Day 39 - All These Things That I've Done
The Killers
2004
Disclaimer: All perspectives, opinions, and memories in this entry are mine and mine alone. Some content is rugged, raw, and - sometimes - NSFW, but it's all authentic and included with purpose.
Why It’s On The List:
I was actually pursuing another girl when Summer and I started hanging out. Summer was actually helping me “chase” the other girl early that summer of 2006. Our big play was this one night when we were all going to a local minor league soccer game. Summer and I were going with my buddy Kevin and the other girl was going to be there. Sum was going to “flirt” with me in an attempt to make the other girl jealous. All sounds insane now but it was our rock-solid plan at the time.
Can’t say it didn’t work. The other girl seemed affected the entire game. But it worked in another way I didn’t see coming.
We got in the car at the end of the night. Kevin asked, “So Summer, what did you think of the other girl??” And from the back seat with her sweet, innocent voice, my future wife responded:
“Oh, she’s a bitch.”
Kevin and I died laughing and after we dropped Sum off, Kev could not stop talking about how magical that night was for me. I had not one but now two girls jealous.
Every man’s dream. I had never seen Summer in that way before but something took root that night.
A few weeks later, she and I were hanging out on a Sunday afternoon. I had secret plans to hang out with the other girl that night so I lied to Summer, saying I was going to go home. Normally either one of us going home would not have been an issue, but that night Sum was strangely offended that I was leaving. It was jarring how bad she took it and I thought about it the entire night I hung out with the other girl.
A couple of days later I confessed to Sum that I had lied and that I wanted to make it up to her. I suggested we go out for one last fun summer night. She was starting back to college the following week so I figured this would be one last “hurrah” before she got back into her routine and we went our separate ways.
It was a perfect summer night. We went down to the beach for seafood. We played miniature golf on the oceanfront (settling this once and for all - I started off letting her win and then she legit started beating me bad so I actually did try to make a comeback but it didn’t matter, she defeated me soundly).
Then something magical happened.
Coming home from the beach, you could take the boring interstate but we decided to take the back roads under the big Virginia trees. We had the windows down and I turned on “Hot Fuss.” We got through “Brightside” and “Jenny” and “Smile” but then the piano notes started to drop at the beginning of “All These Things” and Summer reached over to turn the volume up.
We absolutely jammed out to that song that night.
This girl - who was helping me chase another girl - was now rocking out to MY FAVORITE SONG. Everything changed in an instant. I can’t remember what I did yesterday, but I remember every inch of that five minutes and one second. Midway through I was stunned at a very simple but very real realization:
“Wait a minute - I love this girl. Wow. I really, really love this girl.”
That was my favorite moment of my entire existence on planet earth.
It was my favorite song before that and it’s always been “our song” ever since then. When I turned 35 years old, I got my first tattoo:
“All These Things” right over my heart.
Jack asks me about my tattoo from time to time and what it means. I tell him that “All These Things” are all the things that are special to me, that I keep in my heart. He is “All These Things.” Kate is “All These Things.” All of our friends and family and my favorite moments from these Top 40 songs.
But my wife.
My love.
She is my favorite thing of all.
Listen to "All These Things That I've Done" here:
Favorite Line:
Every man’s dream. I had never seen Summer in that way before but something took root that night.
A few weeks later, she and I were hanging out on a Sunday afternoon. I had secret plans to hang out with the other girl that night so I lied to Summer, saying I was going to go home. Normally either one of us going home would not have been an issue, but that night Sum was strangely offended that I was leaving. It was jarring how bad she took it and I thought about it the entire night I hung out with the other girl.
A couple of days later I confessed to Sum that I had lied and that I wanted to make it up to her. I suggested we go out for one last fun summer night. She was starting back to college the following week so I figured this would be one last “hurrah” before she got back into her routine and we went our separate ways.
It was a perfect summer night. We went down to the beach for seafood. We played miniature golf on the oceanfront (settling this once and for all - I started off letting her win and then she legit started beating me bad so I actually did try to make a comeback but it didn’t matter, she defeated me soundly).
Then something magical happened.
Coming home from the beach, you could take the boring interstate but we decided to take the back roads under the big Virginia trees. We had the windows down and I turned on “Hot Fuss.” We got through “Brightside” and “Jenny” and “Smile” but then the piano notes started to drop at the beginning of “All These Things” and Summer reached over to turn the volume up.
We absolutely jammed out to that song that night.
