Unexpected Surprises

Last night we went to Barnes & Noble (one of my very favorite stores) and while John was looking at comic books I wandered off to find a book I had been thinking of buying. I hadn't gotten more then 10 feet from where John was when I was accosted by a Barnes & Noble employee who simply asked "Will you hug me?" ... Yes, that would have been strange - if the employee had been a stranger. However the employee was none other then Blaine Taggart. I know that some of you have heard of Blaine before, but other's have not so here is a little back ground.

I met Blaine in the summer of 1998 while John worked for KB Toys in Riverdale. I would often hear stories about the people he worked with. There was Deanne (Mrs.. Doubtfire), Alan (39 & living with his dad), Crystal (the fair-weather employee), Colleen (the suck up), Bonnie (Ricky Lake), and Blaine.

Blaine is a beautiful person. He has black hair and stunning blue eyes and a personality that takes a little while to come to terms with, but once your past his bitter exterior there is a friendly lovable man behind it all that one can get used to and trust. Blaine is an artist and as such he has these mood swings that can be shocking sometimes as he is fine one moment and then a moment later he is wallowing in self pity and there is no external reason for it. Strangely though, this is what endeared him to me.

I got a job at KB Toys when John left on his mission. In fact, I got his job when he left. One of the questions Deanne asked during my interview (off the record) was "So, when you told John to dump his girlfriend and go out with you ... were you serious?" apparently Deanne had over heard a conversation between me and John while we were in the store.. ha ha.

Anyway, back to Blaine - I worked at KB Toy from July 12, 1999 - February 17, 2000 and I loved the times when I got to work with Blaine. I'd like to think that he did too. We had a lot of fun. He would tell me all sorts of stories and make up theme songs for me. He would mock the multi-colored barrettes that I would wear in my hair and tell me that I looked like I had lucky charms on my head. He is the first person who ever suggested to me that I would make a great "Dr. Who girl". He would stand at the counter with me and point out pretty girls as they walked by the store saying "there goes my wife" or "who is that man with my wife", you get the idea. Never-the-less, he was a good friend to me, and I appreciated it. When I got my mission call to the Washington DC South Mission, the first words out of his mouth when I told him were "Don't get shot." Gosh that's comforting. But he gave me some great mission advise that I reflected on a lot while I was gone. "Be the Reaper!" - well Blaine, I tried, but I don't think I reaped very much - One random afternoon in the toy store after I had already gotten my mission call he took me by surprise and asked "If someone were to ask you to marry him right now, what would you say?" I don't really remember my answer to him. I think it fell along the lines of if someone really wanted me, wouldn't he be willing to wait.

I haven't seen him much since I came home back in 2001. I worked at the KB Toy Express Store in the Layton Hills Mall during Christmas 2001 and he was one of the managers. I tried working at the KB Store again in 2004 for the Christmas season but found that life was too busy and the commute from Salt Lake to home then form Home to Riverdale was too much for me some days so that really didn't work out well for me. That was the last time I worked with him. I have run into him from time to time, usually at a comic book store where he recognizes me instantaneously, but he never seems to remember John. However when he does see John he usually has a cutting remark that makes John so angry. John used to idolize Blaine. I heard so many Blaine stories while John worked with him and John really did look up to him and just wanted Blaine to treat him as an equal and to be his friend. But that never happened and at first John just felt shot down and that he'd get over it, but when Blaine only acknowledges me and rarely remembers John's name John gets very angry. Like last night - He popped out of nowhere and asked for a hug and I happily obliged and we talked for a moment about life and the "geek books" I was buying and I mentioned that one was for me and the other was for John and he said, "you're still married to John?" to wich I replied, "Yes I am and very happily too."

I don't know what it is about them, is it an alpha male thing where Blaine is threatened by John's happiness. Maybe John's jealousy just gets the better of him and the words coming from Blaine's mouth are tainted by that.... I hate to have to admit that Blaine is a jerk- that's just not who he is to me.

Sigh ...

Oh well ... I guess the point of all this is - I was really happy to see Blaine yesterday. He is just as angry and single as ever. I truly do wish that he could find a good woman who could deal with his emotional issues and just love him because he is a wonderful man. When I got home from Barnes & Noble last night I thought I wonder if I could find him on the Internet somewhere ... so I "Googled" (yeah, John was really happy about that) And when I put in his name I came up with all sorts of links directly to Blaine. Funny how some people have a million points of reference to be found by doing a Google search, and others (like me) don't.