I Love 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! 

So. I love guitar stuff. Guitars, pedals, rack gear, amps, tubes – you name it! I’m a bit of a gearhead. Not nearly as bad as some of my contemporaries, but I’m certainly an avid enthusiast.

So tonight I went to the home of some like-minded friends who I love dearly. Some of the few people who I can talk to about this stuff that actually give a crap.

Which got me thinking about Whit. She doesn’t care about guitar stuff. She doesn’t know much about it. But she listens and tries to learn about it. And she asks me questions about it. And she doesn’t shut me up while I go on and on about it. And she does her best to try to care. She keeps her ear out for ‘good tone.’ And she compliments me on my good (GREAT) tone. She knows that it’s something that I love and she shows me that what I love is important to her even if she doesn’t share that affinity.

And that, my dearest friends, is true love.

1) She takes being an aunt so seriously!

2) She’s really (REALLY) good at the big stuff. Like surprises. 

3) She does the right thing – even when it’s inconvenient!

4) I’m all riiiGHT? Don a sconna blura ’bout me! Bawn saw gawna da fiiGHT? Goansa dess LET ME BE!

5) She liked Caddyshack! (Not so lucky with Monty Python or Blazing Saddles)

There’s SO much more. But these things were on my heart and mind today.

Love you, Sweetie!

So Whit and I reached one of our most important milestones this morning. I promised not to talk about it. It’s not at all sexual or lascivious or ‘bad’ or anything like that. It’s just personal, that’s all. It’s very sweet and means the world to me. And I fell in love all over again! 

I love you, Whit!

PS – (Bah!)

I was tickled by something today that I haven’t thought about for a while. . .

When I was a kid – I used to collect Marvel comic book trading cards. This was, by far, my deepest plunge into geekdom. Yes – deeper than computer repair, my affinity for the sciences, and even marching band…Anyhow! All I wanted as a lad of 9 was a box of the cards. I would buy a pack from time to time, but I wanted the WHOLE set! A few of my buddies were given a box of these cards for various holidays and each one of them had the whole set with holograms AND doubles! Oh man. I wanted nothing more. Could have bought it myself for, like, 40 bucks. But at 9, that amount of cash was unimaginable to me. May as well have been a million bajillion…

Fast forward 14 years

I was cleaning my room and found a few of the old cards from my childhood. I was so excited. I was a little boy again if only for a few minutes! I remembered every card and all the stats on the back. And I got to thinking “Hey. I’ve got 40 bucks now. Let’s see if I can find a box!” And I did! They’re on eBay ALL the time. So I got a box. For, like, $20. SCHWEET!

(here’s the ‘how I know she loves me’ part)

So I told Whit. She couln’t have been thrilled over these stupid bits of cardboard, but she was excited for me. She had no connection to this pile of nerdery, but was supportive nonetheless. She helped me carefully open each individual pack, and organize, and catalog them. Put them in perfect order in a binder. It took hours! And she had to be up early! But she stayed up to help me relive a small part of my kiddiehood and it sure felt nice.

When we finished there were still a few cards missing. Others I had 5 or six of. I was so disappointed. All I wanted was the complete set!!! How could I have FIVE of some cards and ZERO of the others…sigh…

So I bought another box 🙂

And Whit, Lord bless her, helped me again. To look through yet another box of these stupid things to hopefully find the few that I was missing. We went through the WHOLE box. Only one card was missing. One of the holograms. I. Was. BUMMED! Like God didn’t want me to have the whole set…

But Whit kept me sane. And calmed me down.

And a while later, she gave me a gift – – the last hologram. She looked for and found it for me.

That – my beloved friends – is love.

Context:

Whit: I love you. You just say crazy things sometimes.

Cam: Facial expression that says: I say crazy things?!?!??!?!?!!?!?!

Whit: (*very matter-of-factly*): I don’t say crazy things.