I've spent this evening hanging out with Skyler and Mom at Mom & Dad's place in Dayton. Dad's in Haiti doing mission work until this coming Wednesday, so Mom and I decided it was as good a time as any to get some Chinese (Dad greatly dislikes such food). I drove up straight after work in Blue Ash, and I took a long and steamy shower with soft water. It'd been nearly two months since I had showered (since the Hobbit Hole only has a porcelain clawed-foot bathtub), and I loved it. Back at the Hobbit Hole I do have a sprayer jerry-rigged onto the spout, but since the sprayer's meant for dogs, it doesn't have the water pressure I'd like it to have. I told Mandy my intricate plans for my coming shower, and she said, "You're so colonial." This girl, she knows how to compliment me, how to reach straight into my heart.
After my shower I curled up on the couch with Sky, turned on the fireplace, and began reading Allan Eckert's That Dark & Bloody River, a narrative history on the settling of the Ohio River Valley from the Proclamation of 1763 onwards. The prologue itself was eighty pages long, so this should be a fun read.
At China Cottage I ordered a "zombie" cocktail, something along the lines of rum and pineapple juice (I didn't really pay attention to the ingredients, the name is what hooked me). She had garlic chicken and I had my usual General Tso's chicken with steamed white rice, egg drop soup, and a plate of crab rangoon laced with sweet & sour sauce. I've eaten at lots of Chinese places, but no one's come close to China Cottage. Chris, Lee, Pat D. and I used to frequent it once or twice a week, usually on Sundays after church, our own little ritual.
Mom and I talked about how things with Mandy have been going. It's funny: when some people ask, I'm pretty close-lipped about it, giving vague answers. But with others (such as with Mom and Ams), I'm eager to talk, talk, talk. Mom asked all sorts of questions, I paraded pictures of the two of us, and her only request was that we get married before I move up there. I don't foresee us getting married within six months, but that won't keep me from moving up there. I'm eager for winter to end, for spring to end, for summer to end. I'm ready for the advent of next winter, because it will mean I'm up there in Wisconsin, with her. For the moment we're separated by quite a large distance, but I take comfort knowing that there are indeed some benefits (believe it or not) to long distance relationships. Here are a couple I've seen in articles on the interwebs and in my own experience with Mandy:
(1) Long-distance relationships foster greater commitment.
(2) Long-distance relationships help build strong trust between those involved.
(3) Long-distance relationships increase communication skills.
(4) Long-distance relationships force you to get to know one another more deeply.
(5) Long-distance relationships enable the relationship to weather hard times better.
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