TMI

I am a hopeless romantic.  I love to sneak up behind hubby and kiss his neck.  I like it when somebody surprises me with trinkets or does the dishes or takes me out for ice cream for no occasion at all.  I like to hear the words "I love you", "I like you", "I need you", "let's eat out." I like flowers and wine and sunsets, silky clothes and creamy chocolate.  I like t be remembered on my birthday (coming soon!)

I didn't cry for a lot of years, then my heart was opened and I cry at everything--movies, songs, pictures of puppies.  A dance at someone else's wedding was my best hope; now it has become an event.  Being alone used to terrify me; now I have learned that I can be by myself and not feel alone.

The confidence is not without risk.

Last fall I was doing my day off chores, and I spotted a black GTO heading east on route 20.  Thinking it was my husband's car I bared one shoulder, fluffed my hair and revved my engine (actually, it was the car I revved. I just purred.).  Putting on my sexiest wink, I pulled up alongside--and looked straight into the eyes of a thirty-something, or maybe twenty-something, but it sure as heck wasn't my hubby the fifty-something.  Do you know how fast an Equinox can move when motivated? Geez.

"How many GTOs can there be on route 20 on a Saturday?" I wailed to Hubby.
"Apparently at least two," he snarled, unamused.

Was that the end? Of course not.  I saw a friend from high school days at the coffee shop.  Boldly, I tapped him on the shoulder and said "Hi, there" with my brightest smile--to a total stranger.  Same build, same hair, different face.  I quickly excused myself, reaching for sugar packets as though he had been in my way....will I never learn.

"You did WHAT?!" said my friend when I confessed.
"I was just being nice, I thought." I whimpered.  Cripes.

So the shell that I lived in for many a year has to be refurbished.  Looks like I should spend some more time in it.  I am certainly no floozy, though Hubby says I am a bit flirtatious.  I am friendly, that's all.  I no longer wave at GTOs or approach anybody at the coffee shop unless I am SURE who it is.  I don't take candy from strangers, and I wouldn't take a ride from anybody who sings "I'm your vehicle, baby, I'll take you any place you wanna go."

But I will accept the trinket with a smile, the perfume with a hug, the ice cream with a grin. Like I said, I'm a hopeless romantic.