After
Stephanie died, my old pal Joe came from Pennsylvania for a week to console me, and it
was helpful. Last thing I said to him before he drove away was something along
the lines of, "Thanks, and you're always welcome here." So a year
later he took me up on that; his marriage was amicably ending, and he asked
if he could crash here. He's moved in to what used to be the room where Steph
and I slept, for we're not sure how long.
He's
been here for a month and a half now, and it's nice having a human to talk to
once in a while, so I don't mind sharing the apartment. Sharing the refrigerator,
though, has been a tight fit and a minor annoyance, so I bought a second
fridge. The kitchen now has two full-size refrigerators side-by-side; Joe gets
the old one, and I'm moving my food into the new one. And unexpectedly, it's warmed
up some refrigerator-related memories of Stephanie.
Steph,
as I've mentioned a few thousand times, liked to cook. When she was here, our
refrigerator was full of plans — "We're going to have that steak tonight,
the pork chops tomorrow, and the shrimp on Sunday." And it wasn't just cooking
that Steph enjoyed; she also took great pleasure from planning for
cooking. After every trip to the grocery store Steph would stand at the
refrigerator, making notes on index cards, and chattering happily about "all
our pretty little meats and vegetables." The index cards were magnetted to
the fridge door, reminding her that there was bok choy behind the milk.
Ah,
the fridge door. Stephanie and I both liked refrigerator magnets, and every
time we went anyplace memorable, we'd buy a fridge magnet as a souvenir, if the
magnet was reasonably priced. We have magnets remembering the cities of San
Francisco, Kansas City, and Madison, but I've long-since relocated those
magnets to my office at work. Most of the other magnets moved today, from the
old fridge to the new fridge, including…
• Graceland and London, places Steph had visited before I knew her.
• A baseball — just a round magnet with a picture of a baseball on it, 'cuz Steph and I liked baseball.
• a Beloit Snappers schedule for 2018, on a magnet. More baseball!
• Cave of the Mounds, a delightful underground hike that, sadly, we couldn't repeat after Steph was in her wheelchair.
• Door County, a famous Wisconsin tourist trap we visited, once, and mostly regretted.
• Henry Vilas Zoo, here in Madison, where we must've gone twenty times and always had a great afternoon.
• Horicon Marsh, a wildlife refuge an hour or so north of Madison.
• International Crane Foundation, a wildlife center north of Madison, dedicated exclusively to cranes. We had one excellent visit there, borrowing one of their electric wheelchairs — the only time Steph was ever in a wheelchair that wasn't powered by Stephanie herself. She loved the birds, loved the electric wheelchair, and we bought an annual membership and planned to visit often, but never did again.
• "Introverts Unite (separately, in your own homes)" — just a joke that Steph and I, being reclusive homebodies, found amusing.
• a Kandinsky painting, shrunken to fit on a magnet, and there's a brief story to tell about it: Wassily Kandinsky was one of Stephanie's favorite artists, and we had attended a Kandinsky exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in the late 1990s or very early 00s, but we'd had to wait for a "free day" at the museum, because we were poor. And we were too poor to "waste the money" on a Kandinsky magnet, so we didn't buy one. But ten years later, we were only kinda poor not dirt poor any more, and we'd spent the day at the Milwaukee Art Museum. In the gift shop afterwards, we were looking for a souvenir magnet, and I found the same Kandinsky magnet we hadn't been able to buy in San Francisco. It was six bucks, and Steph was delighted when I bought it for her. I think that might be my favorite magnet of all the magnets…
• the Ludington lighthouse, from our steamship voyage to Michigan.
• Milwaukee Art Museum, which we visited several times, including one of Stephanie's first rides in a wheelchair — a story I thought I'd told already, but can't find on the website, so I'll write it up soon.
• Mitchell Park Domes, the indoor botanical gardens in Milwaukee, under three half-sphere roofs.
• Monroe, Wisconsin, home of the Green County Cheese Days, an annual weekend of fromage. We both liked cheese, and Steph was sort of a cheese expert, but Cheese Days brings big crowds to that small town, and the crowds were too much for us. We only attended the festival once, but we visited the town several times over the years — always avoiding Cheese Days. (Fun fact: the only American maker of Limburger cheese is in Monroe. It's the stinkiest of all the stinky cheeses.)
