TFG1MIKE 365 – 2023 Day 218!
The Beginning of The Maren Moments!
Hello all and welcome to a NEW Daily Blog series from me… TFG1Mike! The idea here is for me to write something, anything, once a day for 365 days. From January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023. In my 218th entry, I’ll be talking about how Karen and I met 6 years ago today. We met online (how else did people meet in 2017)? It was on the okcupid dating website. Here are the first messages we exchanged:
Maren is Mike + Karen! Plus also the name of a singer we both love Maren Morris!
So as I said, here are the first messages we sent each other August 6, 2017!
- Mike
I AM STRONG WITH THE BEARD FORCE! Yes I read through the questions!!
I thought Heigl was a great steph, and dang….. you are the only person I’ve come across on this website to even mention Janet Evanovich!
I am Mike, what is your name? Your profile does say you are looking for men anywhere, so I’m just gonna continue writing this, and hope against hope I make a good impression…..
I have a Harry Potter-Stephanie Plum story…. do you wanna hear it? (NO it’s not fanfiction!)
I’m Originally from Massachusetts and Boston is my #1 fav city, but Chicago is my #2 fav!!! I love the film the lake house, because of how it shows Chicago!!!
Please look at my profile, and if you wanna talk more shout my way!
Sincerely,
Mike
P.S. I read through all THIRTY FIVE pages of your questions!
P.S.S. I am a world famous or infamous massage giver!
P.P.S…. how many cats do you have? my ex had 13!!!!
Sent Aug 6
- Karen:
Hi Mike! I’m Karen, nice to “meet” you!
Thank you for your message (yes, it IS nice to see a note come through that is thoughtfully prepared and composed!). :) And before I forget to mention it (trying to edit this response and it’s not going well, in a good way (I hope!)), location is definitely not an issue because, well, Chicago is my #2 as well, when almost everywhere else is #1. I’m born and raised, lived her for all but 6 months of my life, but I’ve never felt at home here and cannot wait to be ocean-adjacent. I have a deep love for the Great PNW (and a particular stretch along the Oregon Coast, to be specific), which is where my soul has been happiest thus far. Doesn’t mean I have to end up there, but almost certainly means I don’t really want to stay in Chicago either. Long story though… kinda. And Boston huh? Do you have the related accent?? I’ve never been but would love to explore it someday (maybe with a native guide??). I feel like there aren’t many cities or areas in the US where we have so much history as around that area (duh, right?), so that is definitely intriguing to me. I was very awe-struck with the history of London and especially Rome when I visited there, and while it may not be as old, at least it’s ours.
Love the beard (clean-shaved is soooo overrated, let me count the ways (yes, it’s more than just an appearance preference for me)). OK maybe there aren’t that “many” ways, but let’s just say that while stubble can be hot to look at, it rips my skin to shreds! You have an ex with 13 cats (um, yikes?) and I have one who had to shave up to 5 times a day AND I had to wear band-aids on my chin just so we could kiss, so… yeah, not so “hot” IRL then eh? Haha.
And to answer the cat question, only 1 right now, Lacey. She is a very unique kitty though (and I swear, I’m not saying that like I have 13 of them and think they all… seriously? 13?? hmm, I think I’d only ever have that many if/when I decide to run my sanctuary/rescue out in the country somewhere! Can’t say I’ve heard of that outside of a scary episode of Hoarders or Animal Cops, sorry, I’m just a little flustered on that one). Anyhow, she’s 10 years old (I’ve had her since she was a wee bit of fluff and a LOT of paw and tail at 4 months (yes, it’s true for cats like dogs — big paws as babies, biggies as grown furbabies)) and she’s currently rocking that scale at just over 21 lbs (down a few, way to go Lacey). She is no Garfield either, heh — she’s a Maine Coon so she’s just solid like that (not sure how one “officially” measures cats, but she’s at least 3 full feet in length). Makes a wonderful “small” (ahem) spoon though and she’s really just a big cuddle bunny — and hell, I think any cat who has now or in the past played fetch or chased her tail deserves a few extra “that’s a cool cat!” points.
Couple of other “I can’t believe” statements — I have 35 pages of answers!? Huh, wow! And yes, mad bonus points for reading through them all. :) I’m going back and forth and for some reason it says you have 156 pages? I’m on page 4, and no I am not a slow reader… but 156? Oy, think I need to do some sort of drill-down, can’t be right.
I guess I can believe no one else has mentioned Evanovich, and yes, I’d love to hear the story! :) Hmm, as for Heigl though, eh, after her stint on Grey’s, I really lost the love for her. I thought there were so many better options, but no, of course if pressed to give an example, I couldn’t. I’m terrible with actors that way — not because I don’t know them/names, etc, but like when you sit with your friends and do the whole “who’s your one?” (like your “free pass”) or “if you could have the body of…”, yeah, I never do well with that shtuff.
So I’ve made it to page 10 and think I need to curtail my ramblings here for a bit and read some more… and in the meantime, I hope to hear back from you soon!
Take care!
Karen
P.S. In response to the only P.S. I haven’t yet responded to: whoo hoo, nice! :)
Sent Aug 6
That was six years ago today. We had 4 and a half amazing years together. I’ve mentioned it several times on various podcasts, but in 2021 Karen unexpectedly died… And it wasn’t the way the life we were building was supposed to go. There’s nothing I can do about that now, but while we were together, we always made each other laugh, and even in whatever dark times we had, we always got through it together!
^More of my favorite images of Karen!
^Even More!!!! Some are the same, but others are new in this one. The bottom row middle image, I love how I warped the exposure there!
I always wanted to have us do a few podcasts together, but it never happened. However there were multiple times that I was able to record stuff we were doing…. I put them together in a clip show for GCR Ep 312! You can listen to that HERE!
^These were a lot of shots from Vancouver, WA and Some in Oregon as well.
I miss Karen everyday, and I will always cherish the memories we made together. This November marks 2 years since she passed, and I don’t think I’ll ever move on…. Well one day maybe, but when you see the net 50 years of your life flash before your eyes when you met in person…. it is kinda difficult to imagine anyone else being in my life in that way. I Love You Karen, More, Most, Infinity, And Beyond! (Something we did when we wanted to 1 up the i love you thing)
Join me on TRANSFORMERS TUESDAY morning August 8, 2023 as I’ll be writing about 37 years since TRANSFORMERS THE MOVIE!