“JOY” to the World

Recently, Melissa and I saw that the Cutesville High class of 1983 had some sort of girls night out event at Manhattan’s Coffee and Social House right here in Cutesville and it left us feeling inspired. We, along with our friend Nancy, decided in the next year, we’re going to throw a similar night of fun with invites going out to all the people we used to work with at Target from way back in the day.

We have a multitude of magical memories from that time and while some of our very best friends are those we worked with there, there are still plenty we haven’t seen in ages, so what a wonderful way to reach out and see everyone once more! Well, coincidentally enough, when discussing what I should write my next blog about with our friend Katie, who we actually met at Target, she said I should write about “JOY!” I needed no further inspiration, this was it! This timely story was the perfect one to tell, so THANK YOU KATIE! I knew you’d know! You really are simply the best!

I worked at Target from 2004 till 2011 and Melissa was there from 2005 through 2010 and while those years all pretty much blend together now, this story definitely took place in the earlier ones shortly after Melissa started working, so we’re definitely talking 2006 at the latest! To think that that was sixteen years ago just blows my mind, but alas, here we are.

One thing that Melissa and I LOVED doing back then and still enjoy doing now is driving around aimlessly and looking at Christmas lights, while of course listening to Christmas music, we just love it! Back at the time of our story, we’d take Club Aurora (Melissa’s Oldsmobile Aurora that fueled so many memories from this time) all around Glen Carbon and Edwardsville and just marvel at all the festive displays while the sweet sounds of Céline Dion and Mariah Carey lit up the Club. Well, like anything else in our lives, we were bound to find a favorite holiday display and find one we most certainly did…

It was neither the brightest nor flashiest, it didn’t encompass every aspect of the house and yard, it didn’t have music synced up to the lights, it was quite humble and simple in fact, and for the time, truly unique. No one had a display like this then, although you’ll see plenty of them now. This one house, which found itself perfectly at the end of a cul-de-sac, had three large, well-lit letters in their yard that spelt out “JOY.” I think baby Jesus might’ve been inside the “O,” maybe his parents were part of the “J” and “Y,” I honestly don’t remember because I now fear that maybe I’m confusing it with other JOY’s I’ve seen since. Forgive me, sadly, it’s been years since we’ve seen JOY (sounds like a trip to Edwardsville is in mine and Melissa’s VERY near future!) JOY was everything to us though, we’d always, and I do mean ALWAYS save it till the very end of the night. We learned from Vanessa Williams a long time ago, you always Save The Best For Last.

For quite an exaggerated period of time, but being especially bad this particular holiday season, Melissa was head over heels in love with this boy, who for the sake of our story we’ll just call, “Ryan.” Well, Ryan himself was crazy in love with our friend Kristen and it was around this time they finally started dating. Now one might think that this would make Melissa jealous, but not my girl, you see, we hung out with Kristen, so this now meant that we’d be hanging out with Kristen AND Ryan, so she saw this as a total win! Plus, both Kristen and Ryan were aware of Melissa’s infatuation with Ryan, so it was all totally good.

One particular December evening, Melissa and I met Kristen and Ryan up at Target to go to dinner and a movie. After the movie ended, we all drove around town in Club Aurora taking in all the Christmas lights on display. After who knows how much time, probably close to an hour, we decided we should wrap it up, but not first without seeing JOY. So, we turned into the subdivision that JOY resided in and began talking about JOY without ever truly talking about JOY. I mean, we were really and I do mean REALLY, building this display up. Telling them how it had been our favorite for a couple years now and we just loved it with all our hearts and it makes everyone else’s decorations look like shit, stuff like that. We were really setting the scene and building the anticipation for JOY. We knew it was going to do its part, it was up to us to do ours.

Finally, we had turned down the street that led to the JOY cul-de-sac, as we slowly approached our destination, we shouted out to Kristen and Ryan that we had arrived and we loved JOY more than anything else ever. Their reactions were… well, they were different than we anticipated.

“You gotta be kidding me!” Ryan blurted out as Kristen howled with laughter in the back seat. Melissa and I both whipped around to face the two of them. How could they not see the joy in JOY!?! We wondered to ourselves and together.

“No, seriously, you guys fucking with me!?!” Ryan asked more rudely than before as Kristen continued to laugh hysterically.

“Why would we be fucking with you?” I asked. “Yeah, we love JOY,” Melissa added. “It’s the best,” we exclaimed together.

“No, like seriously, don’t play with me anymore. Like what is this?” Ryan was less than amused and unfortunately for us, Kristen’s laughter was only becoming grander with each moment of confusion and seeming disappointment.

“Listen, you don’t have to love JOY, but you also don’t have to be rude about it,” I replied sounding more like the Grinch that was Ryan than the Santa I was feeling mere moments ago. Melissa and I looked at one another with a pair of side eyes, clearly he was insane for hating on JOY. Only an idiot wouldn’t love this display we said to one another with our looks.

Ryan kept shaking his head and Kristen kept laughing while Melissa kept the car parked right where it should be: directly in front of JOY. “Okay, you two, let’s be for real here,” Ryan began, “do you know who lives here?”

Melissa and I looked at one another, both absolutely clueless and answered his question in unison, “no.”

“I DO! I FUCKING LIVE HERE!” Ryan hollered with a slight laugh in his voice as Kristen started laughing even harder. “I can’t believe this,” Ryan said as he buried his hands into his face.

I looked away from Ryan and over at Melissa and immediately could see she was licking her lips and blowing hyperbolic kisses his way even though she knew he wasn’t about to give it away. That Christmas had come early look was gleaming brightly in her eyes and she now wore a smile across her face that looked as permanent as Rudolph’s red nose.

“This is incredible!” I shouted with great excitement. “You and your family have THE BEST taste in Christmas decorations!”

“It’s my parents,” Ryan said as he raised his face up from his palms. “I can’t believe you guys have been driving by my house like every night –

“For years,” Melissa interrupted with a pair of raised eyebrows to go with that big smile.

“Oh my God,” Ryan said as he put his face back down into his hands.

Having finally quit laughing enough to say something Kristen added, “this is seriously too good. Oh my goodness, this is too good. I love this more than I love a lot of things.”

“Oh, yes, so do I,” Melissa said eagerly and she and Kristen both shared a laugh.

Well, there you have it, the story of JOY. This is such a treasured memory and again, I’m so thankful to Katie for inspiring me to share it. It really is the perfect post especially when one considers not only could this have happened this very night sixteen years ago, but MELISSA’S BIRTHDAY is on the 17th of December!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MELISSA! Maybe in another time and place you would’ve ended up with Ryan, but alas, you got stuck with me! At least we’ll always know where your could’ve been in-laws live! Maybe a perfectly timed drive-by this holiday season will reignite that uncomfortable-from-his-perspective flame of passion between the two of you. At least he’ll never see us coming now that Club Aurora is long gone! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVE! Here’s to a lifetime of more adventures!

As always, THANK YOU so much for reading! I appreciate you greatly! Please feel free to leave me a comment below as I LOVE reading and responding to them! I’ll return soon with another all-new post, but until then, I wish you all, all the best!