No hot flushes ... and Part 3

No hot flushes. No bad moods. Day 4 of Lucrin and I'm feeling fine. Apart from the time I actually go through the ritual, I'm not really even thinking about it. A bit hungry, but no more than normal pre-period hungry.I'm pretty pleased about that actually ...

I got a new French cookbook on Tuesday. I think I was just about drooling all over every page it sounded so good (except for the cow pages of course). The uspide for AdventureBoy with the synhronisation of my holidays with my hunger is that he is getting great meals every night for dinner. We've been all over the world this week, with a Thai prawn soup tonight (with all of the greens from my garden), pumpkin ravioli last night, French tarragon chicken the night before. I'm hungry again just writing abut them. And we have a surplus of lemons so I've been experimenting with many different types of lemon desserts and even baking bread. My chiropractor today said I was very balanced. 'Being on holidays suits you' she said. I agree.

Seven things that attracted me to my partner:

1. His cheeky smile. He is a bit of a joker and a tease most of the time and enjoys looking for the fun in any situation. He was actually the friend of a guy I was seeing at the time, who was so serious and intense that he drove me mad. A great smile could not help but shine by comparison.
   
2. His adventurous past. I loved (and still do) hearing about his stories about his travels and life in other places and other times. His previous life devoted to skiing was, for me, something I was extremely jealous of and i used to ask him so much about where he lived, what he did, who he was with, why he returned. I must admit, I used to get pretty jealous too of most of his ex-girlfriends (despite the fact that I had been married), especially the really pretty ones in his photo albums. As a seriously spunky boy in his 20s, he used to get all of the gorgeous girls. It was only once we were married that I got a bit more used to that part.
3. His friends and family. As soon as I met all of them I was immediately welcomed and the warmth that they all clearly felt for him confirmed for me what a great guy he was. I did not meet a single person (apart from the ex-boyfriend I left for him) who sang anything apart from praise for him and his genuine nature. He related so easily and warmly to all of them and was a favourite amongst all of the kids - he is still known to his nephews as Uncle Monkey and they love him.
   
4. His upfront love and desire for kids. Whenever we are in the vicinity of children, he seeks them out. He has an amazing way of making even the shyest child turn on to him within half an hour of meeting them and he is more than happy to goof around, read stories, wrestle and tickle and generally have fun with them, while still interacting effectively with the adults around as well. In some ways, he is a bit of a big kid himself but not in an infantile kind of way. When it first became apparent that our relationship was going somewhere, he told me very clearly that he wanted a family. It was very important to him and he would have started straight away if I had let him (oh, the benefit of hindsight!). I thought, at 33, I had plenty of time to start on that journey.
   
5. His dedication to his profession. I have always been pretty career focused and previous partners have never quite understood this drive. AdventureBoy shares that drive and passion for his career and it was actually really sexy to me. He is intelligent, competent, successful and keeps learning and I respect him and what he does. That was VERY important to me and he truly understood and reciprocated that.
6. His patience. His ability to do things (handy stuff). His stability. His honesty. His beautiful blue eyes. His gentle hands and long fingers. His support of my career. His ability to teach me new things. His willingness to listen. His respect for the elderly. His joy in humanity. Sorry - had to squeeze a lot in there as seven wasn't enough!
7. The way he ties plastic bags. That, in fact, was the clincher. It has become part of our relationship folklore - a story to tell the grandkids. I have a particular way of tying a knot in supermarket shopping bags to store them for future use. It's a kind of knot which can be easily pulled open and I thought I was the only person who tied them like this. I had lived with many people and they all thought I was a little bit odd (and perhaps obsessive) when I insisted that all bags be tied in this way to save space while storing them. I saw it as just a matter of logic. One day in the early days, we went grocery shopping together. When we emptied the items back at his place, he carefully took the first empty bag and tied it JUST LIKE I DID! Even now, the significance of this overwhelms me. At the time, I laughed and kissed him and told him I knew he was the one. And I did. That simple action reflected everything - the similarity of our thoughts, desires, obsessions, upbringing. It was not something he could fake, and I loved him for it. I still do (even though we fight about the organisation of the second drawer in the kitchen at times!!).

So there it is. Funny how writing this particular list has made me love him just a little bit more again. It might sound like he's perfect, but he's not. He's just perfect for me (most of the time). Next post I will have to fit the last two into one - even though I'm having fun doing it, I think it's time to finish now :).