I Met Him at the Laundry Mat
You’re golden…I’m red delicious…basking in the sun’s October glory…You’re Adam…I’m Eve… ~ Colleen
My husband, Joe, moved to Floyd in 1987 to be a teacher at the Blue Mountain School, the parent-run cooperative school that my sons went to. We first met in the town laundry mat. He was with a couple of BMS parents tie dying shirts for a school fundraiser, and I was picking apples from a tree out front. The apples were green and discolored with black spots, but I was living on a low income, raising two sons, and I knew they would make good apple crisp.
Besides what obviously attracts 2 people who later get married, Joe maintains the two things that initially impressed him most about me were my enthusiasm for those foraged apples and the big pot of lentil soup I had on the stove the first time he came to my house.
Years later, when we were married on the Blue Ridge Parkway, we exchanged symbols of our union, along with our vows. I read a poem I had written for him, and he presented me with a large red apple, which I promptly and ceremoniously ate. It represented the care we had given to our relationship and the fruit it bore as a result, he said.
Joe and I don’t tend to remember our anniversary because our wedding took place on a blue moon in June, the date of which was not the point. But apple picking has become a romantic yearly tradition that we do celebrate, one that ties into our first meeting.
We live next to the escarpment of the Blue Ridge Mountains where there are abandoned homesteads down in the valley, no longer accessible by car. During our hiking explorations, we’ve discovered that, in most cases, orchards outlive houses. Occasionally, we come across an old run-down house or the remnants of a chimney still remaining, but mostly it’s fruit trees we find.
Our favorite red apple tree is at the bottom of a gorge, set apart from the rest of a small, hidden orchard. As soon as we climb over the gate into the pasture that leads down to it, we feel as though we’ve entered the Garden of Eden. And when we arrive at the “our tree,” which looks like something out of a fairytale, we are in awe, amazed by what nature provides.
Joe climbs up into the tree and shakes it, while I gather the fruit that falls. We bring backpacks to fill up, a snack for lunch, and a blanket to rest on, or do whatever else comes natural after our work (if you want to call it that) is done.
This past Sunday, on our ceremonious seasonal apple picking date, we heard turkeys gobbling just out of view and watched nearby deer watching us. Of course, there was an abundance of apples for dessert to linger over. We left some for the deer as well.
September 13th, 2005 9:59 am
Awwwww. What a lovely post. I have so many friends having marriage problems right now. I loved it when you said the apple Joe gave you “represented the care we had given to our relationship and the fruit it bore as a result.” I wish more people put that kind of care into their relationships. May you have many more happy years and blue moon celebrations!
September 13th, 2005 10:45 am
I love your story; if more people went about marriage in this manner, maybe the divorce rate wouldn’t be so high. It sounds like you two “get it”; that it’s not about the $2,000 (or more) gown, the $8,000 diamond, the meal at the wedding, the honeymoon…it’s about the love two people share.
I’m here via Michele’s today, so hi, Michele sent me 🙂
September 13th, 2005 10:49 am
I love this Post!!! My favorite…when he gave you the apple! ; )
Note: new address ; )
September 13th, 2005 11:07 am
By the way…There is a great song by an obscure acapella group called “The Bobs” about a couple meeting in a laundry mat. It’s called “Why don’t we both share a load.”
September 13th, 2005 3:26 pm
Also, there was a song from the early 60s sung by a girl group…I met him at the laundry mat. Does anyone remember it? Or is it just me? That song was what I was thinking about when I titled this piece, but no one around here (the internet cafe in Floyd) remembers it, and a google search found nothing.
This is like one of those “remember the word games” that drives me crazy.
September 13th, 2005 3:47 pm
For some reason your blog reminded of a book I read a number of years ago called “The Botany of Desire” by Michael Pollan. The book isn’t about love. It is non-fiction and has a good section on the history of the apple and America.
September 13th, 2005 3:49 pm
Good searcher that I am -Go here for your song…http://www.lyricsdepot.com/collin-raye/what-the-heart-wants.html
September 13th, 2005 4:37 pm
I just had to come back today to read what you had written about your husband, and as always, I enjoyed your post. Age differences seem to be irrelavant in some cases and you are a shining example! This warms my heart and fuels my hope and belief that Chase and I will do just fine!
Love the apple-thing. He’s a honey!
September 13th, 2005 4:52 pm
What a happy, energy-making post. Happy anniversary.
September 13th, 2005 5:31 pm
There are so many books out there about how to have a perfect wedding… so much advice… so many “dos” and “don’ts”… it seems so backward to me, that the wedding is more important than the marriage these days! My husband and I had a fairly small wedding with our families and good friends around us, but as time has passed, our wedding day has felt almost insignificant compared to the other things he and I have experienced together since then. To me, the wedding wasn’t monumental, rather, it was the start of something monumental: our shared life.
Thanks for a beautiful post.
September 13th, 2005 6:36 pm
What a wonderful post, Colleen. If more people celebrated each other in this way – we might have fewer divorces and more satisfied couples!
September 13th, 2005 9:43 pm
Great post. Blessings to both of you. Happy Anniversary.
September 13th, 2005 10:13 pm
I so enjoyed reading your post. Joe sounds like a wonderful man. My congrats to the both of you.
And happy apple picking 🙂
September 13th, 2005 11:02 pm
Happy anniversary to you both! This is a simply magical post.
September 14th, 2005 12:40 am
GREAT post…i really enjoyed this one…yet again you pulled me right in to the story…
September 14th, 2005 11:20 am
What everyone else said. This was lovely. You have such a way of making everyday life seem enchanted.
September 14th, 2005 11:22 am
Here from Michele’s. I’m glad I can get your site to load now. I spent seven years in Roanoke and it is my mom’s home town. The Blue Ridge is one of the most beautiful spots in the country. This was a really great and romantic post. Congratulation on your anniversary.
September 15th, 2005 7:52 am
Yes! I too remember the song and thank you, now it’s playing over and over in my head. *smile*
Ed and I celebrate out anniversary each year by returning to the place we first physically met (we initially met via email letters). Every single year thus far, we perform the same rituals that we started on that day (i.e. me, asking him if I could hold his hand … he, reading all the animal fact signs at the zoo, etc)
With all the “extras” that couples have to work through – bills, children etc – it’s just so refreshing to get back to where we started.
Beautiful story, Colleen.
September 15th, 2013 11:48 pm
[…] Post note: You can read a 2005 post about Joe’s and my apple picking tradition HERE. […]
September 15th, 2014 12:13 am
[…] people have stories of meeting their spouses at bars, online, at work or school. Joe and I met in the Floyd laundromat in 1987. He was the new teacher in town at Blue Mountain School, where my […]