You know, being in a relationship is such a weird thing. Your life is connected by all these spidery threads to this other person and you have all this STUFF riding on how it's going to pan out and sometimes it is amazing and sometimes it is awful but it is seldom ever dull. (By the way, STUFF is also known as "investments" according to my Communications class.)

And the thing that never ceases to amaze me is the tiny little things that can make the ride INFINITELY better and make the big bad things seem not so bad.

Like, it turns out I'm a bit of a nag. Frankly, if you met the gene pool that I swam out of, this would come as no huge surprise. This causes some friction in our relationship. And I don't like seeing that side of myself and it just puts everything in a dim light. So, there was some clashing last weekend that caused us to need to separate geographically for a little while.

But, the night passed and the week goes by and we laugh together over the dumbest things and talk about everything and it is a wonderful thing. I know he hasn't forgotten that I am a nag and I know that I have not forgotten that he makes me feel like a nag but it just doesn't matter.

Because even after all this time and all the ups and downs, there are still times that I get the butterflies in my stomach knowing I'm going to see him soon or talk to him again or whatever. And that to me is just the coolest part of it. When I am driving in to work in the morning and I think about something that happened between us and it just makes me smile and sometimes even laugh out loud, to me -- that's what it is all about.

Bad things are going to happen. Maybe even really bad things, who knows? I hope not, everyone does. But I know that as long as we are in it together then we just can't lose.

Dumb things I enjoy... We both are addicted to the Apprentice and normally get together to watch it but circumstances this week haven't allowed that. So, during the first big commercial break, I went to call him to talk to him about something on it and his phone was busy. I thought to myself that man is so tired of talking to me that he took his friggin' phone off the hook! The nerve of him! And so on. Not two seconds later, the message indicator comes on my phone. I checked my voicemail and it was him -- bawling me out melodramatically about screening his calls and what have we come to, etc. When I called him back, I was laughing so hard I almost fell off the couch. We were trying to call each other at the EXACT same time. It's kismet. But, it's fun.

That's the thing. We just have fun. And yet, I can talk to him about the not as fun stuff too and just feel completely comfortable in every way. I think in a week when I have seen JUST how opposite the spectrum can go because of a friend's really unfortunate situation, I am more than a little appreciative of what I really do have.

I know -- gag, right? But at least my voice doesn't change octaves when I'm talking to him and that has just got to count for something!!

HP