anything in the world. He is my soul mate, and I truly believe we are meant to be together.
So there is the story of Parish, it will give insight into why I say that I will forever be sleeping with a dreamer. Now, even though he is my perfect match – he does have some faults. Parish snores. He snores a lot. There are sometimes I wish I could wave a magic wand and ship him off to anti-snore camp so that I could get a better night’s sleep. He sleeps hard and sometimes drifts off into his own little dream world.
Everyone laughs when I tell my stories about Parish’s dreams. He has done everything from trying to save ants while swearing to saving himself (and me) from King Kong or flushing hydrants to “taking a poop” in his sleep (not really, but that is what he told me). As tiring as it can be to try and sleep with a dreamer (and a snorer) I often wake up giggling. If I could be in his head one night – or if he could trade me places just once, I think we would both learn a lot from each other. But, until then, every night that I go to bed, I am always on stand by for the next dreaming adventure we will take together.
Parish is my soul mate, my sweetest laughter, my most memorable moment, my one and only and my dreamer.
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