Keeping things interesting

While the Prime Geek and I have only been married for a tad bit longer then a year, we have been together pretty much nonstop for the better part of four and a half. Truth be told, we met – became good friends, noticed after six months that we were killing multiple cordless phones each night in our lengthy discussions (our emails were also suspected in a sudden onset of mild carpal tunnel syndrome), decided to try one “date” wherein we closed a restaurant down (they let us stay while they closed, at first thinking we were celebrating an anniversary... shock and awe – as well as a few “ahhhsss” and knowing winks when we admitted to it being a first date) spent the better part of the rest of the evening laying in my parents field desperately trying to not say anything “too soon, too fast, too much” - we failed in that – and three weeks later I moved to this cold city a full block away from his house. From that point on, we were together. Separated when he went to work and to bed... only apart in mailing addresses and shoe storage*.

Weird, I know. While our conversations range wildly... and I do mean wildly**, we've never really had the “getting to know you” speeches. He knew how I take my tea, when the time came I knew which side of the bed he slept on. We just, well, fit.

Things are never boring here at the nest. We challenge each other constantly, forcing each other to stretch in new ways to keep up with the other. To that end, we're attempting something new.

He and I have very similar gifts – with VERY different applications. What do I mean? He, annoyingly, can hear a language and begin to absorb it. He speaks Germen with a thick Germen accent – no formal training – and has picked up French, Spanish, and enough Arabic to get himself in trouble. Can't really read a lick of it though.

Me? While accents are an issue to me (Allow me to apologize in advance. If we should ever meet, I tend to absorb accents. A holdover from having moved hither and yon my whole life, but I tend to begin speaking in whatever accent I hear. Blame the fact I had a Boston accent as a child, have southern relatives, and a mother who force fed me PBS and British movies. I'm not mocking, I just can't help it.) I can't really speak anything other then English. Reading? Whole other story. As a kid I took Latin (which gives you a basis for all the romance languages, seriously. Take Latin and you can muddle your way through just about everything.) AND had a serious British mystery fetish. If you read Christie or Sayers, you know back in the 20's authors had the annoying tendency of dropping into French at the drop of the hat. I learned to read it mainly to figure out what the hades Hercule had gotten himself into! So in the end, I can read my way through five or six languages. Can't speak them... and my ear is nowhere near tuned enough to pick them up.

See? Similar, yet different. To that end, we're tackling a new challenge together. We've decided that anything in the Romance languages is a cheat. No matter what we would choose, one of us would be ahead. So after a wrangle in the bookstore, we finally settled on one with even a brand new alphabet. We're learning Russian. Do we plan to go to Russia? Not really, perhaps one day. Are we of Russian extraction? Nope. I doubt we'd be such fair weather babies if our ancestors stomped the Russian steppes. Want to read the great Russian authors in their original language? No. I've read War and Peace... I prefer Tolkien and Pratchett. We're just weird enough that something new like this gives us both a happy. Just keeping things fresh - without investing in those embarrassing relationship tapes. I know we're still new to this whole marriage “thang” but I figure as long as things as simple as learning together keep our attention... we're doing okay.

Where is this going? Hey, I'm just trying to build a little momentum before one of the first big announcements I have for Valentine's day!




*And even then it wasn't always clear who lived where. My place had the shower, so his ablutions tended to be at my place. HIS home had the big screen tv, so movie nights had us cuddled pretty tightly at his.

** He is the only one who has ever been able to not only keep up but at times out pace me in a conversation that ricochet from medieval languages, to sub atomic particles, to African tree frogs, without a pause for breath as three Seussian couplets make their way into being. He is also the only one who will get into endless word games while holding five conversation treks as once. I had no choice but to marry him!