Romance

Thanks for all the preschool advice and sympathy. Yesterday, Lily was so bad - I was sure her little head was going to spin around and her eyes were going to roll to the back of her head and I was going to have to find a good priest. An early nap helped for a bit but by the time Jeff came home she was back to being less than sweet.

A few days ago I was lucky enough to spend the day with one of Jeff's new workmates. She is a mom of a little girl around Lily's age and the girls had a blast together and she and I hit it off really well. Toward the end of the day the girls were playing in the McDonald's play land and we were quietly chatting. Jeff called me on the cell phone (I am loving having a cell phone) and told me that he and Mandy were going to go out to dinner and would be a little later than expected getting home. I told him that was OK since I was out and about as well. Turns out they were right across the street from me. Mandy and Jeff had been to the movies and I wasn't sure what they had seen. My friend asked me which movie they had seen and I told her I had no idea, it was something violent that I had no interest in and therefore I did not really pay attention when they told me the title and plot of the movie. Truthfully there isn't a lot of information that can stay in my brain and I try to be selective about what I remember and what I just let go.

My friend laughed and reminded me that over the weekend Jeff had taken me on a date, to dinner at a sports bar and a violent movie. Which is true. She was giving Jeff a hard time about his lack of romance and now was ribbing me about it. This got me to thinking about the fact that I do not believe that Jeff and I have ever gone out to see a Marsha type movie. The movies and restaurants we go out to on our dates are always very Jeff friendly.

Not that I care, just getting out of the house is nice. We are lucky to have Mandy available to babysit and Jeff and I get to go on dates quite a bit. I used to be very sensitive to keeping track and making sure that our marriage was equal. Equal chores, equal say in money, equal time to ourselves, and lately I haven't really been keeping track. I don't know why it used to be very important to me. I really wanted to make sure I was not being taken advantage of and I therefore kept careful track of things to make sure I was treated correctly. But, I can't remember the last time I kept track of things like that.

When I got the chance I brought this up to Jeff, the fact that we only go to see his movies and he never goes to see my movies. I also mentioned that we never go out to candle lit French restaurants for dinner, we always go out to Jeff type restaurants. I was only joking around, giving him a hard time for not being romantic enough. He reminded me that he had taken me out to dinner at a French restaurant. When he took me to the French Riviera for my birthday, and again when we spent two weeks in France including going to Paris and strolling threw Monet's Gardens. Shut my mouth, the dude is romantic. Maybe this is why I quit keeping track, because I always end up looking bad.

It is interesting, meeting new people, trying to make new connections. I seem to be coming across as a spineless simple woman whose husband is insensitive. You can never judge a book by its cover.

I went ahead and uploaded some pictures from our trip to France, notice Jeff's expression in the museum compared to his expression visiting WWII memorial sites, and check out the pretty pictures of Monet's water Lily pond and garden. I am a huge fan of Claude Monet and he painted many pictures from his garden and home in Giverney, France just outside of Paris. His home and gardens have been turned into a museum and you can go there and visit, and also buy some prints.

Grumpy Jeff in museum of modern art in Paris.

Mandy in Monet's garden.

More of Monet's garden.

Jeff at Pegasus Bridge in Normandy. Just prior to the invasion of Normandy on D-Day there was the taking of Pegasus Bridge. Jeff has written and I have edited several papers about this battle during his quest for first a bachelor's degree in military history and now a Master's degree in World War II history. We also visited all the D-day beaches and memorials in Normandy, and the ones in Belgium the site of the Battle of the Bulge. Isn't that romantic?