I said rotisserie chicken...
It was the Fall of 2019 and the day before Thanksgiving. We had only been living together for a few months so the holidays snuck up on us. The only thing we had prepared or even planned for was a green bean casserole. So that day I asked Robert when he got off work to just pick up a rotisserie chicken and we'll have that for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. That evening while I was in our apartment I hear someone thumping up the stairs and in comes Robert. His arms were full of grocery bags and on ground was a giant 20lb frozen turkey. He very excitedly shouts, "I'm making a turkey!" I just stare at him as he happily kicks the turkey into the kitchen. I eventually say "I asked you to get a rotisserie chicken." Robert just says it was divine providence. It was the last turkey in the store and he had found a recipe online said you can't have Thanksgiving without a turkey. I just sigh and think about how it takes my dad days to thaw out a frozen turkey and wonder how are we going to thaw out this 20lb frozen monstrosity of a bird by dinner tomorrow... we just left it in the sink overnight and that worked. So our first Thanksgiving together we ate turkey that barely fit in the oven but was delicious. We continued eating it for weeks because it was just the two of us and it was 20lbs.
I couldn't breathe...
Robert and I both grew up in the American South and while we've had are fair share of humid weather I never struggled to breathe in it. It was post Thanksgiving one year in our new apartment in MA and Robert wanted to make some stock from leftover Turkey. So Robert put all the Turkey bones and leftovers in a big soup pot, filled it with water, and put it on the stove. He figured it would take a while for it to warm up since there was so much water so he went to play a game on his computer in the bedroom. I curled up on the couch to play my own game. Now the way this apartment was set up the kitchen was connected to the living room in an open concept style with only a counter separating the two. So I could clearly see into the kitchen while Robert was in the bedroom around the corner. I'm not sure how much time passed but I noticed it was getting harder and harder to breathe. That's when I saw the tv, windows, and every glass service all fogged up. I peaked into the stock pot and saw the turkey bones and other fixings Robert had in the pot barely simmering in water. I opened the door to our patio and stuck my head out in the brisk 20 degree Massachusetts weather so I could breathe. I shouted at Robert saying his stock pot was empty and I couldn't breathe to which he responded "Oh, I forgot about that" and proceeded to fill it back up with water as all the stock had boiled off. I just glared at him still by the patio door but he did watch the pot the second time.
He's lucky he's cute...
Good stories no matter how long or short all have one thing in common, they have a good opening line. A line that grabs the readers' attention to entice them to continue reading. Our sink bread story I believe is no exception. Robert decided to throw away some old flour. It was before Thanksgiving and I was going to make rolls, hence Robert throwing away the old flour. He admits he wasn't thinking here. Instead of dumping the old flour in the trashcan he dumped it in the sink. It wasn't until he was washing the flour down the drain that he realized his sticky mistake. The sink ended up being filled with a sticky dough. I asked what he was doing to which he replied that he didn't know what he was doing. I laughed noticing his hands covered in dough and said "are you making sink bread?" It was like a light blub went off his head. "Yes," he replied excitedly. He scooped out the dough and put it in a dish and popped it in the oven. Once he was satisfied that it was "done" he took it out and cut it like a brownie. He said it tasted like a soft noodle. I took his word for it as I didn't have any. It looked like a cinderblock and his face when he took a bite didn't offer any encouragement. Our sink was fine by the way. By some miracle the drain didn't get backed up and Robert did end up throwing the rest of the sink bread in the trashcan.
Our last date as a family of two...
Robert and I love aquariums. Our very first date was at the Atlanta Aquarium so we decided to continue our unofficial aquarium date tradition with the one in Mystic, CT. We both longed for a weekend get away just the two of us so we could get closer to one another and remind ourselves why we fell in love. Just kidding we really booked this trip because we had terribly loud upstairs neighbors and wanted at least a couple nights of good stress free sleep without having to listen to kids running around at 1 in the morning. We do love aquariums and did end up having tons of fun. The Mystic Aquarium had Beluga whales which I had never seen before and were beautiful! We both fed stingrays which was a strange slimy sensation. Our tickets was a bundle so we also saw the whaling museum which was interesting. We saw how it was like for sailors to live on a whaling ship for months at a time. Robert and I decided we couldn't live like that though. Cramped conditions. No thank you. Perhaps what we enjoyed the most was a spur of the moment decision to go on a mini boating trip. I found what I thought was a boat tour and it was but I thought it was going to be on a big boat. It turned out to be in a two person pontoon like boat. I think there were about 5 boats in all not counting our tour guide. So we took the boat out into the harbor and went all the way to RI which turns out wasn't that far from where we were. Robert had fun driving. I wasn't allowed too as Robert didn't trust me.
Introducing Robert Thor Versluys III...
