Keep Me As An Apple of Your Eye - 2. December 2

Monday December 2

The Light of Hope

Our help is in the name of the Lord who created heaven and earth.

Psalm 124

“No cake for breakfast!” Erick looked at Todd and wondered how much his mother had spoiled him as a child. Todd looked at Erick with a huge grin on his face so that Erick could see the remnants of a cherry stuck to his teeth.

“And brush your teeth before you get dressed!” Erick walked out of the kitchen and headed to the bedroom to finish getting dressed for school.

Erick had eaten his bowl of Cream of Wheat. It was his breakfast routine every winter morning except on weekends when he would splurge and have a bagel with cream cheese. In the summer it was bran flakes with milk and banana. Todd said it made him want to puke. Erick said it made him regular….in more ways than one.

Todd told Erick to also brush his teeth because he wouldn’t kiss him while tasting of that ‘nasty’ Cream of Wheat.

They had been living together less than a month. Going to the grocery store together the first time had been a revelation to each of them. Erick had a list of groceries to purchase arranged in order of where items were on the grocery aisles. Todd was a catch as catch can type of shopper. He would toss things in the cart because he took a fancy to them. When Erick would ask when they were going to eat something put into the cart Todd was at a loss to tell him. After that one trip, Erick made them sit down and write out a menu for the week and the food that needed to be purchased. Todd said he felt like he was being punished.

“You are a mathematician and your life is supposed to be ordered in a certain way.”

“Think of my grocery shopping as chaos theory, my lover boy.” Todd smiled and Erick looked dumbfounded. “Do you even know what chaos theory is?”

Erick shook his said.

“I am okay living with chaos except in the apartment and in the classroom. Until you came along, the rest of my life was chaos. I didn’t care what I ate and when I ate it except that now it has to be with you. Chaos theory posits that in this environment there are patterns of behaviors, patterns of numbers, and in a practical way, it has application in genetics and can be used to reduce bias in clinical trials. I use that merely as one example of how the theory can be applied. There are many more. There can be a lot of noise in chaos theory depending on the discipline and most people don’t have the patience to sort through the noise to get to the meaningful data.”

“I know who is full of noise and bullshit this morning.”

“Not at all. We are talking about my discipline of studies and I am very serious. Applying it to our grocery shopping may be a stretch, but perhaps not. I can live with a certain level of unknowingness in my life. See, I haven’t been bothered with what I ate as it didn’t matter. Now that I have you, and you are so anal retentive, except you are regular because of your nasty breakfast food, I will now pay attention to my grocery list. You may be sorry that you are forcing this idea.”

Erick just looked at his lover and smiled. “God help me. I didn’t know that the person I was destined to be with would challenge me in such basic ways.”

They had finished dressing and were standing in the living room. They checked each other to make sure that everything was exactly right with their presentations. Neither of them would admit that this was elemental to who they were. They were both anal-retentive types.

“You know, before I met you, I went by the sniff test and now you make me dress for school each day.”

“I don’t make you dress each day. You choose to dress like me. I like you regardless of your attire. Actually, I prefer when you are unattired.” Erick had a smirk on his face when he said that.

Todd slapped Erick’s butt and said they needed to get to campus.

They decided to take one car that day. The BWM convertible. Todd’s car. Erick drove a sensible Hondo Civic.

“Remind me again how it is that you live in these luxury apartments and drive a luxury sports car.” Erick kept needling Todd about his apparently bottomless back account.

In a smart-alecky voice, Todd countered, “Remind me again how it is that you live in these luxury apartments.”

“Easy, I live here with the most wonderful, handsome man on campus.” They both smiled. “And, we need to talk about rent and utilities. I need to pay you my part.”

“It’s a piffle. Are you spoiling for a fight today? First, you don’t like my choice of breakfast food and now it is about the finances. You know, most couple break up over money issues and I don’t plan to break up with you thus we are not discussing finances.”

“I only have one question. Is piffle a mathematic measurement? I never learned that in school.” Erick smirked as he looked at Todd who was grinning.

