Juli is my Bride!
We met at the photo
shop, when I was the Manager there, working weekdays, and she was working
Saturdays. Before I left for the night on Fridays, I’d leave a note
to Juli, letting her know what to expect from the customers that Saturday…
any ongoing issues, or deals that needed follow-up, stuff like that.
Juli, before closing on Saturday, would do the same for me.
We spent maybe 6 months doing this, neither of us ever having met the other.
The owners would say “you really ought to come in here on Saturday,
Teej” – to which I’d reply “Sure! With a Congressional
Mandate and a note signed by God!”.
One
frantic lunch hour, I was working behind the counter, dealing with a line of
impatient customers that extended out the door… when in walks this long,
lean carrot-top, who saunters behind the counter and starts filling out envelopes
with me. Knowing the security cameras were recording all this, I tried to shield
her from them, and said “you shouldn’t be back here.”
She looked at me
and said “oh, that’s okay. I’m Juli!”
Yowza.
One thing led to
another, over the years, and here we are today.
Like myself, Juli
has a lot of hobbies, although she is a self-proclaimed “indoor girl”
so she doesn’t go for all the extreme sports that I do.
One of the things
she’s really good at is making dresses for some of the little collector
dolls on the market – she has quite a number of these, and excels at
taking these wee tiny, fussy little bits of fabrics, and sewing them together
with an eye for detail, a color sense, and an accuracy I could never hope
to emulate.
Juli
and Cocoa Christmas, enjoying the sunshine on the Alexandria Riverfront.
Juli
at her desk with one of her Wendy Lawton Dolls - who sports one of her outfits.
At
Rehoboth Beach on a chilly March Morning, Juli cuddles her Steiff bear "Rose".
Me
and Donna Holly and Juli, bobbin' in the "lack o' surf" at Indian
River Inlet.
At
Cancun in 2004, Juli grips a happy pineapple containing a very powerful Pina
Colada.
Clutching Maximus the Puppy on his
very first trip to Eastern Market in DC, Juli displays her innate Urban style.
Juli
and Marsha, one of her school chums, enjoying a festive birthday lunch at
Phillips on the Maine Avenue waterfront.
Me
and Juli at Bald Head Cliff in Maine - one of my grandma & grandpa's favority
places, following a memorial ceremony we attended there for Grandma J.
Something
that most people who know Juli would never imagine: my Bride on a Wave Runner!
While in Cancun, we'd signed up for a speedboat tour, but at the last minute
they changed us out onto these waverunners. Once we emerged from the river
into the Gulf, the waves were about 6 feet. Juli held on, despite the fact
that she's not really into extreme sports like slaloming through 6+ foot chop!!
Marcia,
Juli, Marcha, and Donna - "the gang" that used to terrorize Duddington's
on Capitol Hill - together again at Marsha's birthday party somewhere in the
deep suburbs of Maryland.
Jayjay,
myself, and Rudolph strike an Urban Yuletide Pose at the little Christmas
Grove at the foot of Capitol Hill.
Juli
in Occaquan, November 2005, having just taken her first ride on Ellie.
