I Love Whit!

So. Whit and I went camping last weekend. Now, when I say camping – – we drove to a campsite and slept in a tent. We cooked over fire (*neanderthal grunt*). We went on a ‘nature walk.’ Hahahaha. So, like I told Whit, we kind of stuck our big toe in the pool of camping.

But it was great.

Whit and I have had some hurdles to climb, especially during the last couple weeks. And this trip was SO good for us.

It’s strange how one little day together can do so much. It was restorative and relaxing. It helped us to bond again. And really, I think it helped to grow us into a real, adult couple. Not to say we haven’t been for years. But, in my heart, there’s something even more ‘real’ about me and Whit now.

I sure do love that girl. More and more every day.

Doo do doot dooooooooo DOOT!

Anyhow. It was something of a rough week. But Whit and I have proved, yet again, that we can make it past anything. I so appreciate that we’re both committed to the relationship. That we’re not waiting for the ‘bad enough’ slip of the other in order to leave. 

No matter how mad, we always love one another.

And I’m confident he’ll show her, too.

It’s tough. We’ll make it. And stay in love.

Most of them won!

I’m so proud!!!!

So. Whit surprised me yesterday. When I got home from school, she was at my house waiting for me. 

With grocery bags containing some of my (our) favorite foods.

So yeah. That’s pretty much as cool as it gets, fellas!

I tried to post this from iPod today. But it didn’t want to work. So here’s what I WAS going to say:

Here I am. In Crestline, CA. Up in the mountains on a leadership conference. I miss my sweetie. I barely get the chance even to say ‘hi’ to her and I feel like a part of me is missing. Can’t wait to get home and give her a big ol’ hug and a smooch!

I love you, Whit! 

They suck. But I think, based on all the movies I’ve seen and all the friends I’ve advised, that they should suck more.

But Whit and I have something that few have. That is – we sincerely care about the feelings of one another. When we have the tough talks, they’re never mean-spirited or hateful. We’ve never yelled or said anything mean like ‘I hate you’ or ‘you’re a moron.’ I’m sure that at least one of us has thought these kinds of things, but they are always swallowed for the sake one another. I know that when we have to get to some serious challenge, that we’ll come out better than we went in. And it’ll be rough and it’ll be difficult – but worth it. 

We’re long-termers. We care more about us as a pair and the future of our relationship than we do about being right or winning the immediate argument.

Even when she wants to strangle me (thought I never want to strangle her), she doesn’t. And we get through it.

The tough talks are never fun. But they always make us better as a pair. Which each of us cares more about than ourselves.

She understands. And takes care of me.

Whit graduates next year. I *cough* don’t! And I’m 4+ years older than she is. I’m so impressed by her determination and boundless intrinsic motivation. Whit works harder than anyone I know to accomplish a goal. 

Every day I’m so proud of her. I know I don’t say it as often as I think and feel it. But she sets a great example for anybody to follow. It certainly puts me in my place!

I love you, Sweetheart. But more than that, I admire you.

So. A few years ago – when Whit and I were babies in our relationship – she asked me to help her pick out a computer. She was (and is, really) by no means a computer geek. She didn’t know what MP3 meant or how to burn a disc. But she was (and is, really) bright enough to ‘get it.’ Smart enough to understand the computer stuff, but not a self-made geek.

So I took her cash and got her a Mac. An iBook to be specific. And this was her dive into the non-Windows world of computing. I was a bit nervous. I had made something of an expensive decision and I would’ve felt horrible if she had hated it! But she didn’t!

I would get about one ‘how-to’ phone call a day. And they all went something like this:
“Hey. How do I …?”
“Oh. You do this. ”
“OH! That makes sense.”

After about a month, the ‘how-to’ calls almost never happened. What’s more, I went to visit her and witnessed her fixing her own paper-jam print queue kind of problem. When I asker her how she knew what she was doing she said, “I figured it out.”

Sweet.

So now, I stand proud in Whitney’s unabashed championing of the Apple platform. When her friend needs a new computer, Whit recommends a Mac. And tells her friend about her iBook and how much she digs it. And how it works compared to Windows machines. That in itself is enough to give this man a mile-wide smile! But it gets better.

Without any coaching from yours truly, Whit has all those on-the-spot answers to peoples’ objections.
“What about software?”
“They’re not compatible with anything.”
“They’re so expensive”
“Other stupid nonsense”

She’s got an answer for them all!

So. Freaking GEEKY as it is — Whit is growing the Mac family. And it’s just another small reason why I love Whit!