Friday the 13th couple meme

I found this meme on Facebook (home of lost memes) and decided to do it because Friday the 13th is one of our anniversaries. (Which one is just none of your dang business!)

♥ What are your middle names?
Leslie and Hamilton. Yes, Brett’s name is fancy. I like to joke that that’s why I thought I was marrying money.

♥ How long have you been together?
April Fool’s Day 1990.

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?
About a week.

♥ Who asked who out?

He said something to me first at Mean Mr. Mustard’s (bar) but I pursued him. He asked for my number, called me two days later and asked me out.

♥Who said I love you first?
Me! I put a pillow over his head so he couldn’t see my face, whispered it in his ear and then ran down the stairs, jumped in my car and went to work.

♥ How old are each of you?
I just turned 39 and he turns 43 in a couple of months.

♥ Whose siblings do/did you see the most?
Mine because my sister is here in town.

♥ Do you have any children together?
Yep.

♥ What about pets?
When he moved in with me I had two cats: Colette & Milo. When we moved to Portland, we only took Colette and a friend of his who’d been looking for a cat for her daughters took Milo. When we moved back to Columbus, our friend Jodi took Colette and we were petless until Noah was four when we got Peanut.

♥ Did you go to the same schools?
Nope.

♥ Are you from the same hometown?
We’re both from Columbus but he’s from Upper Arlington and I’m from Hilliard. (They’re across the river from each other so I knew a lot of kids from UA only much younger because in your teens a four year age difference is significant. I hung out with kids who knew his baby brother.)

♥ Who is the smartest?
He would tell you I am but it wouldn’t be true. My mind moves more quickly than his does but it doesn’t always move to the right conclusion. I do read a lot more and as anyone could tell you, if you read a lot you can fool people into thinking you’re smarter because I know more random facts and have access to a bigger vocabulary.

♥ Who is the most sensitive?
I am loudly sensitive like, “I AM FEELING SO MUCH ABOUT THIS!” And he is quietly sensitive like having blood pressure issues and psychosomatic colds.

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Someplace kid-friendly. But I like take-out (and I like him to pick it up) and he likes eating at a restaurant.

♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
When we moved to Portland.

♥ Who has the worst temper?
I have the loudest but I burn off quickly. He simmers with rage and pretends he’s fine (like I was saying — blood pressure issues).

♥ Who does the cooking?
Usually me but he makes a mean spaghetti.

♥Who is the most social?
Well, this is an interesting question. You’d say me but he tests as an extrovert. I’m more invested in relationships and also force myself to be bright and shiny at social events but he very quietly has more fun. This became more clear in Portland because he loved living in the city and I couldn’t wait to move somewhere where I could get my mail without having to chat with neighbors.

♥ Who is the neat-freak?
Neither of us but we both have our preferences like I like the kitchen counters to be clear and he doesn’t care while he goes nuts that I leave once worn but not yet dirty clothes on the top of the dresser.

♥ Who is the most stubborn?
Me up to a point and then I forget what I was so hell bent on.

♥ Who wakes up earlier?
Poor Brett. That’s the only thing sapping his social self — he gets up at 5 or 5:30am every morning while I sleep in until 6:30 or 7am (before I had this job, I’d sleep past eight).

♥ Where was your first date?
He couldn’t find my apartment so he was really late. I thought I was being stood up until he called from a pay phone (pre-cell phone days, yo). So everything was closed by the time we left. We went to … oh lord, I forget the name of the restaurant but it was one of his favorites. Anyway, we went there and he had cheesecake then we came back to my house and stayed up until dawn talking.

♥Who has the bigger family?
Me. We both have two siblings but my dad’s marriages gives me some extra halfs so I win hands down!!

♥Do you get flowers often?
No because I don’t like cut flowers. In fact, I pretty close to loathe them even if I appreciate the sentiment. It just seems so wasteful. I like picked flowers but not cut flowers bought from a florist (or a 7-11, for that matter). Whenever Brett forgets and buys me flowers, I have a very difficult time hiding my disappointment. That’s a lie. I do not hide my disappointment and it is possible that I perhaps lecture a bit. The last time he brought me flowers, he got them from a co-worker who was going to throw them away and he did it just to watch me wrinkle my brow and be ungrateful because he thought it’d be funny to tease me. However I do like chocolate.

♥ Who do you spend the holidays with?
Depends on the holiday.

♥Who does/did the laundry?
Mostly me but he does his. He’s not allowed to do mine (because he breaks my clothes by putting line dry only in the dryer) and I’d rather he not do the kids’ (because he forgets to check the front of their shirts for stains that need to be treated). Oh and he folds more often than I do. I hate to fold laundry. Usually we fold as a family while watching television. It takes Madison about three hours to fold a shirt because she’s very particular and has a short attention span.

♥ Who’s better with the computer?
Me by far.

♥ Who drives when you are together?
He tends to drive most of the way on big trips but around town, usually me. Because he loves to nap in the car and this is one small gift I can give him pretty easily.

♥ Who picks where you go to dinner?
The whole family generally and it takes FOREVER and usually someone says, “Oh my GOD, just pick!” and then we argue.

♥ Who is the first one to admit when they’re wrong?
(sigh) Usually him. He’s like a thousand times nicer than I am.

♥ Who named your pet?
Noah.

♥ Who wears the pants in the relationship?
Pretty much whoever cares the most about a decision will get their way on a decision. Like he picks out the cars because I don’t care about cars. Stuff like that. I am noisier in the relationship so I look bossier but he very quietly makes sure his needs are met. (His passive-aggressive behavior works sometimes for good and sometimes for evil.)

♥ Who has more tattoos?
We both have a horror of tattoos.

♥ Who eats more sweets?
Me although he has a Little Debbie’s nutty bar fixation.

♥ Who cries more?
Oh lord, I cry all the time. I cry when a good song comes on the radio. I cry trying to tell him the ending of a sad book. I choke up watching Madison play in the mud. Me me me. I cry more. I also have really low blood pressure. Coincidence?! I think not!

♥ Are you still together?
I don’t know. I better call him and check.

I was just telling someone yesterday that I think the key to knowing that the person you love is the person you should be with is if you feel like your best self around them or if you feel like they see and believe in your best self. I am very often a petty, whiny, impossible person but Brett makes me feel like I can be better than that and also that he sees my petty, whiny, impossible self but loves me in spite of it because he also believes in the better person I could be under it. He doesn’t have any delusions about who I am but I feel like he has absolute faith in me anyway. Does that make sense? Likewise I love him absolutely both in spite of his human frailties and because of his ingrained possibilities.

I’ve said this before but Brett is as essential to me and as nourishing to me as water. When I’m stressed, he can put his hand on my forehead and my mind clears. He drives me NUTS (especially with his annoying word games — oh my LORD) but the thought of doing without him makes my throat close up. I know in my heart of hearts that every accomplishment, every good thing that I’ve done since I was 20 years old and met him, I couldn’t have done without his help and support.

We don’t do much for Valentine’s Day — he brings me chocolate and I always scold him and tell him he should have waited ’til the 15th when it’d be on sale but I scold him with my mouth full — but he’s my Valentine even so.

And if he were here, I’d smooch him but he’s not so I won’t. Ahh well! I miss him!