*SERIES* “Love & A Photo”: Sherri & Jeff

Name:

Sherri: Sherri Martin-Hutchins

Jeff: Sherri’s Man-Servant (Jeff)

Age:

Sherri: 32

Jeff: 36

Lifes’ Work:

Sherri: Bringing people cheer. But for my day job, I’m a freelance web producer.

Jeff: Me for the most part

What city do you live in:

Sherri: New Egypt, NJ

Jeff: New Egypt, NJ

How long have you been together:

Sherri: 3 years

Jeff: not long enough…  maybe 3 years and change’ish

How & where did you meet?

Sherri: We used to work together.

Jeff: We met at work.  We were friends for awhile first.  The job stunk and we both came out of bad relationships.  I think we ended up talking a lot about what we wanted out of life and out of a partner and the answers were very much the same.  It’s hard to find someone who is needy. Ok with you being needy, and still somehow a giver who lets you have space when you need it.  So we kind of knew all that about each other before we ever started dating.  For the record Sherri liked me early on but really stunk at showing it.

What was your first impression?

Sherri: He was so handsome, intelligent, and funny.  A killer combination.  I wanted to spend more time around him.

Jeff: Adorable….  I thought she was adorable.  She was dressed all professional and being smart but no matter how hard she was trying the adorable was just oozing out all over.  It didn’t hurt that she looked all shapely nice too.  I’m a guy we check those things. (the first time I typed that I typed thongs???  Freudian slip perhaps but spell check thought it was ok)

Describe your first date.

Sherri: We were out at dinner with a group of friends.  After dinner, the restaurant cleared the tables and played latin music.  One of our friends suggested to Jeff that he dance with me, so we did.  We never let go of each other’s hands the rest of the night.

Jeff: It was weird because it was a pseudo date that turned into a group thing and then into a date.  We were going to a happy hour with a bunch of friends.  We knew there were sparks and we had a very awkward conversation about going early and eating first but never really said “hey lets date.”  So we did and then everyone showed up.  There was drinking and dancing to Spanish music.  After we danced we were walking back to the group but Sherri never let go of my pinky finger.  Which was awesomely adorable and then we just kept holding hands.  I guess we were big on the no talking let it happen kind of stuff.  Later when we were walking to a second place I just attacked her face,  mainly because I needed chapstick but she thought it was nice so we have been sharing chapstick ever since.

Tell me about the most funny thing your partner ever did to “impress” you.

Sherri: I’m having a lot of trouble thinking of something he has deliberately done to impress me that ended up being funny.  I think that happened to me a lot more.  He has a great sense of humor.  Lately I have been participating in Jamie Ridler’s Wreck This Journal book blogging group.  Jeff has helped with some of the wrecking.  Just a few nights ago we made a video to post on my blog that involved gasoline, fire, and slow-motion running, all of which was his idea.  Silly me, I was just going to hold a match to a page, but he helped me step it up.  He’s a lot of fun that way.  Oh, and there was the time at the Chinese restaurant where he was pouring me a cup of hot tea.  Apparently the pot and the cup both became outrageously hot at the same time so he dropped them both and tea went everywhere.  A cute pair of old ladies at the next table said, “I hope this isn’t your first date.”  I think it was our third, in fact.

Jeff: There really is no limit to that. Most of the time it isn’t on purpose funny.  One of the first dates we had she invited me over for dinner and then cooked the rice and forgot to put water in it.  We both sort of  stumble a lot, but we enjoy it.  I think just in the first few weeks she threw 4 different food products at me on separate occasions.  She claims by accident.

When did you know it was love?

Sherri: I would think about him when he wasn’t around and think how much more fun whatever I was doing at that moment would be if he were there sharing it with me.  But when he mentioned he had corned beef hash for breakfast one morning, I knew it was love!  I haven’t come across too many fellow hash lovers.

Jeff: The first time I saw her naked.  How could I not love her after that.  Ok maybe before that.  We went to a park and we were having lunch (I did a lot of wooing back then. )  After we ate we were walking back and she just jumped on my back.  She’s little so I got to pull off being tough and manly, but I thought that I need someone in my life who just randomly enjoys life and goes with it like that.  Sherri just is that smart functional grown up who randomly pulls off playful and happy in a very genuine way.

Are you guys more of “perfect twins” or “opposite attracts”?

Sherri: I’d say we are something in between.  In some ways we are perfect twins. We both like to stay home and relax some times and go out for a night on the town other times.  We are both needy and cuddly and clingy yet like to have our own individual space, too.  That’s a hard balance to come by.  We are definitely opposites when it comes to sleeping patterns.  Jeff can get by on just a few hours, but I really like a good 8-9 hours of sleep.  He can jump on the phone or go straight in to work first thing in the morning, whereas I need a little more waking up time to be functional.

Jeff: Both. We are very much twins with relationship stuff and very much opposites with our own lives and personalities.  It’s like sweet and sour candy.  They may be opposites but with a whole world of possibilities they both choose to be candy.  Again for the record she is sweet and I’m sour.

Retell the coolest travel adventure that you have taken together.

