On Friday, Evil Arts and Crafts celebrated something of a milestone, in that we got the highest number of hits we’ve ever had. I mean, like, three times our previous record high, and twenty times our usual daily click rate.
I bring this up because the temptation was there to post something today that might do a better job of hanging on to any return business who might stop in. But, I’m afraid there are just some things that are more important.
So, I invite you to stop by again on Wednesday, when we’ll be back in the business of rocking your socks. But today, I had something I wanted to share with my lady. (Hopefully she likes it.) Today marks the seventh consecutive best year of my life, during six of which I’ve had the honor of being Mr. Andrea Ravata.
I can’t begin to measure or convey my gratitude, so I won’t try. So, here’s the least I could do: a brief retelling of our mythology. And for those of you in the process of building your own mythology — I’m talking here specifically to one friend and reader of the strip who recently celebrated 10 weeks with his lady — all the best to you. Never forget how lucky you are, and the rest, as they say, is cream cheese.
Have a great Monday, everybody. Andrea and I are off to the Boat House.
Luke
And, since no one asked, here’s a brief guide to what’s actually going on in the strip today.
PANEL 1: Andrea and I met through my mother, who suggested she might make a good “proofreader for my book.” (Of course, what she really meant was “conduit through which grandchildren might be manufactured.”) So, we met on February 1, 2003, at Shenanigan’s, a local bar and grill in Edwardsville, IL. We wound up talking for longer than either of us dared hope about They Might Be Giants and Cartoon Network, and exchanged mix CDs in the parking lot afterward.
PANEL 2: After talking by phone and email for the next few weeks, I made my next trip back to Edwardsville (I was living in the cultural Mecca of Mexico, MO, at the time). This was around March 2 or 3 (?). Andrea suggested we take a walk down by the river in Alton, IL. Clearly, this was her bringing out the big guns, because if you know Andrea, you know that doing anything outside between November and the first of April just doesn’t happen. She is a thinly skinned creature with freon where most people have blood. (Her words, not mine.) This was where we told each other “I love you” for the first time. We both knew it; I think she was just waiting for me to get up the nerve to say it.
PANEL 3: We got married in the Edwardsville Moose Lodge on February 1, 2004, (making this our 6th anniversary of marriage and our 7th anniversary of being together). The Moose Lodge was kind of a last second necessity, as our original pick was iced in, and there was a real danger of someone losing control coming down the driveway and plowing through the wedding ceremony with an SUV. The Lodge was nice, though. No dancing, (except for our First Dance, which was to a TMBG cover of “We’ve Got a World That Swings”) but we had Fritos, and my sister gave us a pair of pink plastic flamingos. Who could ask for anything more?
PANEL 4: After moving back to the Edwardsville area, we wound up moving into our little house downtown. Woods in the back, nice deck, tiny little garage built for a Miata and not much else. Andrea got to work repainting (although the living room is eggplant purple, not the odd peachy pink we use on everything in the strip). This is also where we got The Big TV, so now our family is complete.
PANEL 5: The best part of every day.
Aww, it’s The Softer Side of Luke and Andrea. Love it! Here’s to love and here’s to you!