Gone Too Soon (No, Not MJ)

I'm not one to gush about boyfriends, so I will try to keep this short and sweet. But it should be said that I am madly in love with Joe, hadn't seen him for a month and a half, and had just over 48 hours to be with him. I tried not to pack the schedule and I think we found a pretty good balance. Here's the rundown:

Friday: Picked him up at the airport. ate at Bank Lane, showed off Market Square and LFHS. Dinner with Amy, Holly, Mike, and AJ Ross's flamboyant twin, followed by twelve rounds of Scattergories in the studio.

Saturday: Ran errands together for Mom. He handled an Italian family gathering with ease, we took a long walk back home. I introduced him to 30 Rock (another convert!). We ended the night with nachos and $6 pitchers at Chief's, then watched Catch Me If You Can at home.

Sunday: I went to church and a work meeting alone, then had breakfast with Joe at Egg Harbor. Took him to the beach for a few hours, and two episodes of 30 Rock later he had to be at the airport. I cried the whole way home.

Again, I don't want to fawn over him, but the weekend really reminded me how happy I am with Joe and what a good match we are for each other. I've repeated this a million times by now, but we value the same things in most aspects of our lives; school, career, extracurriculars, outside friends and socializing, etc. We don't like to make big romantic productions out of anything (but we do appreciate thoughtful gifts or expressions of love, which are often pretty simple but very touching), and we have similar views of what I call the "big three" of CG: race, gender, and sexuality.

This summer I have realized how nice it is to not have to explain myself, my priorities, and my views to someone. Over the past nine months Joe and I have really learned how to communicate and it's so comforting knowing that he will respect my choices regarding these values because he has them himself. It leaves a lot of room for just being happy all the time and allows us to quickly address problems as they arise. And he just always seems to know the right thing to say; he made me cry multiple times over the weekend and a lot of his FB messages have moved me to tears at work.

OK, enough of that. This next year will be amazing and we will survive the next month or so with no problem (and maybe a second reunion???)