Happy Birthday, Caley!

I met Caley at the end of 2015, when she and my friend Levi started dating. Over the next summer, when she was home from school, I got to know her better through Sunday morning church and a college group that our friend Sophie led. On Wednesday nights, we did a book study together, having meaningful conversations about faith and life. We always stayed long after the event's purported end time, still talking and laughing. It was a wonderful summer, and I love rereading my detailed journal accounts of our times together.

              When the summer was over, Caley went back to school, and Levi got a welding job in her area. Last fall, they got married. It was a great honor to attend their wedding, and I am so grateful for their special relationship and for the roles they have played in my life.

              Here are some of the funny remarks that I have recorded from Caley:

              At Sophie's graduation, we talked about books, and she made me feel like a successful library employee when she said, “WOW! I never really read books anymore… I’m always reading textbooks. But talking with you, I feel all pumped up, like, ‘Let’s go read! Right now! Find a book and do it!’”

“He has the cutest nostrils!” (Note: this was about a turtle, not Levi.)

“When I’m babysitting, I realize that children’s books are so much longer than I remember from when I was a kid! Now that I have to read them out loud…”

“I’ve liked him ever since seventh grade! This was A LONG TIME IN COMING!”

“All I know about coffee is that it’s either hot or cold and is caffeinated or decaf.”

About a remedial driving class: “Most people there were like, ‘This is my fifth time… I like going 100 miles per hour in 35 zones.’ And I was like, ‘I forgot to check my blind spot before switching lanes?’”

Regarding how oblivious Levi once was to her feelings for him: “I was like, Levi, you are such a clueless man.”

To Ava: “You’re so grown up and cool. Like, when I was fourteen, I was playing with dirt.”

Describing the mountain town where she lives: “There are so many hairy men everywhere!”

“There is no landscaping in Boone!”

“Oh! Her! The lady who told me not to stack chairs at church because then I might not be able to have children someday!”

Sophie’s mom dreamed that I eloped with a bookstore owner I met online. When she told us about this, Caley said, “That sounds like Dorothy! Except for the elopement.”

“Levi called me and said, ‘Caley, don’t freak out, but I set myself on fire at work today.’”

              When Caley watched Sherlock with Levi, he convinced her that the character was truly dead after "The Reichenbach Fall," and she wept inconsolably. Then they watched season three. “He lied to me! I wasted my tears! I wasted my tears on a fictional character who didn’t even actually die!”

“I can't be the only one who loves canned beets!”