My Other Half

The spring semester of college had just ended, and I was supposed to be a member of the graduating class of 1995 from SUNY Potsdam.  The universe had other plans for me.  I didn't actually graduate until my super-duper senior year, or 1997.  My mom always said I was a late bloomer.  My  dad said he was tired of paying for expensive sleep-away camp.  With their words lingering in my head, I decided to stay in Potsdam for the summer and I was going to find myself.  Who knew I would find my future husband as well? 

I moved into my first apartment off campus, where in the fall, I would remain for my super senior year.  It was a duplex on Bay Street with just a two minute walk to the Raquette River and a five minute walk to the bars.  Oh, and a ten minute walk to campus.  Priorities.  The landlord allowed me to store all my belongings in the garage while I waited for the previous tenants to move their stuff out.  When I got the green light to start moving in, I didn’t hesitate.  I started moving things back and forth from the garage into the house 15 minutes after I received the call. 

On my third trip in through the back door, there was a guy standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room.  He was resting both of his arms above his head on the trim of the doorway, leaning with his hip cocked to one side.  What was this weirdo doing in my house?  “How ya doin'? I’m Dave.”  Uh-huh.  “Hey, Dave, what are you doing in here?” I asked, looking around to see if there are any more of them.  “I just moved out.  The landlord says I need to paint the kitchen to get my deposit back.”  Well, that would have been nice to know ahead of time.   I said, “Do whatcha gotta do then Dave,” and proceeded to move my things toward my new bedroom.  “Oh hey, is that your room?  That was my old room.”  Fantastic.  Note to self: Buy Lysol.

Since my roommates for fall semester weren’t coming until September, I needed to find squatters for a couple months.  Turns out there are all kinds of people who stay in town for the summer.  It’s a totally different place when school is not in session.  Within days I had roommates.  I had also taken in a stray cat, which turns out, was pregnant.  A few weeks later I had 2 roommates, a stray cat, and 5 kittens.   The other side of the duplex was only separated by a door, which was always open, so it was like living in one big house.  We all split the cable and phone bills 8 ways which meant less cash advances off of my credit card at a 19.9% APR.

I was having a blast, despite having no job and a daily morning wakeup call from the credit card company who was dumb enough to give me any credit.  There was always something to do.  Being in the foothills of the Adirondacks and having friends with cars was very convenient.   A friend of mine was planning on going on a bike ride with her boyfriend and asked if I wanted to tag along.  Of course!  We went outside to find her boyfriend standing with another guy.  Him again?  “Mery, do you know Dave?”  I explained how we met a week or so prior when he was trespassing in order to paint my kitchen.   Dave had moved across the street from me into his fraternity house with a few other guys who stuck around for the summer.

Turns out Dave and I had a lot of fun together.  We had a great friendship.  Our senses of humor were practically identical.  Mutual friends would joke that I was him in a girl body and he was me in a boy body.  Goofy, yes.  But oh so very true.  We would go on bike rides, hang out by the river at a nearby beach, or just sit around and listen to music.  We invented our own Olympic event, the lighter toss.   If we had gotten the Olympic committee to recognize our sport, we could have represented the USA in the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta.  No one was as good at it as we were, and we would scoff at anyone who tried to reach our level of aptitude.  

Everyone else would be returning in 2 weeks for school and the Potsdam fantasy summer was drawing to a close.  That may have been what prodded me into my next move.  In my own not-so-stealth, awkward way, I confronted Dave in the party room of his fraternity during an after-hours party around 2:30am.  “So, there’s something I want to tell you.”   Dave turned to look at me with his smoldering bloodshot eyes.  “Oh yeah?  I have been meaning to tell you something too.”   I stumbled a little closer and screamed above White Zombie playing in the background, “I kind of have a crush on you!”  He gave me a wry smile.

It’s now 16 years later and we are still together, always trying to make each other laugh.  I am still Dave in a girl body, and Dave is still me in a boy body.