• "My dog is smarter than the President," a paw-shaped magnet we bought to dishonor Donald Trump. Of course, we never had a dog, but they didn't have a "cat" sticker.
• NASA — no, we never went into space, but we liked the idea.
• Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, which I remember us going to, but in my mind I can't distinguish it from Horicon Marsh (see above). Both places had lots of birds and we brought binoculars and we had a great time, but … which place was which?
• the Railroad Museum, a few acres of old-time locomotives and tracks Steph took me to once, as she liked trains but she knew I was nuts about 'em.
• Shedd Aquarium, from our one trip to Chicago.
• Stoughton, Wisconsin, home of the annual Syttende Mai Folk Festival (pronounced SEH-ten-dah MY). Lots of Norwegian-Americans live in Stoughton, and Syttende Mai celebrates Norwegian Constitution Day. It's a big local thing, so Stephanie and I went, twice. As with Monroe, we found the crowds overwhelming and aggravating, so we stopped going. Also, Steph would want me to mention, the second time we went, a corner hot dog stand sold her a bratwurst that was utterly inedible, and had apparently been warmed up from the day before, or the day before that. "Worst wurst ever," Steph said.
• and a lone magnet we found somewhere that says simply "Mink," which, of course, we put on the fridge because of our cat Minky.
• Graceland and London, places Steph had visited before I knew her.
• A baseball — just a round magnet with a picture of a baseball on it, 'cuz Steph and I liked baseball.
• a Beloit Snappers schedule for 2018, on a magnet. More baseball!
• Cave of the Mounds, a delightful underground hike that, sadly, we couldn't repeat after Steph was in her wheelchair.
• Door County, a famous Wisconsin tourist trap we visited, once, and mostly regretted.
• Henry Vilas Zoo, here in Madison, where we must've gone twenty times and always had a great afternoon.
• Horicon Marsh, a wildlife refuge an hour or so north of Madison.
• International Crane Foundation, a wildlife center north of Madison, dedicated exclusively to cranes. We had one excellent visit there, borrowing one of their electric wheelchairs — the only time Steph was ever in a wheelchair that wasn't powered by Stephanie herself. She loved the birds, loved the electric wheelchair, and we bought an annual membership and planned to visit often, but never did again.
• "Introverts Unite (separately, in your own homes)" — just a joke that Steph and I, being reclusive homebodies, found amusing.
• a Kandinsky painting, shrunken to fit on a magnet, and there's a brief story to tell about it: Wassily Kandinsky was one of Stephanie's favorite artists, and we had attended a Kandinsky exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in the late 1990s or very early 00s, but we'd had to wait for a "free day" at the museum, because we were poor. And we were too poor to "waste the money" on a Kandinsky magnet, so we didn't buy one. But ten years later, we were only kinda poor not dirt poor any more, and we'd spent the day at the Milwaukee Art Museum. In the gift shop afterwards, we were looking for a souvenir magnet, and I found the same Kandinsky magnet we hadn't been able to buy in San Francisco. It was six bucks, and Steph was delighted when I bought it for her. I think that might be my favorite magnet of all the magnets…
• the Ludington lighthouse, from our steamship voyage to Michigan.
• Milwaukee Art Museum, which we visited several times, including one of Stephanie's first rides in a wheelchair — a story I thought I'd told already, but can't find on the website, so I'll write it up soon.
• Mitchell Park Domes, the indoor botanical gardens in Milwaukee, under three half-sphere roofs.
• Monroe, Wisconsin, home of the Green County Cheese Days, an annual weekend of fromage. We both liked cheese, and Steph was sort of a cheese expert, but Cheese Days brings big crowds to that small town, and the crowds were too much for us. We only attended the festival once, but we visited the town several times over the years — always avoiding Cheese Days. (Fun fact: the only American maker of Limburger cheese is in Monroe. It's the stinkiest of all the stinky cheeses.)
• "My dog is smarter than the President," a paw-shaped magnet we bought to dishonor Donald Trump. Of course, we never had a dog, but they didn't have a "cat" sticker.
• NASA — no, we never went into space, but we liked the idea.
• Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, which I remember us going to, but in my mind I can't distinguish it from Horicon Marsh (see above). Both places had lots of birds and we brought binoculars and we had a great time, but … which place was which?
