I have never come close to living with a significant other, and part of me gets a little disappointed that Spiros has done this all before (technically twice, but who's counting?), but then I slap myself and think, "He came house trained!" He is a great roommate. He is considerate about living with a woman. He has nice stuff.
It all sort of hit me the other night when we were watching Downton Abbey before bed (I've gotten Spiros hooked! Can't wait for season 3!!) and I asked him what he was doing the next day. The way the question came out gave me the weirdest dating de ja vous, like "So, what are you up to this week? Want to hang out?"
And then it was like, "Oh right, duh, I will automatically see you tomorrow!" And it was the best feeling ever.
I have a lot of friends with very different perspectives on pre-maritial co-habitation. Many are probably wondering what in the world I'm thinking moving to LA with Spiros without a commitment. As my mom put it, "Normally I would want you to be at least engaged to a guy you're living with, but in this case I'm just happy you're taking the time to get to know him before rushing into anything."
Actually this topic was recently the source of our first real fight. Not that I want to get married (or even engaged) tomorrow, but I'm coming from the perspective of a Southern girl in her (almost) late-twenties with a diagnosed case of Baby Fever and a Facebook Newsfeed littered with nuptials of younger sorority sisters.
He, you see, comes from a much different viewpoint. As quickly as this relationship has moved, he's still a mid-thirties Peter Pan with a big fear of The M Word. He's seen plenty of marriages fail first hand, and now he's at the point when some of his wifed-up friends complain about "having problems."
I won't pretend I don't think about it, but as honest as I try to be with Spiros about what I'm feeling, after our "discussion in which we raised our voices and said some stuff we probably shouldn't have," I learned maybe I should keep thoughts on this topic to myself for the time being.
Putting (unintentional) pressure on him doesn't do anybody any good. Lord knows we have enough stuff on our plates to worry about right now (like, um, where our plates will be living in California). So we agreed to chill out (well, I agreed to chill out, he agreed to continue loving me even though I am certifiably crazy), and see how life goes in the Golden State before jumping into anything else.
Even though fighting sucks, it was something that needed to happen. Before that it had been all Pinterest recipes, fresh cut flowers, Saturday naps, and large-dog-breed Googling (the breed de jour is a Newfie!). We needed a little bubble-bursting, if you will.
And, you know what? I love him - and living with him - even more.
(Gah this blog has gotten grossly sappy as of late, huh?)
Here are a few pictures from "our home" (or more accurately, the things we've bought since I've been here):
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| Perfectly nautical mirror from the Greek island of Tinos. |
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| A Pinterest-inspired celebration the night he signed his offer letter. (Why yes, he does have red Smeg appliances. Too bad they can't come with us!) |
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| 1. Repurposed bottles since he has no vases. And little sailboats from a shop we stumbled past in Berlin. 2. Awesome wallpaper, huh? He has good taste. 3. A couch, that from the first time I came to his apartment in December, I creepily thought "I could totally have that in my house if this works out." |
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| These are the first flowers a guy has given to me since college! NYC guys, suck it. |
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| I insisted on buying a Greek flag for our California home, followed by insisting on hanging it up immediately. Hellas!! |
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| Our "sea treasures" from adventures thus far, stored in a beautiful olive wood bowl from Athens. |
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