"Ragged Wood" Fleet Foxes

Ah, the Sub Pop label. I remember this song! Great harmonies.Take a listen, won't you? Today's Confession was short lived. Another Beautiful One. THE FIREMAN

It was fall break and the son of a colleague (he was late to enter the teaching world) was student teaching at our school. We became fast friends. He stopped by my room at the end of the day to see what plans I had for the break. Of course, I had none, so he invited me to meet his friend and throw darts at Upstairs. THE FIREMAN and my friend both graduated from the school I was teaching at and he was in town for the weekend to catch up. The night led to beers and darts, followed by dinner at Tro-Ho and back to my friend's mom's condo, where he was currently staying while student teaching. The conversations flowed as did the beer, and pretty soon it was too late and we were all too wasted to drive, so we all crashed there.

THE FIREMAN was one of the smartest people I have ever met. As a kid, we would read encyclopedias for fun. He would start with one letter and keep going until the whole set was finished, and then read them again.

I remember going to the Farmer's Market with him later that weekend, and we were standing next to his jeep. It was getting warm and he took his shirt off right in the middle of Kirkwood. Needless to say, what they say about Firemen is absolutely true. Strong, sexy, athletic, smart. He had it all.

I would drive up to see him on an Sunday afternoon, stay over and leave early Monday to get to work. It was an hour drive, so not terrible, but 4 am wake up was a beast. One time when I came up, I think it was Thanksgiving, he was changing the sheets to his bed. I guess that doesn't mean much, but later that night, I found a long black strand of hair that attached itself to my calf.

I didn't say anything-- we never did say we were exclusive. But it did give me pause. Being a serial dater you learn that there is a time limit. It's three months. If you make past the three month threshold, you may have a chance.

It was coming up on Christmas and my cat was not well. I decided that I needed to put her down, and asked if he would drive down and do it with me. He agreed, but the day I had to do it, he called and said his Jeep was in the shop and he couldn't make it after all. Or ever again. THE FIREMAN extinguished me. We almost made it to three months, but I knew it would never work out. It was the worse Christmas present I ever received. I cried for a week straight.

I saw that he married not long after. She was strikingly beautiful, tan and fit,

With beautiful long, black hair.