Todd reached across the console and took Erick’s hand. He brought it up to his lips and kissed it. Erick had tensed up because every time he brought up money issues, Todd clammed up or deflected the conversation. Erick decided to talk with his brother, Eron, who might be able to offer advice.

Todd liked that Erick had gotten a faculty parking sticker for the BMW and he wheeled into a lot close to the education building.

“See you at lunch time. By the way, you’re buying.” Todd grinned and hooted as he ran to class. Todd thought it was cold outside but Erick knew it to be a pleasant fall day. Erick walked into his office, dropped his briefcase and hurried to class.

His first class was on European History. Erick knew the material backward and forward. As the new faculty member, Erick was prepared to be assigned most of the survey classes for freshmen and he sometimes found it difficult to inspire students with such basic information. The Monday 8 a.m. class was the worst. Many of the students were hungover from the weekend and would sleep through the class. He tried to make it interesting but felt that for many of them it was a box to be checked off for their required curricula. He also realized that getting into William and Mary was not easy and these were genuinely smart students. He had shaken the class one morning when he brought in a CD of a Mozart concerto. He started playing it and many of the students had quizzical looks on their faces. After the initial shock he could see some of them nodding their heads in time with the music. He then talked about the Habsburg lands under the rule of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary. He traced the line of the royal family until the lead up to World War I. The students were energized as Erick talked about education, medicine, arts, life and diplomacy in the royal court. The class time flew by and the students didn’t want to leave. Their homework, which drew a groan, was to watch the movie, Amadeus, directed by Milos Forman. The students who actually watched it came back asking for more. They spent an entire hour talking about the historical minutiae they noticed in the movie. The next week he introduced Judith Leyster, a female painter from Amsterdam who was one of the first women to earn a living as an artist. That led to a discussion about the Low Countries and their importance in commerce. Erick was able to put out a teaser for the next semester when he talked about the importance of Amsterdam as the center of trading and how that impacted all of Europe and the new world. The students liked the “coming attractions” promotion. Erick had become a popular teacher. When pre-registration for the next semester was finished there were waiting lists for all of his classes. The Dean took note and told Erick he was off to a good start.

Todd was enjoying his classes and knew they were preparing him for his focused work in operational research. He relished the theoretical world of some of the higher-level mathematics classes but he wanted to know how this knowledge could help with real world problems. He was ever the pragmatist. He was looking for the companion field to couple with his math skills as he wanted the application of his knowledge to help people in need. He thought that the social sciences or medicine were areas where he could make an impact. He loved the idea of working in the medical field. He was lost in his imagining until he heard a growl from his stomach. Just like clockwork he knew it was lunchtime.

He headed to the student union to meet Erick. They always ate lunch there on Mondays. There was also the soup and sandwich special that appealed. Erick always had a grilled pimento cheese sandwich with tomato basil soup. Todd had turkey on wheat with lettuce and tomato and chicken noodle soup. They were regular as clock work. Todd chuckled at that thought after the discussion earlier that morning.

Erick was already at the table with their food and drinks. Todd slid in beside him and Erick led them in a short prayer. At one time, Todd would have been uncomfortable about praying in public but with Erick it felt natural. They were about to take their first bites when Yonatan and Matan asked if they could join them. The lunch hour went by quickly as they talked about what they had done for the Thanksgiving holiday. Erick and Todd gave an abbreviated account of their holiday. Yonatan and Matan had invited friends over and they braved the weather and ate on the deck. Black had arranged for them to take a cruise down the river which they enjoyed. It was closing in on dark when they returned to shore and the guys were wrapped up in all weather gear. Green had forewarned them that it got cold on the water. They ate leftovers for dinner and then had warmed apple cider and sweet potato pie for dessert. They had enjoyed entertaining friends they had made at William and Mary.

Erick brought them back to the present. “Okay, the big event is happening in less than two weeks. Are you guys ready?” Erick already knew his role in the upcoming commitment ceremony and enjoyed teasing the fellows. He knew that Matan was on top of every detail.

