Joseph and I talked on the phone most nights during the
summer we were dating long distance. Joseph was selling pest control in Virginia, and I was with my family in Georgia. Sometimes we had lengthy conversations,
and other times it was a quick goodnight or “dream sweet” as Joseph would say.
When you’re dating someone seriously, it’s like you get to
meet your family again from an outsider’s perspective. You realize how quirky
your family is, and by quirky I mean awesome. One Stoker tradition that I
discussed with Joseph was Fruit Punch Day. It’s an annual holiday celebrated in
the Stoker family. You might think that it would correspond to National
Kool-Aid day, but it doesn't. It corresponds to the night Rebecca
had a dream about Fruit Punch Day. She woke up from this vivid dream and asked
my mom if it was Fruit Punch Day. Much to her credit, my mom responded that "Of course it
could be!" (she likes to encourage imagination and creativity), and what a
glorious day it turned out to be. As I was telling him this, Joseph acted like annual holidays from dreams turned
reality was the most natural thing in the world.
That Fruit Punch Day, much to my surprise, Joseph wished me a happy Fruit Punch Day on my Facebook wall. I thought it was adorable
that he remembered and that he wanted to celebrate. Little did I know that
Joseph was honestly and truly very very excited about Fruit Punch Day.
At the Stoker house that
year Fruit Punch Day was pretty relaxed (we ended up celebrating more fully the
next day). I spent most of my time working
as an extra for a TV show that was filmed in Atlanta (That’s right! I was on
TV). When I got home I was ready to go to bed, and then Joseph called.
I was pretty sure this was going to be one of those quick
goodnight kind of phone calls, but he kept on talking and talking. It started
out normal, we talked about our days and the awesomeness of Fruit Punch Day,
and then things seemed to be winding down so I tried to end the conversation
naturally, “Well it’s been great talking to you, but I better go to bed…” To
which Joseph would say “No wait you haven’t told me about ____ “(fill in the
blank with whatever nonsensical topic you choose, because that’s what Joseph
did). I humored him for a little bit, but I really was tired, and I really did
want to go to bed. When I tried to go to bed again and Joseph asked me about
the weather, I was a little dumbfounded and probably annoyed, “It’s nice now,
but we had the usual rainstorm this afternoon.”
Then Joseph asked, “Are you outside?”
“No, why would I be outside?”
“To feel the weather. What does the
moon look like?”
“Uh, It’s crescent shaped.”
“Would you go look at the moon outside?”I was
getting a little desperate to end the conversation, so I started saying
whatever I could to get him off the line.
“Okay, I did.”
“You went outside? (I didn't really, but I
figured he wouldn't know the difference; he was all the way in Virginia, right?
Wrong.) What door did you use?”
“The front one.” That was totally a
lie I was still in bed.
“Well go out the back door.” This
time he seemed so sincere I actually did get up to go look at that silly moon.
If it was so important to Joseph I guess I could humor him just this once.
As I walked toward the back door, I
saw a figure outside on my deck. Tall and lean with a backpack on and looking
remarkably like…oh! And then all the pieces fell together. The reason Joseph
wanted me to go outside, the suspicious nature of his days activities, and best
of all why he was so excited about Fruit Punch Day. Joseph Erickson was at my house.
I ran outside and threw my arms around him in a big hug. I
still wasn't quite sure it was really him.
He said he had a present for me, and handed me a book with
the cutest note written inside it. Best day ever!
When this song came out it reminded me of my favorite Fruit Punch Day.
And if you’re wondering how Joseph got to my house in
Georgia, well... Joseph had been planning this surprise for awhile. Apparently
he even discussed availability with my mother and she made the off-hand comment
that he wouldn't be able to surprise everyone because someone would have to
pick him up from the airport. Joseph took that as a challenge. On his first
visit to meet my family, Joseph met our dear family friends, the Sultans. They
spent some quality time together, enough that Joseph felt comfortable asking
Craig Sultan to pick him up from the airport so he could surprise everyone. Romeo
(as Craig jokingly called Joseph) was on the phone with me as he and Craig
drove from the airport to my house. During the drive Joseph was stalling on the
phone, and Craig was signing the length of time left so Joseph knew how long he
had to keep talking. They finally made it to my house by the light of the
crescent moon, and Joseph waited for me to come look at the moon out the front
door (which you and I both know I didn't do) so eventually he went to the back
door where I met him.
