i love you much photography

In July, I found this post by Mrs. Candy Corn on Weddingbee. She wrote about about her ceremony reading– excerpts from Sandol Stoddard Warburg’s I Like You. By the end of the post, I was trying not to start boo-hooing. I thought it was perfect, lovely, and fit JP and me perfectly. I added the book to my laundry list of things to get.

I looked for the book everywhere. Nobody had heard of it, and I think they thought I was batnuts crazy, to be honest. Why would I want this little ol’ children’s book written in 1965? I’d end up blabbering on about how fabulous it was, how I couldn’t read through the excerpts I’d read without crying, and other crazy things. I was a woman in love.

I finally got tired of being crazy to the salespeople at the different Borders, so I stopped being lazy and ordered it from amazon. All $6.95 of it. It ended up being some of the best $6.95 I’ve spent. The entire book is even more lovely. I’d love to have the entire thing read, maybe a few things cut for time.

Now, without further ado, and with lots of copyright infringements, I’m sure, here’s the text of the book. I also took some super hot pixxx to go along with it. Enjoy, and if you aren’t crying by the end of it, then, well, you stink.

I Like You by Sandol Stoddard Warburg

I like you,
And I know why.

I like you because
You are a good person
To like.

I like you because
When I tell you something special,
You know it’s special,
And you remember it
A long, long time.

You say,
Remember when you told me
Something special?

And both of us remember.

When I think something is important,
You think it’s important too.

We have good ideas.

When I say something funny,
You laugh.
I think I’m funny and
You think I’m funny too.

I like you because
You know where I’m ticklish,
And you don’t tickle me there.
Except
Just a little tiny bit.
Sometimes.

But if you do, then I know where to tickle you too.

You know how to be silly.
That’s why I like you.
Boy are you ever silly.
I never met anybody sillier than me til I met you.

I like you because
You know when it’s time to stop being silly.

Maybe day after tomorrow.
Maybe never.

Oops, too late.
It’s quarter past silly.

We fool around the same way all the time.
Sometimes we don’t say a word.
We snurkle under fences.

We spy secret places.
If I am a goofus on the roofus,
Hollering my head off,
You are one too.

If I pretend I am drowning,
You pretend you are saving me.

If I am getting ready to pop a paper bag,
Then you are getting ready to jump.

That’s because
You really like me.

You really like me,
Don’t you?

And I really like you back.
And you like me back.
And I like you back
And that’s the way we keep going,
Every day.

If you go away, then I go away too.
Or if I stay home,
You send me a postcard.
You don’t just say,
Well, see you around
Sometime.
Bye.

I like you a lot because of that.
If I go away,
I send you a postcard too.

And I like you because
If we go away together,
And if we are in Grand Central Station,
And if I get lost,
Then you are the one that is yelling for me.

And I like you because
When I am feeling sad,
You don’t always cheer me up right away.
Sometimes it is better to be sad.
You can’t stand the others being so googly and gaggly every single minute.
You want to think about things.
It takes time.

I like you because if I am mad at you,
Then you are mad at me too.
It’s awful when the other person isn’t.
They are so nice and hoo-hoo and you could just about punch them in the nose.

I like you because if I think I am going to throw up then you are really sorry.
You don’t just pretend you are busy looking at the birdies and all that.
You say, maybe it was something you ate.
You say, the same thing happened to me one time.
And the same thing did.

If you find two four-leaf clovers,
You give me one.
If I find four,
I give you two.
If we only find three,
We keep on looking.
Sometimes we have good luck,
And sometimes we don’t.

If I break my arm and
If you break your arm too,
Then it is fun to have a broken arm
I tell you about mine,
You tell me about yours.
We are both sorry.
We write our names and draw pictures.
We show everybody and they wish they had a broken arm too.

I like you because
I don’t know why, but
Everything that happens
Is nicer with you.

I can’t remember when I didn’t like you.

It must have been lonesome then.

I like you because, because, because…
I forget why I like you,
But I do.
So many reasons.

On the Fourth of July,
I like you because
It’s the Fourth of July.
On the Fifth of July,
I like you too.

If you and I had some drums
And some horns and some horses,
If we had some hats and some
Flags and some fire engines,
We could be a HOLIDAY!
We could be a CELEBRATION!
We could be a WHOLE PARADE!
See what I mean?

Even if it was the nine hundred and ninety-ninth of July,
Even if it was August,
Even if it was way down at the bottom of November,
Even if it was no place particular in January,

I would go on choosing you,
And you would go on choosing me,
Over and over again.

That’s how it would happen every time.
I don’t know why.

I guess I don’t know why I like you, really.
Why do I like you?

I guess I just like you.

I guess I just like you,

Because I like you.