METAMORPHOSIS

We worked our butts off this weekend, and yet, it was fun (though I'm not sure John would agree). It is ever so nice to have my hubby back, and to be working on stuff together. Nice to have a reason to plan meals again, instead of just making do with whatever is at hand. Nice to have some of my favorite furnishings back, too, and to watch these rooms morph and reshape themselves. In a way, it feels as if our marriage is doing the same thing.

In fact, it feels a bit like we've been granted another trip through that honeymoon phase I mentioned in

Circle of Love, only we are much wiser this time around. You remember, don't you, that period when you were both bending over backwards to please the other person, and you were afraid to close your eyes at night, for fear of farting in your sleep? I know it's only temporary, and truthfully, I wouldn't want it to last forever (a girl needs her sleep!). Still, it's kinda nice.

I went with him to the hardware store yesterday, then he went with me to do my grocery shopping, since I was no longer certain which things he likes to have around for breakfasts, lunches and snacks. Whilst strolling the aisles, I had a bit of a flashback to the end of my junior year in college. John had been working in Houston for over a year, but knew he would soon be moving overseas. Back in those days, we had something called "dead-week" -- a week without classes at the end of a semester, so you could study for your final exams. That semester John somehow convinced me to sneak down to Houston (my parents would have killed me, had they known), and spend the week studying out by his pool, instead of cooped up in my dorm room. We went grocery shopping together for the first time, and I had dinner waiting for him each day when he got home from work. I even did laundry for him! It was our first little glimpse into what it might be like to spend the rest of our lives together. That's kind of what this week feels like.