Author: benjancewicz

Woke up, went to Nativity. Worked on Tree. Thomas, Tashan, Eric and Jayson showed up.

Tamika left me a message, and I called her back. She was in the shower, but she said she’d call me back. I started on my laundry, and did some design work.
She called me back, she had her hair done. She talked me with me as she drove to the party.

I did some more design work.
She called me back after the party, and said she was coming back to see me.
We talked all they way back, she said how much she enjoyed herself, and how jealous the other girls were when she bragged about me to them.
She said one of the girls had remarked after the story of me getting the 6th graders to wake her up: “I want a Ben!”
She came over, her hair was gorgeous. She had gotten finely braided extensions.
We talked for the rest of the night, then I tucker her in.

Tamika slept on my futon.
Got up at 9:45, gave her a kiss, then ran to school.
Decided to have the kids collect leaves for the massive tree.
We ran around outside, and I directed them to Market Street. I gathered them up all around my house, and on 3, we yelled “Good Morning, Tamika!”. She didn’t poke her head out. We went back to school.
I came back during my next free period, but she was gone. I called her. She gushed about been woken up, she said it was the cutest thing anyone had ever done for her. She thanked me, and said she was sorry she had left; she wasn’t sure if I was coming back.
I went back to school. During a break in classes, I borrowed Lox’s car to go to Lowes for cardboard. They said they wouldn’t let me have any from their cardboard compacter, so I snuck around the back and stole some from their dumpster.

Got back, she came over quick before she took off for the bachelorette party for Vanessa. She was having a miserable day, but I had made her a PB&J sandwich, got her her favourite Iced Tea, a bag of chips, snuck in some Resees & a Ferrero Rocher and at the bottom placed a double CD I had been working on. I made her a compilation album of Stacey Kent and Jamie Cullum. She melted when she realized what it was, calling me when she opened the back and apologizing for being so crabby. We talked for her whole trip, all the way to her house.

Election day, she came to my room, made fun of me describing things, we kissed (play fought), went to get the rackets from Vinny, went to Messiah, saw Femi, played racquetball (flirted), came back to her room, watched TV, took a break, did a Bible Study, Vinny came home, and Tamika remarked how she wanted to leave the country.

She got depressed, I held her, gave her a rub (both was really beat up). She said she might run away later, but would keep in touch with me.

She drove me back. I forgot my key in the house, but pretended to be walking in so she would drive away (I didn’t want to get her more frustrated). She did, and I went around back to climb up on the roof to get in. But, the stool I used slipped, and crashed to the ground injuring my leg & arm. I got up, and went to bed.

I slept, she called me late after Vinny went to bed, she was very discouraged about her parents, I had a hard time hearing her because of the dumb phone, which made her a little frustrated, but eventually we got to talk for a while. I read her Psalm 3, then did a Bible Study. She said she felt better.

She felt depressed, we went to the park, had KFC, talked to a homeless man, took a nap in the sleeping bag, vowed to do bible study more, climbed trees, came back to my room, worked on the costumes, went out to Hershey Park, we went out to a diner, I offended her by saying “that sucks” (I was tired), we talked, I apologized, she poured out to me, I admitted I didn’t want to make her mad, she told me all the things that were wrong with me (deafness, forgetfulness) and how really, she didn’t mind them, because compared to some of the problems some other guys had, and how nice I was, it was really nothing.

She said she would never stop loving me.

She wanted me to pick her up, but I was late because I was working on the costumes. She was perturbed.