• the Railroad Museum, a few acres of old-time locomotives and tracks Steph took me to once, as she liked trains but she knew I was nuts about 'em.
• Shedd Aquarium, from our one trip to Chicago.
• Stoughton, Wisconsin, home of the annual Syttende Mai Folk Festival (pronounced SEH-ten-dah MY). Lots of Norwegian-Americans live in Stoughton, and Syttende Mai celebrates Norwegian Constitution Day. It's a big local thing, so Stephanie and I went, twice. As with Monroe, we found the crowds overwhelming and aggravating, so we stopped going. Also, Steph would want me to mention, the second time we went, a corner hot dog stand sold her a bratwurst that was utterly inedible, and had apparently been warmed up from the day before, or the day before that. "Worst wurst ever," Steph said.
• and a lone magnet we found somewhere that says simply "Mink," which, of course, we put on the fridge because of our cat Minky.
Also found magnetted to the old
fridge: two of Stephanie's recipe cards — sweet potatoes, and pumpkin cheesecake
— two of the last dishes she cooked. I especially remember the sweet potatoes,
because she thought they hadn't been utterly perfect, so she made sweet
potatoes again a week later (and yeah, they were better the second time). When Steph
made dinner, her recipe cards usually took a few weeks to wander back to the
recipe file. These two took a little longer.
Here's an index card in my handwriting,
listing several cool Wisconsin things Steph and I had read about, and planned
to visit, but never did …
• a truck in a tree in Clinton, Wisconsin
• a Prairie Moon Sculpture Garden in Cochrane
• an underground railroad station (slave escape, not subway) in Milton.
• something called the Wisconsin Concrete Park in the town of Phillips
• a truck in a tree in Clinton, Wisconsin
• a Prairie Moon Sculpture Garden in Cochrane
• an underground railroad station (slave escape, not subway) in Milton.
• something called the Wisconsin Concrete Park in the town of Phillips
It's a list of the things we'll
never do together, and I'll almost certainly never do without her. Both halves
of that sentence seem sad, and Steph would tell me to go do all these things —
and more — even without her, but without her I've become a hermit who emerges
from this cave only to go to work or go shopping.
And
here's another story to be told, though it's probably only interesting to me: Once,
several years back, our landlord screwed up on the rent. Steph paid it early,
like she always did, and the landlord deposited the rent check, but failed to
note in their accounting that the payment had come from us in Apartment 5. So
there was drama a week later, when the building super knocked on our door and
asked why the rent was late, and Steph had to prove that she'd paid already,
and on time. Ever since, we always kept the rent receipts magnetted to the
fridge door. So yeah, there were a lot of rent receipts on the old fridge door,
dating back four years. I tossed them all, except for this month's receipt,
which I've magnetted to the door of the new fridge, like Stephanie would've
wanted.
Something
I'd never noticed was that Steph kept the refrigerator clean, or at least "cleanish."
Me, I haven't wiped down any of the interior shelves since she went away, so as
I cleared my food out of the old fridge, a lot of icky gunk underneath was
revealed. Sorry, Joe — clean it if you care, or if you dare.
Toward
the back of the fridge's bottom shelf, I found an old can of Dr Pepper, which
would've been Stephanie's. My sodas are always diet soda, but after Stephanie's
diabetes disappeared, she developed a taste for full-sugar Dr Pepper. The can was
opened — Steph usually drank just half a can of soda, and saved the second half
— and by now, the second half is too late for saving, so it went in the recycling
instead of the Shrine.
In
the freezer, I found a plastic container full of ice — very old ice. See,
Stephanie liked to chew ice-cubes, both as a habit and because it helped soothe
things when her belly was upset. We never had a fancy-fridge that makes its own
ice-cubes, so we were always pouring water into ice-cube trays, and I sometimes
kept extras in a plastic leftovers-box in the freezer. These extras have been
in the freezer since a few weeks before Stephanie died, but unlike the Dr
Pepper I knew the ice-cubes were there. For a year and a half, sentiment has
kept me from dumping that ice down the drain. And today, I simply moved
Stephanie's ice-cubes from the old fridge's freezer to the new fridge's freezer,
where they'll stay until I die or until there's a power outage.
Wish
you were here, Steph. Always, I wish you were here.