ye olde mixe tape

Jason and I had a rare opportunity to steal away for some romantic time together: no work, no distractions, no obligations. Just two days and two nights at a very lovely, quiet bed and breakfast in historic Gainesville, blocks away from not-so-quiet UF and The Swamp. It was wonderful, mostly because we didn't try to run around and sightsee or do a whole lot of stuff. I think that part might have been a challenge for my husband - he likes to be on the go, all the time, plus we passed a bazillion horse farms on the drive to Gainesville and he practically whinnied in longing.

Since we hadn't been able to celebrate Valentime's Day the way we'd wanted to, this was a belated V-Day getaway. I made him a mix CD and channeled old memories of the most awesome mix tape I'd received as a sophomore in high school from my friend Aaron, who I'm sure still makes great music mixes. I loved that tape. Played it over and over until it was finally chewed into sad little ribbons by my crappy tape player, just days before I started college. I loved it because it was both music I'd never heard and all the songs so perfectly matched who I was and where I was at the time. To this day, I still can't hear Leonard Cohen or Modern English without remembering the bittersweet memories of teenage angst and late night visits to Denny's with the drama club.

I set out to do that with Jason, and I thought I did a good job. I wanted a mix of love songs, not completely Top 40 drivel, suited to his folksy/indie style, not too sappy, but not all songs that we'd listened to together a billion times. Here's what I came up with:

I Only Want to Be With You - Shelby Lynne
Without You – Brooke Fraser
I Don’t Want to Live Without You – Foreigner
The Way I Am – Ingrid Michaelson
Luckiest One – Ben Folds
Simple Love – Alison Krauss
Little Moments – Brad Paisley
Hold You in My Arms – Ray LaMontagne
We Build – Nichole Nordeman
Arithmetic – Brooke Fraser
Ice Cream – Sarah McLachlan
Someone Like You – Van Morrison
Looking In the Eyes of Love – Alison Krauss & Union Station
Feels Like Home – Chantal Kreviazuk
Blood of Eden – Peter Gabriel
Baby Mine – Alison Krauss

I was pretty proud of it. My two favorites were the Ben Folds song, a completely random find on iTunes that knocked me over with only a 30-second sample, and Alison Krauss singing "Baby Mine", a song from Dumbo that I loved since I was a kid. I ended the CD with that song for many obvious reasons, and I hoped that since my belly was not yet in the round-and-out-there stage, it might help make Jumping Bean seem a little more tangible to him.

That first night at the bed and breakfast was the big unveil of the CD. Would he like it? Would it move him or just get a "that's nice, babe" response?

By the time we made it to Foreigner, his cheeks were wet and so were mine. Double score!