Several years ago I was at dinner with my whole family, parents, brother, grandparents. Our waiter was extremely attractive. Broad shoulders, well dressed, well groomed hair, cute smile, sweet personality, EXTREMELY FEMININE. My grandma uncharacteristically had a margarita at dinner and starts bumping my shoulder and smiling coyly at me saying, “Oh, OP, isn’t he cute? He seems about your age!” I was like “grandma I don’t think I’m his type” which she took as a challenge, apparently. Every time this poor dude came by my grandma is talking me up, “Oh my grand daughter thinks you’re so cute! Shes in college you know? Very smart girl. Isn’t she beautiful? Yeah, she won’t be single for very long.” I would have been cringing under the table but our waiter caught on to what was happening and played her up! He starts winking at me, flirtatiously waving at me across the restaurant, when he brings me more water he says, “for my future girlfriend” and “for the most beautiful girl in the room” ...
My wife and I have been together since we were teenagers. We met when I was a sophomore and she was a senior. There was something exhilarating about that age difference. I felt like such a badass “cool kid” for being able to swing a date with not only a senior, but a genuinely good-looking one at that. I used that exhilaration to my advantage. Built up my confidence. Learned from her maturity. Hell, she’s the one who taught me how to drive. We made it through the honeymoon phase, and by some miracle of God, we prevailed when she ended up going to college while I was left behind in high school for another two years. That’s not to say it wasn’t difficult. I learned a lot about myself in those two years. It’s kind of insane how paralyzing separation anxiety is. My insecurity grew more and more each day. That’s probably why I asked her to marry me immediately after purchasing our first apartment. I hate saying this just because it makes me sound so creepy, but she was mine. She was the on...