Having Therese over was important to me because of how we met and who she currently is in my life. There's no way around saying I met Therese through Ben (Week 1) when they were dating back in the Fall of 2010. So my initial relationship with her was: my best friend's girlfriend.
At first, Therese and Ben were an amazing pair. They seemed very cheerful and in-sync. Ben was living with Erica and I at the time in a rental house, so we saw Therese quite often. Over the Holidays, T and Ben took a road trip down to California to film a music video for Ben's album Together/Apart, later released on Rhymesayers (the most respected indie rap label in the world).
Shortly after returning to Seattle from the trip, T got sick and missed work at the coffee shop where she was employed. In need of a job, I suggested she apply to Homegrown, as we had recently fired two people and needed help. Kevin, the bassist from my band and the manager at the time, hired T and she took on a new role in my life: co-worker.
As time passed, T and Ben began to argue, and the foundation of their friendship suffered a bit. That March, Ben invited me to open up for his sold out show at the Aggie in Fort Collins. I was stoked. To get there, I ended up driving his tour van to Colorado with T, as well as Gomez (Week 6) and his stage partner Budo. This trip would be a very important memory for me.
A little while after our return to Seattle, Ben and T split up. I was concerned about her. I was concerned about her from the stand points of best friend's ex and current co-worker. I was worried, for no reason other than just me not wanting bad things to happen, that she would start dating other guys immediately or quit working at the store or just work poorly. I wasn't EXPECTING this stuff from her in particular, but I was worried in general. Because sometimes those things happen in these situations.
They didn't. At all. Not even close. The farther away from their breakup, the more solidified her true role in my life became: friend. She wasn't just some blip of a pleasant memory, that came and left the crew after a relationship ended. She was a really solid friend to everyone in our group. And she didn't nothing to hurt or hinder any aspect of our lives.
So I was happy to have T over because I am happy to say we are still friends. And her and Ben are still friends. Because she is a really good person who means well. And when Kevin left HG for Taylor Shellfish and I bumped up to the manager position, she was promoted to shift lead. And she became one of my most trusted, hardworking employees.
It was at Sky's (Week 25) bachelor party at a cabin, that I reflected on what T has done for our group of friends and for HG. Erica and I had more than a handful of awesome memories with T. Henry's birthday sticks out for sure. A ton of rap shows she attended, especially the 4/20 show at Funhouse, were a blast. But one memory stuck out in my mind, as Aaron (Week 4) and I stayed up later than the group and shared beers listening to songs on my iPhone on the back porch of the Oceanside cabin.
And I texted her this message:
"Right now I'm listening to Teddy Thompson. And I have a vivid memory of Gomez driving the Sprinter into the sunrise of the Northern Colorado mountains. I was tired and we were going to the Aggie. It was March, almost a year ago or over. But that moment, if you remember it as well, was the one I knew I truly appreciated you as a person. Right now is the one I notice I don't say that enough to you."
As clear and straight forward as I can be... anything off or wrong I thought about, accused or said about Therese... has been totally false or misdirected. She has proved her self to be a wonderful ex-girlfriend, an incredible co-worker, and one of the best friends you could be lucky enough to have.
Which is why this date was both important and... tricky. We tried to book something prior, but I was very particular about the guy she could bring over to my house. He had to be both good enough, and distant enough from our crew of friends, and this and that... and she finally found Bobby.
Bobby works at Rain Shadow Meats, the butcher shop across from HG in Melrose Market. He is tall and handsome and charming. He grew up in Reno, did some traveling in Europe, ended up in Seattle at UW and graduated with two degrees. He is an interesting person, very poised and composed. He can hold down a conversation and he likes to party.
Of course, I didn't know any of this. All I knew is that he treated her well. That was definitely enough to get him in the door. He is a good guy and he makes her happy. Aside from having my total approval to date T, as both the best friend of the ex and current boss, I ended up enjoying hanging out with Bobby quite a bit. He's a legitimately cool person.
So Bobby and T showed up. And T had homemade dough, sauce and cornmeal in hand. Pizza is her favorite food and cheap beer is her favorite drink. I had a fridge full of toppings and Rainer. And the date was on!
We kept things light, bumping some music in the kitchen as I tossed the dough, heated the oven and prepped the ingredients. We chatted it up, drank some beers and baked the food. Then casually sat down around the coffee table and ate slices of pizza. We ate some American Flag cupcakes (her favorite dessert, not necessarily the Patriotic kind, but cupcakes) and of course did some Table Topics, then T and Bobby were out to cook some crabs for his sister's birthday party the next day.
What I've learned from Therese is that not all roles are concrete. I tried to judge her in this black and white way in the beginning. The reality of her is she's just a cool person. And the reality of us is we are friends. Her and Bobby are super cute together and I hope they continue being happy. It's great to see her smile again.
Next week starts the second wave of dates off with a big bang. The biggest bang possible... THE NUMBER ONE RANKED POWER COUPLE IN THE GAME. The notorious John and Kim make their way up for a post-4th of July BBQ in what is sure to be a DD for the ages. Be safe on 7/4, don't drive drunk or set off fireworks improperly. You'll want to be alive to read about this next one!
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