I moved to Missouri before I really moved to Missouri. The kids and I arrived here the beginning of October 2002, but my heart made the move in that first weekend of September.
How did I know Missouri was the place for me? It was a guy on 108th street that was doing yard work that sold me. Easy sell, I tell ya. Better than any promotional flier.
Mr. Fun was here already house hunting and I flew out for the weekend to pick one of the three finalists. We were cruising along a street when I beheld "that guy."
He is in his 60's. He had on overalls, without a shirt. One strap was done up, and the other hung undone, flopping about.
He has a tummy. A big furry tummy. And a nipple ring. A nipple ring that could be seen from a moving vehicle.
He was using his weed wacker to carve "KC CHIEFS" into his lawn.
He was the man for me. I remember sitting in the back seat of the car, with Mr. Fun and the real estate agent (who we didn't end up buying from) and saying, with a big happy smile on my face, "Did you see that?!!! Oh, I can live in a place that has a guy like that!"
I think about him every time we drive by his house. I see him sometimes. He has stopped carving up his front lawn with the weed wacker (the Chiefs has been sucking so maybe he is thinking that it isn't good curb appeal....). I saw him once on his back porch, in what looks to have been his wife's robe. Hair flying around.
I always want to stop and thank him for his role in my enthusiasm to live here.
Here is to you, Mr. Lawn Weed Wacking Nipple Ring Man.
