He Loves Me Not

Two Toddlers

2012-05-21T11:28:00.001-04:00

Saturday Abraham and I had our day planned from the first minute to the last minute. We packed up our things and headed to the park so I could play my kickball game while he watched from the comfort of the shade. I had lucked out in that neither Clemson nor Statham had decided to play this season, making my weekends decidedly less dramatic. We were left with a handful of really good players and

Freudian Stumble

2012-05-15T12:38:00.001-04:00

Abraham pulled the sheets down and started getting out of bed early one Saturday morning. I lunged forward, grabbed him by the waist and pulled him back into bed with me. "I lo-- like you when you're naked in bed with me!" "You stumbled there." "I did." And so it begins.

I heart mom

2012-05-11T12:22:00.000-04:00

"I'm going to my first singles' event," my mom tells me as we walk into the Chinese buffet for Easter dinner. We're finally doing the holidays my style—by completely ignoring them. I guess her statement is true. The last time she was truly single was when she was in her late thirties with braces on her teeth and two small children on her hip. After she divorced her second husband, she dated a

Away

2012-05-09T11:30:00.001-04:00

Abraham had purposely told me he would talk to me in a week when the boat docked, but he knew he wouldn’t wait that long. Before he left town, he emailed Harvey without me knowing and asked for my apartment number so he could mail me a card to open on my birthday. (“I know I walk by your apartment number at least twice a week,” he later told me, “But I just look for the second door on the left,

Miss You

2012-05-04T13:32:00.000-04:00

"I just played 20 questions about Sarah with my sister," Abraham told me over the phone. We were both out of of town. I was in Dallas visiting my family, and he was in Miami about to disembark on a cruise with his family. He had decided to wait until this trip to break the news to his family that he's dating a goyim. Another family member broke his own girlfriend news during Passover and

Fight!

2012-05-02T12:37:00.001-04:00

Post-kickball, post-bar beers Abraham and I were tucked in his couch watching New Girl. Despite it being April, I draped a blanket over me and shivered. The show's current storyline revolves around Mr. Fancyman, played by Dermot Mulroney, who I've had a crush on since 1993 when he was in The Thing Called Love. I love these episodes. In the current one Mr. (Sexy) Fancyman and Zoey Deschanel have

Run On

2012-04-26T13:17:00.000-04:00

Somewhere along the way—after the relationship status, after meeting the friends, after receiving their respective blessings—life became ordinary. Events that were once noteworthy are now commonplace. We still kiss during commercials, but now it's NBD. No big deal. Abraham notes we spend 7 days a week together when he isn't traveling. I don't notice. I count the days by the number of nights I

Serious

2012-04-24T12:15:00.000-04:00

I sat down next to Abraham at the local bar. "I have a serious question to ask you. We have to talk." I actually had a serious question to ask him at about 1 o'clock that afternoon when I had the idea, and I'd been waiting until I saw him. I'm not good at waiting when my mind gets stuck on something. He peered sideways at me cautiously. "We'll talk later when we get home. Not in front of

Happier

2012-04-18T11:31:00.000-04:00

Whereas I had thrown Abraham to the wolves and introduced him to all of my friends at once, he took a slower approach, a testament to our differing personalities. I met the first friend at our usual bar. He was only there for an hour or so, and I charmed the pants off him. I wasn't even worried about it. Then a couple of weeks later, I met the friend's wife in the same safety of our local bar.

Fast Foward

2012-04-09T11:58:00.000-04:00

It had been storming for most of last week. The rain started during the third inning of my kickball game. Lightning was farther out but approaching. We typically try to push through games because sitting in your car in the parking lot for a half hour to wait out the storm is worse than getting wet and muddy. The rain eased into a full downpour. The lightning arrived in hot flashes. New teams

In the Details

2012-04-06T12:32:00.007-04:00

Not a lot of people know about S. My core group of friends that had to pick me off my floor knew: Harvey and her husband, Katie, Mel and a girl I'm no long friends with. Swayze heard rumors, I'm sure. Government Mule had yet to join the group. Even though they knew certain things, no one knew the whole story. I don't think they want to know the whole story. Hell, I don't even want to know the

The Chosen People

2012-03-29T13:44:00.001-04:00

"Did you know giraffes are kosher?" "What?" Abraham asked. "Yeah, they meet the requirements: hooves and herbivores. But it says here that giraffes are difficult to restrain." We chuckled. I turned away from my phone and rolled over in bed and looked at him. "Did you know it is illegal to tie a giraffe to a telephone pole in the city? It's one of those weird laws that was never taken off the

Secrets & Lies

2012-03-20T12:51:00.001-04:00

I received an email from The Leader. He announced that after a five-month hiatus, kickball was starting up soon. The email enclosed my team invitation. I wavered. Abraham is playing during the week in one league; I would be playing on the weekends in another. If I signed up, I would be booking my weekends through all of spring. I was in a relationship now. Did I want to be unavailable every

