Alex was out of town this weekend at a gaming convention. He set the expectation that during this time his cell phone would live in his car, turned off. We hadn't spoken to one another in 4 days and we said before he left that the time apart will tell us how we really feel about one another.

I missed him just terribly and thought of him often, hoping he was having a good time and enjoying his trip.

When Alex got back to town last night, I asked him "How was your weekend?"

He responded "Just average".

I was curious about his response since he had just taken a roadtrip with a friend to a large gaming convention that sounded like something he would have really enjoyed.

It led me to ask, "Why just average?"

His response was perfect, "Because you weren't with me and I really missed you."

The time apart spoke volumes to both of us.

The questions have started.

Life is still great. Actually it’s awesome. I spoke to Alex for over 4 hours last night on the phone and I had a hard time saying goodnight. We discussed everything – our future, the house, home repairs, marriage, kids, weekends away, politics, our parents, finances, everything. It was as if we spent the whole night hanging out together.

So the questions have started…

Alex received an email Monday morning from his mom. There were fifteen bullet points with multiple questions in each bullet point. I received an email from Alex laughing as he told me about this email but it took a response from me for him to send the questions – especially since I asked is this was a positive or negative thing to receive so many questions from her.

I took the time to answer all the questions for Alex, just in case he didn’t know all the answers (some very really specific). I got a response from him that he had already responded to her but thought it was cute that I responded with all the details. He actually knew all the details.

Another great weekend and a seal of hopeful approval.

Alex and I had a busy but fun weekend – we went to Iowa City and Mt Pleasant to meet his closest and oldest friends, had lunch with his mom, toured Iowa City and just enjoyed one another’s company as we won’t see one another for a few weeks.

Alex was surprised to find out that I was very quiet when he introduced me to a very large group of people. It took about 8 hours before I said much other than just replying to people’s questions.

We stayed under the stars on his friend’s deck until almost 5am. It was a defacto reunion for Alex and it was as if they never had time apart. I haven’t had such a fun night in a long time. I learned a lot about Alex and feel that I can understand him a bit more now. His friends are amazing people – smart, witty, funny and great storytellers.

Alex asked his oldest and closest friend to be his best man next summer when we get married. I overheard the conversation – it was so sweet. His friend then realized how serious we were and then sat next to me for the next hour interviewing me and telling me about Alex. At the end of the night I got a huge hug from his friend who said “welcome to the family”. I’m hopeful that I have his seal of approval.

So the next day Alex badgered me for being so quiet, which to him was entirely out of my character. True, being introduced to 20 complete strangers all at once is scary. I explained that I wanted to observe and that I have a terrible time with names, it’s one of my gaps as a professional. I told him I never can remember names except for maybe the hottest guy in the room.

He then replied, “My name is Alex, hopefully you didn’t just forget it.”

We had a lovely lunch with his mom. Alex is kind and sweet to his mom. I was so impressed. Hopefully I will have her seal of approval as well.

I’m so in love and just adore the time Alex and I spend together.

Finding my backbone.

Having a weekend already planned in good detail with a great boyfriend makes it a lot easier to find my backbone when work requests a sudden change in my plans and demands me staying onsite.

Amy, we need you to stay this weekend. NO.
Amy, we need you to stay longer on Friday NO.
Amy, we need you to fly in on Sunday NO.

It took finding a great guy to realize that I deserve a balance in life and that work isn’t worth giving life up for. I wasn’t emotional, I wasn’t mad, I was even tempered.

I stepped out from our war room at 11:30pm last night to speak to Alex. After 20 minutes people went searching for me as they needed my assistance – I told them I was taking a personal call and will return shortly. At midnight, our most senior person in the company went looking for me and told me my assistance was needed.

Alex told my stuff at his place was multiplying – I now have clothes, shoes, bathroom stuff, etc. I told him I would move it, put it in my car, etc. He stopped me mid sentence and said he wasn’t complaining – he actually thought it was nice. He said if he got tired of seeing all of my stuff everywhere that he would make closet or drawer space. This conversation led to our daily phone conversation – another concept that he told me he wasn’t used to but really enjoying. We talk on the phone once a day usually when I’m gone pending our work schedules and sometimes the conversations are 5 minutes and sometimes they are 4 hours.

He makes me laugh a lot, he’s complimentary, he’s fun to be around, he’s intelligent, he’s caring, he’s cuddly, he’s everything I’ve always wanted and so much more. He told me he was marrying up and I told him I thought I was marrying up. I’m trying to move slowly but after 6 great weeks we just know it’s moving in the right direction.

My priorities are changing fast. I’m hopeful to change my career to something more local by early next year. I am interested to know how it would feel to sleep in my own bed every night, go grocery shopping at someplace other than QuickTrip and not get on an airplane unless it was by choice for a fabulous vacation.

We have a big weekend coming up – I’m excited and nervous all at the same time. Alex is an only child and his father passed away about 12 years ago – I’m meeting his mother on Sunday and am getting nervous. She sounds like the nicest person alive. I just hope she likes me…

A great weekend, a funny story and some drama.

Alex and I had a great weekend together. We started the weekend off by grocery shopping together (which was actually a lot of fun), followed up by a bbq at my house and a fantastic 4 hour discussion on our future.

Saturday we picked up my car from the BMW dealership and it was a comical event.

The car is mine – I paid for it, it’s registered under my name and I pay for the insurance. It’s my car.

The dealer handed Alex the invoice of repairs. My name was on the invoice and Alex handed the invoice to me.

I then handed the service manager MY credit card. He then handed Alex back the credit card slip to sign. Alex handed me the credit card slip to sign (as he told the service manager the car AND the credit card was mine).

The service manager then handed Alex the keys to MY car. At this point we just cracked up laughing. I told Alex to just take my car and I took his for the afternoon.

Onto the drama…psycho ex-boyfriend reappeared Saturday – drunk and really pissed off. Alex proved to me how cool under pressure he really is and I was absolutely impressed. I was called every name in the book as was Alex and we were able to ignore everything. We proved we are a team together and can face tough situations. Although it put a damper on a night and exhausted both of us, we didn’t let it get to us.

Sunday was lazy and great. We were both pretty exhausted from the prior evening so we watched Battlestar Galatica most of Sunday and lounged around.

I hate Monday mornings more now then ever before. We have next weekend already planned – day by day. He’s so sweet, so cuddly, so everything I every looked for in an ideal partner. We have had long discussions on our future and how we would handle different aspects of our lives.

We even came up with a perfect name for a boy – Zefram. For anyone who knows us well, they will know why and find it entertaining.

He admires my intelligence.
He is keen to my kindness.
He likes that I’m cuddly.
He is fond of our time together.
He makes me laugh.
He fancies my independent style.
He adores our quality time.
He finds my knitting irresistible.

He loves me.

We’re planning our future and I couldn’t be more excited. It’s getting very hard to leave on Monday mornings.

I just can’t stop smiling. For anyone I haven’t seen or spoken to in the past month – so much in my life has changed. The best change – I met the greatest, kindest, sweetest guy that I absolute connect with on every level. He’s smart, educated, kind, caring, cuddly, funny – I could just ramble on.

We are connected at the hip on the weekends – we run errands, hang out, watch movies and cuddle.

His best attributes – he works hard, he’s intellectual, he’s kind, he’s independent and he makes me laugh. He’s everything that I always wanted in a partner and more.

We have spent the best weekends together doing absolutely nothing but hanging out and watching movies. We mesh on so many levels it’s unbelievable – I am very excited to see what the future brings for us.

I really, really, really, really like him.