“Yonatan has left it all up to me and we are set. I have a notebook filled with the particulars. Is there such a thing as a groomzilla?”

Erick and Yonatan had been in discussion about one important aspect of the ceremony that had not been shared with Matan. Yonatan had decided that during the ceremony Erick would read a list of gifts being bestowed on Matan. It followed a tradition of the “husband” announcing his gifts to the “bride”. Matan was absolutely clear that they were both husbands and that no bride was involved. However, as Yonatan headed up the family trusts and was responsible for finances, Matan let him take the lead and do what he wanted. When asked, Erick had agreed to read the Ketubah (contract) to the congregation who gathered at the ceremony. It was be a public announcement of the largess of Yonatan’s love for his mate. There was a wonderful mood at the table of two young couples in love.

Erick leaned in and kissed Todd. Todd just smiled because Erick wasn’t generally prone to such public displays of affection.

“I will be finished by 2 pm today. Meet you at your car. It is a beautiful day, perhaps we can go riding this afternoon.”

The guys loved driving throughout southeast Virginia. When Erick got to the car Todd was already waiting and had the top down. Erick was about to say it was too cold for such an outing when Todd pulled out barn jackets and hats. Todd quickly maneuvered the car onto the Colonial Parkway and they headed to Yorktown. It was such a lovely drive and they appreciated that they encountered very few cars.

They sat at the base of the monument where Cornwallis had surrendered to the upstart American forces while the sun lowered in the western sky. They held hands….rather they held gloves as they were bundled up on the ridge above the river. Neither spoke because they were so in sync. They enjoyed watching the town lights come on as they sat in the twilight. Todd’s stomach growled. They laughed.

“Let’s eat at the Pub. Nothing too pretentious and hopefully there is a table so we can look at the river.”

“You are the driver. Let’s do it.”

Todd had seafood while Erick ate his burger. It was filling and they slaked their thirst with draft beers. It was wholly satisfying.

“Top up. It is too cold and we don’t want to get sick since it is almost exam time.” Erick helped Todd with the top. It wasn’t surprising to either of them how cold it got when the sun went down.

“I want a fire tonight. You get the fire started and I will get everything set for our Advent reading.” Erick nodded his head and thought how nice it would be to lie on the sofa with Todd while the flames flickered in the fireplace.

They were seated at the dining room table while Todd read the short lesson. He and Erick had a brief discussion about being created in the image of God and how they each turned to God for help. Erick had brought up the notion that God was genderless and they should try not to define God using a human binary construct. This was a new way of thinking for Todd.

“But God is a ‘he’ and Mother Nature is a ‘she’. That is the way the world was constructed. When we ask for God’s help we are asking our father because we know he will provide.” Todd had firm convictions on this topic.

“Yet, when something goes wrong you blame Mother Nature. Don’t you see the gender bias in your thinking? Men wrote the Bible and generally men were the theologians so we get this subtle yet strong notion of the roles for men and women. Also, people didn’t have access to Holy text so they depended on the interpreters. What sex were the interpreters? Want to take a guess?”

“Okay, boyfriend. You took too many philosophy courses. I am just a mathematician. We don’t have gender issues in math.”

“Ahhh, but you do. How many females are in your math courses?”

Todd gave a surprised look at Erick. He didn’t know how to respond.

“Math is for boys because it is ‘hard’ science. Women are supposed to be nurses or social workers.” Erick smiled as he offered up his thoughts.

“God help me.”

“You are on step one of figuring this out when you ask for God’s help.” Erick smiled as he pulled Todd from the table to the living room sofa.

“Can we have an evening of just relaxing without debating everything?”

“Yes, lover we can. There is no debating that I love you and always want to be with you.”

Erick laid down on the sofa and Todd snuggled into him. They started kissing and holding each other as the fire smoldered and eventually burned itself out. The fellows were still on the sofa when they awoke the next morning.

Suggested Music:

“Just A Closer Walk with Thee”

Mahalia Jackson and Louis Armstrong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wX-YWOr8RQ