It's a Pony!

I'm so proud to be married to my wife.  I'm going to let you in on a little story about us that goes back a long way.  Like many good stories, the story itself is only part of the story.  Make sense? 

So about twelve years ago, Petra was driving back to me and our home in coastal Carolina, coming from Virginia.  My sister was riding with her in the car.  All of a sudden, a big black bear goes waddling across the road in front of them.  

Now Petra's amazing genes used to betray her in those days.  I'm not talking about her beauty, I'm talking about her accent--or lack thereof--it betrayed the fact that she was not a natural-born American.  So basically, on rare occasions, she would get excited and her speech (phonics, vocabulary, definitions) would slip up... in perfect English.

So anyway, this big ol' bear runs across the road, and in her excitement, Petra says, "Oh my gosh!  It's... a PONY!!!"  My sister told me all about it after it happened, laughing hysterically.  Petra chuckled, but she was visibly upset.  "I really thought it was a pony," she rebutted.  For whatever reason, that only made it more funny.  Bear.  Pony.

So the story continues.  Over the next several years, I tell the story so many times that it becomes polished to perfection, inciting a gut-busting roar from any audience.  "Look at me, I'm a pony!" I'd loudly declare in the voice and body language of Austin Powers... or Richard Simmons... or Jack Black.  Like a bear, I'd waddle fatly in slow motion across the room, winneying like a horse.  I must've told that story a couple hundred times.

Petra hated it.  HATED it.

For years, I told her to just lighten up, it's a great story.  She was right, though, and I was a jerk for telling it.  So eventually, thanks to Petra, I matured a bit, and the story found its way to the archives of the party side of my brain.  I stopped telling it years ago, much to Pet's relief.

    
Here comes the part of the story where I fall in love with my wife all over again, like I do more and more each day... this time, for her self-depreciating humor.

On our way back from New York on Saturday, a freaking ginormous black bear runs across the road in front of us... we almost hit it!  Mind you, the last time this happened to Petra was about twelve years ago.  And like it happened just last week, Petra doesn't skip a beat.

"Oh my gosh, IT'S A PONY!!!"

By the way, if you ever whistle or call out to a bear to get it to pose for the camera, like a deer would usually do... it doesn't work.  They just run.