01

Your current relationship, if single discuss how single life is.

Being me, I want to correct this first topic grammatically.  Seeing as it's not supposed to be a full sentence, I'll let it slide.

Anyhow, my current relationship is approximately 21 months old.  Eric and I started dating June 1, 2010.  He teases me about this whenever it comes up, but we had a "dating-without-titles" stage because being a perfectionist tends to make me cautious.  I've told him this before, but I don't "jump into things".  Thankfully, he was understanding about that, and a whole lot of other things as I'd soon find out.

I can't talk about any of my romantic relationships without mentioning my family.  See, my family is big, loud, and Filipino.  We are a close-knit group, honest to the point of brutality, but with love, love, and more love.  There's also a lot of laughter.  I was a little hesitant to introduce Eric to the family, not because he's white, but because when I'm with my family, my "crazy" tends to make an appearance too.  He was not at all thrown by the volume or amount of insanity that entails a Filipino family gathering, and I could not be happier.  He's ridiculously at ease with any of my relatives, joking and laughing along with them.  He's now gotten to the point where he whispers and gossips with my aunties about me, which you'd think would be annoying but is actually really adorable.  It's such a joy watching him fit in so well, and that's just the beginning of why we're so amazing together.

Knowing he handles the insanity of my family well, it shouldn't be a surprise to me that he deals with my own bouts of crazy so easily.  But it does surprise me.  I used to internalize everything and keep all my secrets, anxieties, everything inside.  It honestly scared me to tell anyone anything because there's just so much I've kept hidden.  Eric has been a monumental weight off of my shoulders.  When I finally let him see me freak out, he took it in stride.  I'd been afraid that it might scare him off, but he's stuck with me through everything.  He has his different way of dealing with stress, but mostly it's by grabbing me for a cuddle and a nap.  Even so, he's my confidant, and I know that I'm his.  It's really corny, I know, but I can tell him anything without even thinking of being judged.

Speaking of corny, I inherited my father's corny jokes.  It's hard to admit, but sometimes, I cringe when I tell one because I can hear his voice saying the exact same thing.  And Eric loves it.  Humor and laughter is ever present in our relationship.  That's great because I love being happy.  It's hard to express just how important it is that he is able to make me smile when I'm having a horrible day.  I suspect because laughter is such a huge part of my childhood that it has stuck with me and how I deal with my everyday life.  Suffice to say, he makes me happy in every way possible, in any of my moods, on any given day.  Bottom line is that I love him, and he loves me.  We're together no matter what dark days come our way (and there have been some very miserable days), and laughter and love still prevail.  Not to mention he's easy on the eyes, plays guitar like a rock star, and plays the geeky board games with me.<3