An Affair to Remember

It was love at first sight.  His attractiveness shines through the brilliant colors of his appearance and his body lean and compact.  I couldn’t take my eyes off of him.  As if I were 17 again, falling in love for the first time, I found ways to get closer to him at every opportunity.  Every encounter left me smiling and every glance and every touch made my heart soar.  I didn’t wonder why people smile when they saw us – the constant goofy grin on my face was sure to entice the same response.  I was hopelessly in love.

Taking him places were truly joyful experiences.  He takes such small amount of energy to move around yet he gets us everywhere without delay.  He may be slight and small in appearance; his heart is roomy enough for me and my purses and the gym bag and the groceries.  How about the kids?  Someone asked.  What about the kids? Who’ve heard of the children involve in their parents’ love affairs? Of course I am NOT taking the children on those outings with him.  HELLO!?!

Unlike other people in love affairs, I didn’t care that Mr. D would find out.  He certainly noticed my young lover when I brought him home.  Mr. D cautioned and pointed out all the flaws and dangerousness of being in this affair.  Even though he admitted that my new love was charming and delightful; the negative qualities of the object of my affection made it difficult for Mr. D to consent to my new relationship.  As generous as Mr. D his patience is not limitless.  He wouldn’t give his blessing to allow my new toy, uh, I meant, new boy, to be part of our family.

I wasn’t really torn- just miffed - for I have been a willful adult and a spoiled wife.  Waking up early one morning, I roused Mr. D from a sound sleep.  “Hey, I have something to ask you. Wake up for a second.”  (I really just wanted him to be awake for one second.)  “Huh?” he said with a deep sigh.  “I want Puddles (yes, his name is Puddles.  Do you have a problem with that?) and I know how we can make it happen.” I said quietly and guiltily.  “Ok, …unintelligible mumbling…” Mr. D said something that I couldn’t quite make out but I did hear this clearly “…if you want it just get it…” It is not a whole sentence but his answer was clear.  The fact that he was not really conscious is not a concern of mine as long as I have the affirmative of his response.

With Mr. D’s sanction (well, sorta.) I went out with Puddles and started our day together.  The reality of having Puddles as a partner gradually set in like a brick sinking in the river and I am feeling anxious.  The sky was a brilliant shade of blue and the sunshine bright and beautiful.  It was a lovely early summer day and I kept thinking about my one and only love affair.  I started setting up two huge columns in my head: one said “pro” and one said “con” and was getting rather depressed to see the list on the column for “con” is getting longer and longer.   Well, Puddles is a little bit difficult to steer and he is rather lazy when we need to speed up.  And it is true that he is rather thin skinned and probably can’t handle any pressure from the outside world.  Why couldn’t the depth of my love overcome his shallowness? Arrgh!

Then something happened, something so typical and ordinary: I picked up Mer who was away from me for a check-up appointment (that’s how I got to keep Puddles for three days) and I took her home.  When I sat with Mer, I actually let out a sigh so deeply and contentedly – it is such comfort and convenient to be surrounded by Mer’s beauty and security.  Mer moves gracefully on the way home and I was glad that the practical part of my personality emerged and I parted with Puddles.

Maybe, Puddles, maybe someday I will have a chance to sing you the love song by Art Garfunkel “ I believe...” 

Midnight pizza and beef fried rice

Yup.  That's how we rang in the year 2013.  Pizza delivered right to our door during Mr. D's preparing the beef fried rice which recipe he looked up on the internet, not from yours truly.  Does that make you wonder what his opinion is of his wife's cooking skill?  Mmm-hmmm, I suggest you don't answer the question.

New year's resolutions? I have none.  After many years of making new year resolutions and forgetting most of them by the second week of January, I've decided to spare myself the embarrassment and disappointment this year.  Instead, I picked one word as my guide for this year:  ORGANIZE.  Interpret it whichever way you want.  Better yet, do what the kids do: make a word with each letter.  O for Oregon? R for Raspberry? You get the idea.  I'll try to pick some words that do relate to the word "organize" and carve them onto my thick skull.

A very good start, physically, for Mr. D and me.  Indeed it was:  we ran 2 miles together, outside, in the cold.  While I was clothed in long-sleeve running shirt, jacket, a pair of thick running leggings, a hat, ear bags and gloves; Mr. D was in a sweatshirt and shorts.   Yes, the sun was shining but the temperature was freezing 36 degree.  He did well (or to repeat what I said to him "Man, you kicked my butt!")  There is going to be much running around togetherness between us...oh, it's going to be so much fun!

Because we burnt some calories (isn't this always the best excuse to have an open season on eating?)  I made beef noodles for dinner.  This gesture certainly had NOTHING to do with Mr. D's beef fried rice the night before.  None whatsoever.  However, I did take a picture of beef noodles.

So here is a Happy New Year to us all.