Old craving revisited: pears. Fresh pears, cut into slices. I sit here and munch munch munch and before I know it the entire darn pear is gone. I like how juicy they are, the texture, they’re sweet but not too sweet… yum.

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You know those kinds of days when you just feel good? Yeah, that’s been today. Or at least the second half of today. (Or is it yesterday? It’s after 2am now… ) Den and I spent the evening together… not doing anything in particular, I was just chatting his ear off and watching him play an old game, but we were talking and laughing and just having fun. I love days like that. We get along so well. And I’m sometimes I’m amazed at how the bond keeps deepening each year.

On Thanksgiving day after stopping home to let the dogs out we headed to Den’s dad’s house. As we were driving down the road Den said, “You know what I want right now? Ice cream.” I laughed and said he was freaking crazy (it was freezing that evening). Conversation continued as usual all the way to FIL’s place.

We ended up staying at FIL’s for over 5 hours, the brothers all arguing over sports and everyone talking about babies, and all that stuff animated families do for 5 hours. We ate more food (too much food!) and had fun hanging out. We were tired and I was slightly cranky when we finally left. I had already fallen asleep on the couch twice.

15 minutes later we were pulling up to an intersection and Den says, “You know what’s on my mind right now…” And I replied without a pause, “Ice cream.”

Den stared at me in shock. “Holy shit. How did you know that?”

I just shrugged and smiled. It’s one of those things. After nearly 6 years together sometimes it’s scary how in sync our brains can be.

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It’s most definitely the small things that matter in a relationship. Was I really happy to get a brand new camera for christmas last year? You better believe it. But I was just as touched – perhaps moreso, emotionally – by coming home late at night on Wednesday, after Den had already fallen asleep, to find my pretty little tree lit up for me. Normally if he’s asleep all the lights are off, but he left my tree lit up for me, because he knows how much I like it. (In the same room he was sleeping, too.)

I have given Den many gifts over the years for christmas and birthdays. He’s not an overly sentimental man, and he’s certainly not a scrapbooker or hoarder of things like I am.

Today I found the dogs chewing on a small gift I had given him 4 years ago on christmas as a joke: it was a very small black address book. I had written “Den’s Little Black Book” on the cover, and then gone through and wrote my name and phone number on every page (about 40 of them!). It was just a silly little whim I’d gotten in the store, something funny that would make him laugh.

Well he kept that darn thing for 4 years. And he was really upset that the dogs chewed the corner. I said it’s just a silly little thing, it’s not a big deal. He told me no, it was, that it was the best gift he’d ever gotten and he wanted to keep it forever.

Okay, tell me you wouldn’t tear up at that too.

(It is still being kept, btw, chewed corner and all. But as Den said, “Now unfortunately it’ll remind me of the dogs, too.” )

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Being married can be so frustrating… but so very wonderful too.