This girl - who was helping me chase another girl - was now rocking out to MY FAVORITE SONG. Everything changed in an instant. I can’t remember what I did yesterday, but I remember every inch of that five minutes and one second. Midway through I was stunned at a very simple but very real realization:
“Wait a minute - I love this girl. Wow. I really, really love this girl.”
That was my favorite moment of my entire existence on planet earth.
It was my favorite song before that and it’s always been “our song” ever since then. When I turned 35 years old, I got my first tattoo:
“All These Things” right over my heart.
Jack asks me about my tattoo from time to time and what it means. I tell him that “All These Things” are all the things that are special to me, that I keep in my heart. He is “All These Things.” Kate is “All These Things.” All of our friends and family and my favorite moments from these Top 40 songs.
But my wife.
My love.
She is my favorite thing of all.
Listen to "All These Things That I've Done" here:
Favorite Line:
"Over and in
Last call for sin
While everyone’s lost, the battle is won
With all these things that I’ve done"
While We're Here:
Here are some of my other all-time favorite "All These Things":
- Driving 460 West to my Grandparents house in Roanoke
- Walking up the stairs of their back porch, excited to see them
- Going to Krispy Kreme with my grandfather
- Playing Rook with my grandmother
- Getting advice from my mom
- Watching a movie with my dad - Going to get donuts with both of my kids
- When one of my kids sleep on my shoulder
- Hearing my kids run to the door when I get home from work
- The way a baby kicks its legs - Sitting on our front porch while the kids play in the yard
- Road trips to anywhere
- Driving to Bert & Irene's on Christmas morning
- Everything in Evergreen, Colorado
- The magic and mythos of trains
- The way Ruxin follows me around the house
- Newspapers
- Going to a new release movie on a Friday night
- Mr. Pibb
- Sitting at a bar
- Beer mugs with handles
- Italian food
- Rib-eye steak, "Medium rare on the rare side"
- The smell of a good cigar
- Orin Swift red wines
- Pinot Noirs from the Williamette Valley
- Classy dinner parties (where I apparently play the piano)
- Asking/answering these questions with interesting people at dinner parties
- Someone understanding exactly what I mean even when I don't feel like I'm expressing it correctly
- A double date with good friends
- A series premiere of a new show
- Series finales of shows I love
- Binge watching a mesmerizing show
- Watching an episode of "Frasier" while drinking a glass of wine from Washington State, while it's raining outside
- Seeing breaking news on Twitter and being the first to share it with my friends
- Terrible things happening to sports mascots
- Playing catch
- Opening Day
- Walking into a new baseball stadium
- Mike Trout working a count full
- October baseball
- Filling out a March Madness bracket
- Labor Day weekend, knowing football starts on Thursday
- High school football games in the fall
- A fantasy sports draft
While We're Here:
Here are some of my other all-time favorite "All These Things":
- Driving 460 West to my Grandparents house in Roanoke
- Walking up the stairs of their back porch, excited to see them
- Going to Krispy Kreme with my grandfather
- Playing Rook with my grandmother
- Getting advice from my mom
- Watching a movie with my dad - Going to get donuts with both of my kids
- When one of my kids sleep on my shoulder
- Hearing my kids run to the door when I get home from work
- The way a baby kicks its legs - Sitting on our front porch while the kids play in the yard
- Road trips to anywhere
- Driving to Bert & Irene's on Christmas morning
- Everything in Evergreen, Colorado
- The magic and mythos of trains
- The way Ruxin follows me around the house
- Newspapers
- Going to a new release movie on a Friday night
- Mr. Pibb
- Sitting at a bar
- Beer mugs with handles
- Italian food
- Rib-eye steak, "Medium rare on the rare side"
- The smell of a good cigar
- Orin Swift red wines
- Pinot Noirs from the Williamette Valley
- Classy dinner parties (where I apparently play the piano)
- Asking/answering these questions with interesting people at dinner parties
- Someone understanding exactly what I mean even when I don't feel like I'm expressing it correctly
- A double date with good friends
- A series premiere of a new show
- Series finales of shows I love
- Binge watching a mesmerizing show
- Watching an episode of "Frasier" while drinking a glass of wine from Washington State, while it's raining outside
- Seeing breaking news on Twitter and being the first to share it with my friends
- Terrible things happening to sports mascots
- Playing catch
- Opening Day
- Walking into a new baseball stadium
- Mike Trout working a count full
- October baseball
- Filling out a March Madness bracket
- Labor Day weekend, knowing football starts on Thursday
- High school football games in the fall
- A fantasy sports draft
- Waking up on the Sunday morning of a fantasy football championship
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