Sherri: Definitely Italy.  We went there last summer for two weeks.  We hiked, we strolled, we made friends, we laughed (a lot), we ate (a lot).  We rented a boat in Capri.  We rode a local bus to Tivoli.  We looked cautiously at Vesuvius when it sounded like it might erupt.  Fortunately it was only a thunderstorm rolling over.  We exchanged vows in Rome, something we had arranged the week before we left on our trip for Thursday, July 24.  On our way to Rome Wednesday, July 23, we called the coordinater and asked if we could switch to that night instead.  We checked in to the hotel, spent an hour scoping a location, then got dressed up and met the officiant. A couple we met on our tour bought me Gerbera daisies at a corner stand.  We also gave them our camera to take pictures and ended up with amazing photos.  It was all perfectly last minute!

Jeff: We have many adventures but Italy was the best so far.  We got married in Rome and it was very us.  Awesome and simple.  We ran through all of the touristy stuff because we still wanted to do and see everything but didn’t want to spend the entire trip touring.  We mixed in day trips to out of the way places and relaxing days like at the spa in Florence or at the beach in Venice (Lido).   It was awesome.  I licked all of the monuments and Sherri still married me so……there’s that.

How do you share your creativity/gifts with the world?

Sherri: Right now I’m reminding myself about my own creativity.  I don’t have much out in the world, but I write a blog called Life After Web. I’m really excited about photography at the moment and brainstorming ideas on what to do with it.  Aside from that, I’m really big on hand-written snail mail.  One of the greatest simple joys in life is opening a mailbox to find a personal note amongst the bills.  So I randomly send cards and postcards to people.  Stickers are often involved.

Jeff: I sometimes draw or paint or stuff like that but I think mostly it’s more in my philosophy.  Which I hand out freely.  I have theories on everything and my brain spends most of its time working on them.

What was your first disagreement about?

Sherri: It used to be Jeff wouldn’t necessarily show up where he said he would be at the time he said he would be there.  It wasn’t intentional, he just wasn’t very good at estimating how long it took him to get ready, get distracted, get back on track, and drive places.  I used to be a very punctual person.  Over time I’ve learned that punctual is often overrated and Jeff has gotten better with his estimations.

Jeff: If we ever disagreed I must have missed it.  I am somewhat oblivious at times but I tend not to spend too much effort on disagreeing with Sherri.  I save it for other people and as cranky, manipulative, and opinionated as I can be Sherri gets papal dispensation from it.  If we disagree it’s philosophically and we banter more than argue.  I know she gets mad at me when I’m irritating or late but we don’t really argue about it.  She tells me, I agree that I’m an idiot and apologize for my unwillingness to change.  I told her when we started dating that I was rum raisin.  Everyone loves chocolate and strawberry but rum raisin you either love or hate and even if you try to pick out the raisins the flavor is still the same.

What do you do after a ‘fight’?

Sherri: One of us sticks our tongue out (almost like a dog does when he’s happily panting).  When one of us does that, the other one has to do it, too.  It started once early on when Jeff put his tongue out because of something un-fun we were talking about (probably work related).  I stuck my tongue out back at him and he laughed.  It’s been our rule ever since that if things get unpleasant, that’s how we break the mood.  It’s hard to be angry when you both have your tongues hanging out like idiots.

Jeff: We don’t fight much at all really.  We have a system. I get to be right and she has no choice… no we just don’t fight.  I like her more than my own ego and I think she does too.  If we start getting edgy with each other we stick our tongues out.  It’s hard to argue when that happens for some reason.  The other person just looks goofy and you have to let it go.  We also never shut up so we talk through almost everything before it becomes an issue.  Like saying naked when I know her family will see this someday.  I told her.  She said noooooo and I did it anyway.  That’s how we roll.

Have you faced any adversity? If so, and you care to share- what…

Sherri: All the time- ha ha!  I’ve learned there is always going to be something.  It may be big like family health problems, it may be small like different ideas about parenting.  It may be money, it may be work, it may be a perpetually broken dishwasher.  No matter what, there is always something going wrong.  Hopefully there is always something going right, too.

Jeff: Not really.  I think the transition from supporting friends to “Us” was a little testing.  You never know if when all the smoke settles if you still have things in common and the last thing I ever wanted was a life-long co-miserator.  We made the move to happy together very easily though.

Describe your love journey in 3 words.

Sherri: Absurdly crazy happiness

Jeff: Little Big Spoon (it’s one of her nicknames.  She’s little but she likes to be the big spoon.  Taking the time to know all of that about someone is a big part of who we are together.)

For the marrieds, how has life changed since you got hitched?

Sherri: It hasn’t changed much except now we have a perfectly good excuse for being cuddly and disgustingly cute.  We are now what we were before, only better, because now there is no pressure.

Jeff: I have totally let myself go.  I don’t even wash anymore.  No punchline that’s it.

Bonus Question: What is your favorite beverage?

Sherri: Just one?  Hmmm.  I suppose it would be ice tea.  Always refreshing and comforting.  To really quench thirst, though, a tall glass of ice water is the only way to go.  Ooh, and fountain cokes.  Those are the best.

Jeff: I have no idea…..  I like them all and in great abundance.  So does Sherri which is the first person I’ve ever dated who can go through 3 or 4 refills in one sitting.  I guess if I had to right now I would like a Snapple green tea with apple in it.  Later I’ll want a Gatorade and after that some Yoo-hoo.  Yoo-hoo is the best name though.  If Arizona green tea was called Yoo-hoo that would be my favorite hands down.

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