Robert and I don't want human children. So we decided that if we ever adopted a male rescue puppy we would name him Robert Thor Versluys III or Trip for short. So in the Fall of 2021 we made steps to have our very own puppy. I had a coworker who did work with New England Lab Rescue so I reached out to her for help. Since we lived in an apartment that weight didn't matter we could afford to get a bigger sized dog. That fall she showed me a picture of a puppy whose adoption fell through. One look and Robert and I were in love! However the speed at which the adoption went was lightening fast. My coworker was going out of town in 4 days so we made plans to pick him up that Friday. I drove all the way to the Massachusetts New Hampshire border to pick up our new son because Robert couldn't get the day off. Trip pretty much slept all the way back home. Once he saw our apartment door his little tail started to wag. Then Robert came home and we were a family of three. However that didn't last 24 hours as the next day Robert got sick and ended up in the hospital, abandoning me with what was effectively a furry toddler with sharp teeth. It all worked out he came home and Trip became a daddy's boy... ignoring the fact that I'm the one with him most of the time... boys.
Our first trip as a family of three...
We adopted Trip a couple weeks before Halloween so naturally living in Massachusetts we had to take him to Salem for his first Halloween! Robert and I had never been to Salem at Halloween but everyone suggested we go. Anyone interested in taking a trip to Salem at Halloween highly recommend but be ready for the crowds! We went around and ate some of the food from vendors, toured some of the historical sites there. We took Trip into the wax museum. He got lots of compliments and had his first pup cup then promptly pooped on the sidewalk because we were new parents. It's hard to put into words exactly the Halloween experience in Salem, but if you love spookies and Halloween definitely recommend taking the trip.
We don't get out much...
Since we've lived together Robert and I tend to pause the movie or tv show to ask a question or make a prediction as to what's going to happen. We enjoy this and do it quite often.... perhaps too often. Lovers of the classic 1988 movie Beetlejuice both of us were excited about the sequel movie Beetlejuice Beetlejuice that came out in 2024. So we went to the theater and got our bucket of popcorn and sat down to enjoy the movie. I don't think we were 30 minutes in when I wanted to ask Robert a question and went to pause the movie but realized that we were in a movie theater. I didn't say anything but had a nice internal laugh at myself. Not 2 minutes later Robert turns around looking for the controller to pause the movie then we both burst out laughing at ourselves. The theater wasn't packed since we had gone during the week and it was a good thing too since we were cracking up at our movie streaming selves.
Introducing Stanlee Versluys...
My family knows I'm not a cat person. I've always been a dog person. I've always said I'm never getting a cat. However, I've learned that the Versluys family is somehow catnip as they tend to just attract cats. One random July night Mary Versluys was coming back from work and as soon as she got out of the car a skinny stray kitten walked right up to her car door. Now this kitten looked to be about 5 - 6 months old and was super friendly. So Robert had me keep Trip inside as to not scare the kitten and he went outside to pet the kitty. Me not wanting to be left out soon followed and we all just stood around played with the kitty on our front porch. Trip also not wanting to be left out was pawing at the door trying to get to us. Now Trip is a big almost 70lb black dog and he can sound pretty scary. As I turned to go inside Trip pushed his way out and started barking and excitedly pawing at the gate to get to the kitty. All three of us were super nervous and Robert tried to get him to go back inside when the kitten just jumped through the gate and for a brief moment I thought we were going to witness a blood bath. We did witness a bath but it was a tongue bath as Trip just licked the kitten to death. While Trip has barked at cats in the past we were sure he wouldn't like cats but this one seemed to be different. We took the kitten in and Mary named him Stanlee. Stanlee Versluys our second baby boy who adopted us since he walked into our lives like he owned the place.
Introducing Misty, May, and Dawn Versluys...
Versluys is a dutch surname meaning sluice gate according to the internet, grave keepers according to Robert, and yet I think it actually means cat keepers. On August 9th, we get a call from Tess saying she had found a litter of 5 orphaned kittens that needed someone to take care of them. Me being the animal lover I am, and Robert having no choice in the matter, we took them in! So the fun began as parents to 5 newborns essentially. We woke up at 4am and I fed them while Robert rubbed their butts so they could pee and poop. Trip being the ever present big brother helped too and licked their butts. Stanlee also wanted to help but he mostly just wanted to play with them but they were too small at the time. This routine went on for weeks as we fed them every 3 hours... every 3 hours! The timing between feedings got longer as the kittens got older. Soon they were ready to go up for adoption. We managed to adopt two of the kittens out but were left with 3 who just so happened to look like triplets. As time passed we couldn't find any homes for them so we decided to keep them! We struggled with finding good names for them as Robert refused to name the kittens when we first got them. Eventually we settled on Misty, May, and Dawn after the first 3 of Ash Ketchum's female companions from Pokemon!