The LYG Story

Fridays are supposed to be the day for my mushy, pukey, nauseous love post. But since its week one of this blog I'll stray only slightly and use the days post to explain the title of this blog. Love Your Guts.

Its funny, it seems so simple and obvious to me. Its just a twist on the old "hate your guts!". From time to time, though, many friends and strangers alike have asked me to explain it. I cant do it without talking about Rachell Grubbs. One of the best friends Ive ever had, even though we have thousands of miles between us now ! We met working at a coffee shop in Tempe, Arizona and immediately got along famously. We worked together there for I think about 2 yrs... I know it was over a year for sure, and most likely close to 2. Im convinced that we had more fun at work than anyone in the history of fun at work ! We did behind the counter interpretive plastic bag dancing, drank countless shots of espresso, and knew every customer that came through the door by name and favorite drink. We were good. And the customers knew it ! As recently as this past spring I was still running into regulars from there who would tell me " its just never been the same" since you guys left, and its been over 5 yrs !!!

So when Rachell and I found out we had the same birthday, which couldnt have taken that long, we were ecstatic and felt it only made sense. There had to be an explanation for the over flowing creative energy between us, and in our minds this was it ! . Though we never used our collective talent for anything productive or lucrative, Im pretty sure we amused the hell out of quite a few people, to a point. I do remember on a few occasions hearing " I gotta go I cant handle you two" or " I feel like Im missing something here what the hell is so funny?" ( and to that I would say sometimes we didnt even know). Somehow our brains were a little more similar to each others than most. The connections happened at light speed, the jokes, stories, and sentences all came out a lot faster and sometimes were not even complete from an outside view even though we would be rolling in laughter !

Anyway eventually we became roommates and lived together for about 2 yrs ( again my memory sucks sorry). The madness continued ! We had great parties, and overall great times. We helped each other through many a boy problem, shared many a drink, and shed plenty of tears. Somewhere in the mess of all this I can remember a time where we were just being stupid and laughing at god knows what and Rachell saying ( very facetiously ) " I hate your guts" and I responded " Well I love your guts" . It just came out. It fit the moment perfectly, and I meant it. When we talked it though later we realized how unintentionally great it was.

Whether friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, brother, sister, mother or father, when you really love someone for everything they are you really do " love their guts" ! Inside and out. With all of their flaws, issues, and baggage ! And if you really want to get technical you do LOVE their liver, kidneys, lungs, spleen and everything else in there right down to their actual beating heart, all for keeping them alive for you to love them another day.

So next time you want to tell a friend how much you love them without sounding sappy, and without possibly embarrassing yourself just wind up like youre gonna let em' have it and say " you know what?... I love your guts !" Its more fun than your standard I love you, and even somewhat empowering (I swear).

Rachell if youre reading this... I still LOVE YOUR GUTS !!!

Well it looks like I might have fulfilled my mushy post assignment after all !

Some extra info... I chose Led Zeppelins " Fool in the Rain" as an homage to old times, Rachell and I love this song. We used to go to a particular piano bar in Tempe much too often, and much too often requested this song to the point of the staff learning it just for us ! They probably regretted it, too, since we requested it just as much as ever after that!