Oil & Water

Eight interesting facts about TBC and me (courtesy of our beloved Burg):

We met through his close friend who had moved to the beach after me but prior to TBC’s arrival. TBC was originally headed for Okiedokieland in what turned out to be a massive migration on his family's part but in a last minute change of heart, decided to give the beach a shot thereby heading toward the land of ocean and sky rather than wind whipping down the plains. It was there that rather than meeting a lovely, genteel Southern lass, he spied a skinny, shy, tongue-tied, blonde Northern transplant. (yeah me) Nevertheless, her striking beauty *snicker* intrigued him and the abbreviated chase was on to win her elusive hand. Not one to succumb without a fight, Mz Impossible only capitulated after an interested eye was cast in her sister's direction. After a brief courtship, TBC and Mz Circe were joined in marriage by a justice of the peace and have been battling it out ever since. A few years after our hasty vows, TBC dragged his kicking and screaming spouse to Tornadoville and for the most part we have resided here ever since.

TBC and I seem to prefer "M," "N," and "O" (Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Oklahoma) states. I have no idea why we have a predilection for living in the middle of the alphabet (and country) but we do.

TBC is the polar opposite of me personality-wise. He’s a gregarious extrovert who never met a human being he hasn’t for the most part, liked. I, on the other hand, am the reserved, shy and somewhat suspicious introvert though I’ve emerged from my shell more and more as the years have passed. No visit to any establishment is complete without his chatting up friends, neighbors, workmates, acquaintances, etc. because this man knows everyone. I believe it may stem from his small town roots where everyone knows everyone else’s business, while I retain my big city ‘MYOB” demeanor.

I’m an avid reader who always has a minimum of three books and/or periodicals in various stages of reading progress going at one time while TBC pretty much only cracks a tome when absolutely forced to. A deep, rocky chasm divides non-readers who think readers waste perfectly good time on copious amounts of mindless drivel and readers who secretly believe non-readers are shallow, clueless morons. TBC’s pretty much given up breaking me of this “useless, boring habit” and arguments regarding this particular bone of contention have fallen by the wayside. Singles need to factor this potential problem in when considering the pros and cons of mate material.

We both come from loving nuclear families though they differed in size, location, and economic status. He’s one of six, mostly male siblings (No. 2) and I (Numero Uno) have one younger sister. He grew up in a small town in northern NY and well, we all know where I hail from. *round on the end and high in the middle* Evenly divvying up the economic pie, not to mention time and attention among so many siblings certainly differed from the simple half division I enjoyed.

Much like Kerbear and Richard, we both love to travel and grew up road tripping on family vacations. This tradition has carried on as together with our two beautiful Circettes, ;) we have seen most of the contiguous United States. Driving duties are divided between us but for the most part, he plays chauffeur to my helpful, passenger side navigator. As much as we love the US, we are woefully behind in observing how the rest of the world lives. Plans are in the works for a tropical island vacation early next year and then European trips in the future.

We were both rebels as teenagers but my vanilla version of rebelling paled in comparison to his wild, rowdy ways. Yep, I married the bad boy. The pseudo fairy tale version of how this all works out in the wash bears absolutely no resemblance to grim reality. Plan on weekly, if not daily, hell.

Much like Weather’s hub, TBC projects a “good ole boy” image to the outside world but living with him day in and day out is a whole other story. I’m not sure one can change a control freak/bully but it sure makes for an obstacle-riddled existence for an easygoing, fun-loving, ‘peace at any price,’ free spirit like me. It’s not all bad and I will enumerate some of his good qualities in a future post, but I know for a fact I would never consider going through this continuous 'mountains out of molehills' drama again and will cherish my freedom when it happens. I leave you with this wise old adage: "Marry in haste, repent in leisure."