Skip to main content

Chris

So Chris has been gone almost one week - almost. It feels like a lot longer. Sometimes I check my watch and look at the date and think, "oh...right it's still the same day as this morning."
I've never ACTUALLY missed someone. I mean, of course when I'm away from my family or the girls for long periods of time I wish they could be with me to do certain things like run or go out or just chat. And with guys I've dated in the past once I sit down and actually think about it I get the, "aw...I kinda miss that guy" feeling. But mostly when I get away from past boyfriends it's been somewhat of a relief. For the most part, I am perfectly happy, if not even more happy, living by myself and doing exactly what I want to do every day with no responsibility to another person. I guess that just comes along with being so independent. Or selfish, but I prefer independent.
But this time it's different - and I'm not quite sure why. It's like that feeling you get when you walk out of the house without your wallet or keys...and you know something is off. Something should be there that's not, something is not where it belongs but it takes you a second to realize exactly what.
I haven't cried, I'm not mopey, and from the outside no one would even guess something is off. The day he left I went to work and had a blast, then I trained and went out. Everyday I still work, train, read, lay out, and go out. I talk to my family and my best friends and laugh more than I should. I'm stoked for Moll and Kristy to visit and for my 21st birthday and I absolutely love Boston in the summer - it's the best experience of my life.
He's not my, "everything" and I'm finding out I can live without him being around all the time. This month long bootcamp with no communication thing is actually not the worst thing in the world. I'm finding tons of things to do to fill in the spaces.
But there's always that one feeling looming in the back of my stomach. A part of me is missing that I never knew existed, and when I found it, I didn't want it to leave. And going back to the way things were before he was around just isn't an option. Yes, I can live without him, I just don't want to.
And I think that's what real love is - not the fairy tale, sweep you off your feet, love at first sight, crazy for each other, can't get enough of each other infatuation deal. It's not an immediate physical attraction or something that "drew" us together. Those relationships start fast and end fast.
For me and Chris it was a gradual attraction that started with being teammates. We learned to work together, depend on each other, and develop trust. While most couples watch movies, go out to dinner, and party to get to know each other - Chris and I were cycling, rock climbing, swimming, running, going to fitrec, and getting lost in the outskirts of MA. We walked to class together and grabbed lunch at the dining hall. Nothing was superficial, it was all just very real - it was what it was. We didn't even go on an official "date" until 2 weeks after we were dating exclusively. Our relationship was so out of the ordinary, we forgot we were supposed to do that. When we did go out to a really nice dinner, it was very weird and something we vowed not to do again - we prefer cycling to little cafes in Newton or running downtown to grab a quick sandwich.
Because of what our base relationship was built on, we learned how each other thinks in extreme conditions - such as being 15 miles out of our way lost on a random road in Newton. Or so exhausted on mile 60 of a bike ride that we almost faint. Or running on four hours of sleep in 3 days because of exam week. Because of all this, I found Chris is one of the most laid back, light hearted, rational, and patient guys I've ever met. I've never heard him raise his voice, and he's never gotten mad at me, even when I know I deserve it.
He's the only person in the world who goes along with my crazy schemes - such as cycling the length of Cape Cod and back, or swimming across the lake instead of running around it, or camping before a race, or jumping off a random bridge, or going for a run at 1 am. He's the one who gave me the, "I think that's a fantastic idea" to buy rock climbing gear, even though I've never rock climbed. He not only goes along with it, but he makes it happen. He doesn't mind that I catch bugs in my apartment and go downstairs to let them free. He understands when I freak out over my classes. He massages my aching calves and knotted back even though I never return the favor. He makes even the most stressful and awful days seem manageable. He makes me laugh when nothing is funny, and even when he doesn't say a word I always walk away feeling as though I just had the best conversation.

So that's why I miss him, and I will continue to miss him this whole month - because I know no one in the world is quite like him.

love love love,
me

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Stop Shoulding all over yourself

Yesterday I went on Cor Jesu's Vivare "young alumni" retreat. My friend from high school Katie posted it on my wall a few weeks ago and tagged a couple other CJ sisters to the post and it struck my interest. I haven't done a single thing with CJ since I graduated and somewhere between moving to Boston and joining the triathlon team my Catholic past was put on the backburner. I figured I had nothing to lose except a Saturday and at the very least I'd get to hang out with my friends so I signed up and sent in my $25 without much thought.  I've never been the most devout Catholic. Most times in church I'm scanning the crowd for familiar faces, zoning out, and making Target lists- and that's if I go at all. Sunday is usually run-day...or ski day. Or sleep in day. Or study day. Or vacuum day. Whatever day it is...it's rarely church day. Despite being raised by two Catholic parents, going to a Catholic grade school and a Catholic high school, going o...

A Near Miss

I may have spoken too soon when I said that Kirkwood library was my spot. Here I am comfortably doing my speech-pathology work when out of nowhere: We took the square route of this and put it here and here and put it there and there.  My ears tuned in and I raised my head. I sniffed the air and suspiciously scanned the area. Yep. Math. Immediately I broke out in a sweat. Hands started shaking. Eyes twitched. Jaw clenched and neck twisted. Vomit literally came up my esophagus. Pavlov conditioning in it's purest form.  So this times this gives you this and this times this gives you that.  Focus, Katie. Hmm....a 2 year old with hearing loss who is struggling with some final consonant deletion, some stopping of fricatives, some devoicing? Now that, I am good at.... Now do you see inside your parenthesis that there is a difference of squares? No I don't see, lady. That past is long behind me and I'm never going back.  Right now I'm transcribing, identifying ...
First mountain bike ride = SUCCESS! Rex and I rode 18 miles this morning. We did the Logan river trail for about 14 then we rode around town stopping into some bike shops looking at pedals and mountain biking shoes. It'll be a few weeks before I actually buy a pair but I want to get an idea of what's out there - just like road cycling, clipless pedals change everything. With regular pedals, the rider can only get movement forward by pushing down. With clipless pedals, the rider's foot is attached to the bike so you can push down and pull up, which makes climbing and accelerating completely different. I absolutely love my pedals on Mr. Mac so Rex should have a pair, too. The ride was awesome though. The thing I like about mountain biking is that it's a nice blend between trail running and road cycling. You get to the distance of cycling but you get to be close with nature like you do running. It's absolutely perfect. I even had my very first crash today! I w...