This week I had a tiny windfall in my budget, and because I'd not allowed myself any treats in several months, Doug and I did a bit of shopping for fun on Saturday. We meandered around World Market and got a few imported sodas and snacks (nothing special there this time and I could tell they've cut back on inventory somewhat), then over to Ulta, where I bought some new eyeshadows and experimented with perfume (right now I'm loving Armani Code, but am not sure so didn't buy it yet). Of course we had to make a stop at Target to grocery shop and there I bought "Amelie", which is one of those movies I've wished I had for years but had not gotten around to buying it before. Can't wait to watch it with Doug, as he's not seen it before. And my big purchase of the day was a lovely, shiny chrome toaster! One of the highlights of our weekends is sitting down at my rarely used table and having a very leisurely breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, perhaps grits, and dark grainy Pepperidge Farm German Dark Wheat bread, and last week I was bemoaning the fact that by the time I get to eating my toast, with its butter and blackberry jam it's stone cold. I remembered how, when I was a kid and I was spending time at my grandparents' home in Rose Hill, NC, my granddaddy had a toaster stationed within arm's reach of the table, thereby eliminating The Frigid Toast Problem. Thus the purchase of aforementioned toaster. I will feel like a very rich woman indeed to have hot, crunchy, buttered toast at the table and I can't wait to try it out!
It's a strange thing, this building a relationship. Strange and wonderful of course, but for me, uncharted territory because it's been since I was in college, waaay back in the Dark Ages while dinosaurs walked the earth that I've been through this. Of course these days I'm a much different person than that innocent, trusting girl who married the first (and only) man who asked me because of wanting to make him happy and who stayed too long because I had made a promise.
Two weekends ago Doug and I decided that seeing each other a couple of times a week simply wasn't enough, and we started to spend our weekends together. Now this was a big change for me, as I've lived alone for over three years, but I've gotta say that first Saturday morning when I could get up and pull the first espresso shots for us, and fossick around the refrigerator for breakfast fixings for us, that I felt this incredible lightness and satisfaction I don't ever remember feeling. It seems we are like two trees, whose leafy tendrils reach toward each other, who are becoming more intertwined as time passes.
And now we are doing what I see other couples I know doing. Having a romantic Italian dinner out in a busy and crowded restaurant. Running to Home Depot for him. Going to the mall for me. Having a blast at the local gourmet market experimenting with and buying unknown cheeses. Putting together a yummy dinner and learning the joy of cooking being a team effort.
And the strange thing is that the more we're together, the more I miss him when he's away.
