Marriage year six began (2008-2009) as my "road warrior" career really got moving. I even got to spend a couple of weeks in South Florida on a business trip. It was really good to get to go home and see a lot of people that I had not in a while. It's odd to realize how big the world used to be. Living in Dallas has made my world smaller. This particular trip was an example, where I was in Jupiter, Florida. Jupiter is about a 45 minute drive to my hometown, right outside of Fort Lauderdale. When I landed and got settled in the hotel, I immediately called my best friend, Rico, and set up dinner with him and his wife. When I was a kid, that drive would have KILLED me, since our area gave you everything that you needed within about a 5 mile radius. In Dallas, if you don't drive for 20 minutes, you don't really go anywhere. So, when Rico said "That's like a 45 minute drive, dude," my response was, "And?" That drive now is SO much easier for me. It's crazy, I tell you.
In the late spring of 2007, I made a decision that changed everything for us. Jenn had been telling me that she wanted a cat for some time, and I was hesitant. We could barely keep up with ourselves, much less another living being in our house. Right around her birthday in early June, I finally realized that with as much as I was on the road, my beautiful bride needed to have a companion around to keep her company while I was on the road, and a cat seemed like there could be worse things she could ask for. So, I came home from working one weekend (I had picked up the DJ thing to supplement a cut in pay for this job), there was a small, dark, furball running all over our bedroom. Jenn had brought home a kitten from her best friend's something-or-other's litter. He was the only black cat of the litter, and he could not have been cuter if he tried. This is the conversation that followed:
Jenn: What should we name him?
Me: How about Hunter?
Jenn: That is a GREAT NAME! He is always running around and looking for stuff! That is awesome, honey!
Me: So, it's settled then? His name is Hunter?
Jenn: YES!
Me: Good. Because his middle name shall be Hearst.
Jenn: (slowly realizing the trap she has fallen into... slowly turning her head with "that" look): Did you just name our cat after Triple H?
Me: (with the pride of an 8 year old that did his first science project) Yep.
And thus, Hunter Hearst Ervin became our first "child". Sure, he's almost twenty pounds, but he's OUR almost twenty pounds.
That summer was especially stressful for me with the job, as things were starting to get weird. I will not go to deeply into it, but if it were not for some AMAZING friends (and you know who you are) and a wife that kept my head on straight for me, I might have gone loony. (And yes, the argument could be made that we made it there a LONG time ago.) I kept pushing forward, determined to keep everything moving properly.
BB
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