Breakfast

It was 1987 and we were in love. His brother made the best omelets, thick and juicy with lots of cheese and vegetables on top. I always begged for his secrets and he told me everything he knew. To this day, when I make an omelet I think of my now brother, Danny.

We spent a lot of time with Danny early on in our relationship. Once when Stan ran into his father's liquor store for beer, Dan and I sat out in his truck side by side. Dan had been drinking and was getting a little sentimental. He told me how much he loved me and how much he loved his brother and how I should never hurt him. Another time he'd drank too much I was in charge of driving him and his car home and Stan would pick me up when we got there. Only problem was I wasn't sure how to get to Danny's place in the dark. It was out in the country and all the roads looked the same and after a mile Danny passed out next to me. I yelled at him, I pushed him, I stopped the van and felt like crying. I'm not even sure how we made it home, I can't remember. Maybe Stan drove by and saw us by the side of the road, maybe Dan woke up, maybe I just drove around till I found it. This was before cell phones and gpses, so we all still lived with the possibility of getting lost at any moment.

It was a little one story house that Dan was taking care of for some lady over the summer. We'd meet there for breakfast and Dan would fix us his great omelets. There were three important elements to these special early Saturday morning breakfasts. Dan's omelets, mimosas and Pee Wee's Playhouse. We thought Pee Wee's Playhouse was genius. So very silly and childish, it seemed to be geared for adults. There was some adult humor and we loved laughing at it and ourselves, laughing at it.

To this day sometimes I wake Sean up by laying down next to him and singing in that "Na Na" tone of voice that began every episode: "Get outta beeeedd, they'll be no more naaapppin'" Sean has no idea where I'm coming from, but he smiles and I smile, thinking of Dan's omelets, mimosas, and those early romantic breakfasts in the little country house with my love, his brother and silly laughter.