May 30, 2011

How the Renaissance Man got his Name

     When I first laid eyes on Marcus, he was sporting bleached, ripped jeans, flip-flops, a tight T-Shirt and earrings. His earrings were thankfully in both ears. Not like the just-one-side-pierced guys of the nineties. I saw him before he saw me and I suppressed a laugh when I saw him…who does this guy think he is? Justin Timberlake?! Doesn’t he know we are at a Catholic retreat!? He MUST be lost! Much to my surprise, Marcus came over to the table of college students where I was sitting and began to lead us in prayer to start the retreat weekend. Annnnd, that’s what you get for judging, God reprimanded me.  The only men I knew that could pray like that were ones dressed in albs, sporting a collar or at least ones dressed in khaki’s and a polo. When he was finished praying, we were introduced and he politely chatted with me for a minute before heading off to play with the praise and worship band. I will say his outfit {Marcus tries to tell me men DON’T wear outfits and can I please stop referring to his clothes like that} fit  quite well with the band scene. Thought I had him pegged there.

     Little did I know that putting Marcus’ type into a neat little box would be a task I would never accomplish. Throughout the weekend I learned he was homeschooled {WHAT?! Homeschooled boys don’t wear earrings! They just don’t!!}, trained as a classical musician first and foremost- he played the double base in high school and knows Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and all those boys like they are good friends.  A couple months later when I go visit him at Virginia Tech, he shows me his world of audio engineering, music studio’s, music producing, and a record label he started for the students at Tech.

     Even after we start dating, Marcus remains a man of many talents and interests, always surprising me. He loves to golf. He loves to surf. He is a youth minister. He is a lumberjack. He is a car mechanic. He enjoys marketing & branding. He is a volunteer fire fighter. He can waltz, swing dance and polka. He loves babies & children. He wants to learn how to weld. He can tell you about any Catholic Saint. He can tell you about any rock & roll band. He cooks. He cleans. He’s affectionate & sweet. He is rough & tough & manly. He can harmonize. He can rap.  His office is organized. His bedroom is chaos. He loves to read. He loves to be in the gym. He teaches. He learns.

     Although, his earrings are a thing of the past , and he now owns many more button down shirts and boat shoes…he still likes to break out the band look here and there. As evidenced a couple weekends ago, when he played with a band for St. Gregory’s church festival. Of course they played everything from Rooney to Hillsong.

 Strawberry Picking & Marcus band 172           Strawberry Picking & Marcus band 221Strawberry Picking & Marcus band 219

Strawberry Picking & Marcus band 194

And right as I am leaning over to a friend, pointing to Marcus, explaining to her that he is playing guitar…he starts doing this…..

       Strawberry Picking & Marcus band 206Strawberry Picking & Marcus band 201 Strawberry Picking & Marcus band 200       Strawberry Picking & Marcus band 254     Strawberry Picking & Marcus band 209

  

     And while he is surprising me with his keyboard skills, I remember I am supposed to be taking pictures of the WHOLE band. But how could I?! None of them had such nice forearms, and they were all only playing ONE instrument.

 

I love you Renaissance Man.

2 comments:

Kathleen said...

Wait a minute....isn't he wearing earrings in the pictures???

Sarah D said...

Lol Kathleen, I was just thinking the same thing!! :)

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