Thursday, December 4, 2008

On the 5th of December, I Like You Too

On my recent trip to Boston* to visit a friend, we ducked into the MFA store to escape the cold (we did a lot of ducking into stores bars to escape the cold that weekend), and I picked up this book and started leafing through it:



It has the cutest illustrations, and you can see some of them here. (I didn't know Google had a Book Search. But of course. Google has everything.)

I'm at this point in the book when my friend comes over to see what I'm looking at:







Me: Look! This is so cute! It has the Fifth of July in it - my
WEDDING DATE!
Friend: Yeah, or my BIRTHDAY. [Friend, thanks again for sharing your birthday.]
Me: Yes! AND my WEDDING DATE! I MUST get this!



Today, DH and I have made it 6 5** months. Time has flown by, and hopefully this chunk of time will be a very smally percentage of our married life.



** Um, apparently I can't count. For some reason I was thinking 6 the whole time as I created this post. 5 months is so not as big of a deal as 6 months...and 6 months isn't a big deal either really, unless you're under the age of 10 and say that you're "7 and 1/2, NOT 7!". (Now I am clinging to "26! NOT 27! NOT 26 and 11/12!")

Without further ado, DH, this is why I like you:



I Like You by Sandol Stoddard Warburg

I like you and I know why.
I like you because you are a good person to like.
I like you because when I tell you something special, you know it's
special
And you remember it a long, long time.
You say,
Remember when you told me something special
And both of us remember

When I think something is important
you think it's important too
We have good ideas
When I say something funny, you laugh
I think I'm funny and you think I'm funny too
Hah-hah!

I like you because you know where I'm ticklish
And you don't tickle me there except just a little tiny bit sometimes
But if you do, then I know where to tickle you too
You know how to be silly
That's why I like you
Boy are you ever silly
I never met anybody sillier than me till I met you
I like you because you know when it's time to stop being silly
Maybe day after tomorrow
Maybe never
Too late, it's a quarter past silly

Sometimes we don't say a word
We snurkle under fences
We spy secret places
If I am a goofus on the roofus hollering my head off
You are one too
If I pretend I am drowning, you pretend you are saving me
If I am getting ready to pop a paper bag,then you are getting ready to jump
HOORAY

That's because you really like me
You really like me, don't you
And I really like you back
And you like me back and I like you back
And that's the way we keep on going every day

If you go away, then I go away too
or if I stay home, you send me a postcard
You don't just say
Well see you around sometime, bye
I like you a lot because of that
If I go away, I send you a postcard too

And I like you because if we go away together
And if we are in Grand Central Station
And if I get lost**
Then you are the one that is yelling for me

And I like you because when I am feeling sad
You don't always cheer me up right away
Sometimes it is better to be sad
You can't stand the others being so googly and gaggly every single minute
You want to think about things
It takes time

I like you because if I am mad at you
Then you are mad at me too
It's awful when the other person isn't
They are so nice and hoo-hoo you could just about punch them in the nose

I like you because if I think I am going to throw up
then you are really sorry
You don't just pretend you are busy looking at the birdies and all that
You say, maybe it was something you ate
You say, the same thing happened to me one time
And the same thing did

If you find two four-leaf clovers, you give me one
If I find four, I give you two
If we only find three, we keep on looking

Sometimes we have good luck, and sometimes we don't
If I break my arm, and if you break your arm too
Then it's fun to have a broken arm
I tell you about mine, you tell me about yours
We are both sorry
We write our names and draw pictures
We show everybody and they wish they had a broken arm too

I like you because I don't know why but
Everything that happens is nicer with you
I can't remember when I didn't like you
It must have been lonesome then

I like you because because because
I forget why I like you but I do
So many reasons

On the 4th of July I like you because it's the 4th of July
On the fifth of July, I like you too
If you and I had some drums and some horns and some horses
If we had some hats and some flags and some fire engines
We could be a HOLIDAY
We could be a CELEBRATION
We could be a WHOLE PARADE

See what I mean?
Even if it was the 999th of July
Even if it was August
Even if it was way down at the bottom of November
Even if it was no place particular in January

I would go on choosing you
And you would go on choosing me
Over and over again
That's how it would happen every time
I don't know why
I guess I don't know why I really like you

Why do I like you
I guess I just like you
I guess I just like
you because I like you.


On a side note, I Googled this book to find the text to share, and discovered that this has been used this as a wedding reading. We had a Catholic wedding ceremony, so we had very limited choices in our readings, but this would have been perfect for a sweet, simple ceremony. There were so many poems and stories I found during the course of wedding planning that I couldn't use, but I saved them anyway with the idea of using them in a wedding album. This is definitely going in there!



* I will post photos at some point****. I swear.

*** I've gotten lost twice on our trips together. And you went to Rome and back to Castiglion Fiorentino to look for me.

**** Could be months. I am lazy.

3 comments:

dough said...

What about my birthday?!

(Is that a self-centered, selfish and ridiculous question to ask?)

GrannySmithGreen said...

A very dear friend gave me this book years ago. I absolutely treasure it. I can always look back and think of a time when we were the closest and dearest! Thanks for taking me back!

Anonymous said...

I love this. It pretty much made my day! I need to order a few copies of this book!