Snapshot Meme: Happy Birthday Hubby!

Posted by: Allison Helps Cats on: May 10, 2014

• In: Teasers
• 18 Comments

Saturday Snapshot  invites bloggers to share photos. Today is my husband’s birthday and so this post is about all things Andy. 🙂

In our early dating years, Andy and I initially connected over movies. For one of his first birthdays, when I went looking for something extra special, I learned about Roger Ebert’s Overlooked Film Festival. Andy had long been a fan of the Siskel and Ebert show and later of Ebert’s reviews. In its conception, the festival not only featured lesser-known movies, but there’s was also always a classic movie shown in glorious 70mm, along with lots of guests connected to the movies. I took Andy to the festival, an evolving one which we attended for several years including on our honeymoon. This is a photo of Andy getting to meet the iconic Roger Ebert.

Next, Andy and I bonded over books, which are my first love. His two favorite books are To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by the British writer Piers Paul Read. The latter he introduced to me, my family, and still to this day shares with friends. Here, he is reading Miracle of the Andes, which is by one of the actual survivors. Both books are about an Uruguayan Rugby team and their friends and family who were involved in the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 which crashed into the Andes mountains on Friday, October 13, 1972. Of the 45 people on the flight, only 16 survived in sub-zero temperatures. To stay alive, they had to eat their dead teammates.

For a time, Andy and I also shared an interest in football. I joined him in becoming a dedicated Husker fan. Later, we participated on the same fantasy football teams, and so also began watching the occasional professional football game. Over time, as my love of writing started to take over more of my life, I lost all interest in sports. Andy’s passion remained, however, and even broadened to include an interest in playing computer football and reading football columnists. Here he’s holding a book signed by Peter King, America’s premier pro football writer.

Andy and I have always shared an interest in games, although we have different favorites. I grew up playing board games; he loves card games. Back when we were still just corresponding online, he would weekly narrate for me the highlights of his wins and losses at the local cribbage league. Once we started dating in-person, he taught me how to play cribbage. I also began joining him on his weekly visits to his parents’ home, where we always end our visit with a game of cards, most often Pitch or Oh Heck. On September 22, 2011, Andy scored a coveted 28-point hand at his cribbage league, which is just about the highest score you can earn in cribbage.

Although I grew up collecting rocks and stamps, I didn’t really stay a collector as an adult. In contrast, since my knowing him, Andy has gone through a variety of collections. The one that has stuck with him, even from his youth, is that of Burma-Shave memorabilia. Decorating a living room shelf are collectibles from this American company who created brushless shaving cream and was most famous for its advertising gimmick of posting humorous rhyming poems on small sequential highway roadside signs. Here he’s holding a long-sought-after road sign.

As those of you who follow my memes know, Andy and I are both animal lovers. We currently are pet parents to a poodle, silky terrier, and a tortoiseshell cat. My initial impression of poodles wasn’t a positive one. From books, I’d gained the inaccurate perception of them as pampered delicate snobs. When Andy decided to get his own dog, however, he got a poodle because this is the breed he had grown up with. Barnaby loves to kiss, climb, snuggle, and play. He’s taught me that poodles are just as fun as any other dog. This is a photo of Barnaby doing one of the things he loves best, licking Andy’s face. 🙂

Last, but not least, Andy and I both enjoy taking photos. He even once considered making a career out of it. I still think he could, but he prefers just to pursue it for fun. Many of his photos end up proudly displayed on our walls, at his office, or on his Facebook page. How sweet is Andy here, kissing a photo of the love of his life?

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Tags: Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivor, Allison's Book Bag, Burma Shave, cribbage, Peter King, photography, professional football, reviews of books for young people, roger ebert's overlooked film festival, snapshot meme, toy poodle