-to be continued-

I dropped her off at work, so I could fix the tires on Tamika’s Volkswagen Golf…

To be continued

Tamika arrived at 1, skipping across the road toting two grocery bags of food. She wore a chocolate shirt and a white, blue & brown flowing headband that trailed down her back and matched her belt.
She dropped the bags when she got inside and stood on her toes to give me a kiss, feeling my forehead.
She began setting up, and I found another can of stew to match the beef she had brought for me.
She unpacked bread, cheese, and ham for grilled cheese, and then produced from the other bag one by one.
“Mmm, tissues. A whole box for you, a special kind that is really soft AND disinfects… and…” she pulled out 6 little packets, “small ones to put in your pockets… Strawberry cough drops, Dayquil & Nyquil gel-caps, not the drinking kind, Vapor Rub to put on your nose, and…” she smiled, “Lip balm! Medicated lip balm, to make you lips feel… mmm… nice and soft…” she kissed me.
“Thanks.” I said softly, “Thanks. I like being taken care of.”
“Good.” She grinned, “I like taking care of you.”
She spun around. “Soup.”
She tugged at the pull tab and popped it off with flair.
However, the “flair” shot bits of stew everywhere.
“I’m sorry!” she groaned, rushing to the sink and grabbing a sponge.
“Don’t worry. It’s alright.” I said, getting some napkins and wiping it up.
We finished cleaning, and she went to the sink to pull off the other tab.
I pulled out one of the fresh, new Kleenexes, and started up stairs to get my bag.

She yelped.
The water flashed on, she shuddered holding her finger under it.
Her pinkey spurted blood, she hunched over the sink with her teeth grit and her arms shaking.
The lid of the second can of beef stew had swung around and sliced her pinkey deep. She was crying, but making very little noise.
I ran back, covering the finger with the clean Kleenex and put pressure on it. I turned on the cold water, and let it run, and put a little salt on the cut. She gripped me tight, her eyes bubbling tears. I washed it in cold water, and sat her down with her arm raised.
I didn’t have any ice, so I had her hold a pint of ice cream against it.
It took a while for the bleeding to stop, the cut was so deep. But she took it well despite the pain. I ran upstairs and got some bandages once we got the blood to clot, and I patched her up.
“I’m sorry,” she said through tears “I came to take care of you, not the other way around…”
“Don’t worry about it.” I smiled, “I like taking care of you too.

“Brown Skin, you know I love your Brown Skin…” ~India.Arie

“I can’t get enough of you baby…” ~Smash Mouth

“Nothing even matters… to me…” ~Lauryn Hill

“Settle for my love…” ~Musiq Soulchild

“All you gotta do is say yes…” Floetry

“Lovin’ you is easy… comes so naturally…” ~Alicia Keys

“So Love you when you’re right, Love you when you’re wrong, Love you when you’re weak, Love you when you’re strong, Take you Higher, When the world got you feelin’ low…” ~Alicia Keys

“Ooh… Baby… We… need to smile…” ~Eryka Badu

“But everythin’ means nothin’, If I ain’t got you…” ~Alicia Keys

“They’ve got so much things to say right now, they’ve got so much things to say…” ~Lauryn Hill

“I want to rub your lonilness away…” ~Carl Thomas

“You give me Butterflies… inside…” ~Floetry

“I’m caught up with her, I’m so caught up with her…” ~Musiq Soulchild

“Baby don’t worry, you know that you got me…” ~Eryka Badu & the Roots

“I wanna know if you feel the way I do… I do… I wanna know if there’s a chance for me and you… and you…” ~Alicia Keys & Jimmy Cozier

“And ooh… I love you, I love you… And I want you to know right now… That I… That I… I want to give you some good lovin’…” ~Lauryn Hill & Bob Marley

“No no no you in love with me… I know you in love with me… I’m in love wit’ chu… Yes I’m in love with you…” ~Eryka Badu & Lion

“… and it’s almost
Like being…
… In love.” ~Nat King Cole

“Love is Friendship set to Music.” ~E. Joseph Crossmann

“Laughter breathed to Admiration, this is Friendship. Adoration breathed to Friendship, this is Love” ~Benjamin Jancewicz

Tamika and I drive back home (me driving), she comforts me, and gives me advice on how to build bridges with my parents, and I realize once again how good she is for me. I decide to scrap the original and write another letter to my parents to be sent in with my little brother’s birthday present.