For Valentine’s Day, we thought we’d share one of our earliest experiences of saying “I love you.”
Back when Michael and I first started dating, before the wild road trips to the Grand Canyon and Big Bend National Park, we’d take short road trips. Often, it was Michael coming along with me when I went to an audition so that I wouldn’t have to drive by myself.
Other times, we just felt like going somewhere that was not Waco.
We made a habit out of driving between three and six hours to see a touristy-type attraction. Or just go get a sandwich.
It was on one of these trips that we discovered our mutual love for Yoohoo. Yes, the chocolate drink.
Yoohoo was always the special treat of road trips with my dad, and to this day, I can’t drive more than three hours without craving the chocolaty goodness that is Yoohoo.
On one of these short road trips with Michael, I came out of a gas station with a bottle of it, and Michael’s face lit up like it was Christmas. So I went back in and bought another. Since we can’t share something as important as Yoohoo.
So we’re driving, and listening to music, and Michael says, “I love you.”
So I thought.
I love you too, honey!
“Oh…umm…I said, ‘I love Yoohoo.’”
…
…
“But I love you, too.”
Over the years of our relationship, this has become a running gag.
Like, when Michael went out of town to visit his parents. He lived in a sketchy apartment complex, so he gave me the keys to his apartment so that I could turn lights on and off and make it look like someone was there for the two weeks he was gone. The day before he got back, I left for six weeks abroad.
So, having full access to his living space, I bought a bottle of Yoohoo.
And put it on his pillow.
On the pillow next to it, I posted my headshot that I use for auditions with a speech bubble made of construction paper that said “I love Yoohoo!”
At Christmas and birthdays, Michael gets a pack of the juice-box lunch sized Yoohoos, and recently, this t-shirt:
One could argue that he loves Yoohoo more than me, or that Yoohoo certainly came before me.
Duh.
