Howdy, all! The last few weeks have been pretty good. Okay, H and I have had a few bouts with one or the other of us being Cranklestiltskins, but mostly it's been good. I was on a stinkin' thinkin' roll early last week, but life has a way of quashing my worst fears and covetted resentments.
I remind myself of the scene in Under the Tuscan Sun when the Italian man says something terribly romantic and the heroine crassly says, "That's sounds like something an Italian man would say." He responds, "That is just the kind of thing I think an American woman would say." Maybe not all American women, but I've always been pretty difficult to sweep off of my feet. On a related note, I've always wanted to be surprised, but no one ever surprises me. I always figure out surprises or weasel information out of people, but last week I realized that H always thwarts my sabotage. He is the one person who really can and does surprise me.
For my birthday last week, he did all the normal stuff, and took me to dinner. We were meeting up with friends after dinner; and I figured they'd probably have a cake for me or some kind of dessert. H went through this elaborate ruse about considering dessert at the restaurant, until I said "Oh there will probably be something at L's." He said innocently, "Yeah, they'll probably have something around." Turns out he went and ordered a special cake from my favorite confisserie. I was completely stunned.
The card he gave me was great too. "Ti amo sempre," he wrote. (I love you always.) I almost cry when I think about it.
H has been very busy with his exams. We took a day off to lie around on the couch last weekend. Then he hit the books again. I take advantage of the time off to tackle projects he would die if he knew I were doing. Last weekend I finally finished replacing the basement window well. H was impressed... as he should have been. I think it's good for us. I'm exerting my independence, which he doesn't seem to mind as much as he used to. It keeps another task off of his seemingly endless list of things he's certain he has to do for me.
He passed his last certification exam today. Hurray! I'm very proud of him. Now he's got a whole alphabet of initials to go behind his name.
The dogs are doing good. In fact little dog, got his first possum of the year last night. It was a baby, so hardly a fair fight, but I'm sure the bigger ones will be wandering through the yard again soon. Y'all take care. Keep smiling. --z