The Re-Friending

2012-03-16T11:48:00.006-04:00

At noon on a Friday Abraham sent me an email: Give me the details on this party tonight... I'm scared!!! The details were that a it was a friend of mine's birthday and he was throwing a party. The gang was going to be in attendance. The detail that I never considered was that Abraham was going to be nervous. It had been a long time since we had been at the bar together. In that time I had

Head over Heels

2012-03-14T11:05:00.000-04:00

My mouse hovered over DSW.com. I needed new black patent-leather pumps. The problem I was having, however, was the heel height. If I chose my usual height of 3 – 4 inches, I would be taller than Abraham. Actually, I would be taller than him in any sort of heel. Barefoot he's got a good half inch on me. But the 2 – 3 inch black heels are just so ugly and so schoolmarm-y. I don't care that in

The Edge of Reason

2012-03-12T11:10:00.002-04:00

When Abraham returned from vacation, we had the DTR and made things official. It was a painfully ordinary conversation with the exception that I was clutching a stuffed dog in my lap that he had purchased for me as a souvenir. Finally! All is right in the world! Only as Bridget Jones said, "It is a truth universally acknowledged that when one part of your life starts going okay, another falls

In the Closet

2012-03-09T11:26:00.001-05:00

While Abraham was out of town, I had the first productive weekend in quite awhile. My recent wardrobe update led to my closet and drawers being stuffed. Every time I visit my mother's, I bring a bag of stuff to get rid of, but I wasn't as diligent in getting rid of clothes as I had been adding them. I geared up my Pandora station and I tried on everything in my closet. I didn't feel good in the

Five Days

2012-03-07T11:29:00.000-05:00

I ascended the wooden staircase to Abraham's front door. The weather was nice for February, and his front door was open save for the storm door. He heard the clack of my heels on the weathered stairs and appeared behind the glass door lugging his suitcase with him; I would not be entering his flat. He looked me up and down. "You look nice," he said quietly. I opened the storm door for him

How I Met You

2012-03-05T11:12:00.000-05:00

When a relationship starts, I think the most common question received is "How did you two meet?" I know I've asked it of other couples, mainly to add their method to my bag of tricks. When I'm asked "How did you two meet?" I usually smile and say, "Kickball." Then I'll pause for a beat and begrudgingly add, "Finally." Other people seemed to meet others faster than it took me. I met Abraham in

Let her rip

2012-02-29T13:03:00.001-05:00

He holds me in my sleep. Abraham wakes up about 10 minutes before me. He doesn’t stir. Instead he lies still as if he were sleeping and holds me. This should be the start of some lovey-dovey story, but it’s not. Abraham holding me while I sleep isn’t the only thing I’ve learned. Apparently I also fart in my sleep. I don’t know what’s going on with me. Maybe it was us going out to eat the night

The Not Friending

2012-02-27T13:25:00.000-05:00

A few days later I was meeting my friends for happy hour. Abraham had plans, but they weren’t until later. I asked him to meet us at the seedy happy-hour bar. He agreed. I walked in the bar and found a couple of guy friends at a table, including Schmoozer. I greeted him and spoke to him for a few minutes. Then I noticed there was someone else at the table: a guy who was looking down and not

The Friending

2012-02-20T11:53:00.001-05:00

Abraham and I were watching How I Met Your Mother and kissing during the commercials, per my request. Things were good. The mood was light. CBS switched to commercial break, and Abraham leaned over me. "I'm ready to meet your friends," I announced. "Why haven't I met them yet?" Abraham's face softened. He didn't squirm as he normally does when I put him on the spot. However, this wasn't the

Be mine

2012-02-16T11:56:00.005-05:00

About a week before Valentine's Day, Abraham sent me an email. Inside was a link. The link took me to an announcement that Waffle House would have a special Valentine's dinner. Waffle House is located primarily in the South. It's a roadside diner found off interstate exits and is known for its interesting mix of patrons, including brawling Kid Rock, good ol' boys and the late-night drunk crowd.

Dutch Uncle

2012-02-11T14:23:00.000-05:00

Filling out the intake forms when I started therapy was scary. The questionnaire instructed that I circle the symptoms that I identified with: anxious, depressed, suicidal, etc. Yes, yes, no, etc. I don't know what I expected from therapy. Actually, I do know what I expected: I thought it was going to be like Felicity visiting stinky Dr. Pavone. Dr. Pavone asked thought-provoking questions and

Peas be with you

2012-02-06T21:00:00.003-05:00

I dropped my purse and jacket on his bedroom floor, down by the foot of my side of the bed. He adjusted the bedroom lights: overhead light off, hallway light on. "Are we going to play Strip House again?" I asked while kicking off my ankle boots. "Duh." Strip House was a game he invented the previous week. The rules are simple: remove an article of clothing any time the words "tumor" or "