Spring Has Sprung!

The sun finally came out today, timely with Spring just arriving a few days ago. In addition to the warmer weather, the birds chirping and the flowers beginning to pop up through the topsoil, my continuing blooming personal life is also stretching upwards toward the sun. This upcoming weekend brings on a milestone in any relationship - the traditional "holiday meeting of the boyfriend". Easter is this weekend and he is coming to dinner at my parents home. As he said, "The pressure is on!".

My family is far from religious so this dinner is more of a gathering of our busy siblings and their better halves, and children. With all of our responsibilities at our various careers, it's virtually impossible to lasso the herd, and the intermittent holidays seem to tweak our instincts to return home, like salmon returning to their creek to spawn. I decided, since my man has no family out west, that he might enjoy the warmth in his belly of a home cooked meal and the hilarity of our eccentric family. Perhaps it will give him some insight into my character and background; better yet, faces to the people I speak of regularly.

My father and stepmother have hinted for years about my lack of love life, and I'm somewhat excited about the chance for them to meet him. I have always wanted them to be at ease with my path, which ever direction, and with this relationship addition to my life, and the ease at which it came along, I hope it will bring some confidence and relief in the back of their minds. I don't particularly make my decisions consciously regarding my partner, and whether he will make my family happy, but I must say that my new man may fulfill all of their desires for me.

The season has the signs of change in other ways. I have my mind filling with plans in the summer: beaches, getaways, camping, etc, thanks to this new guy popping hints and questions. He wants to book a camping spot, an exciting adventure for me as I have never been camping. I have gone house boating but no actual "tent-n-sleeping bag" excursions in the wild. I was a frequent sleepwalker as a child and wasn't allowed to go camping, for fear I would walk off into the night. I also have been focusing on spring cleaning, where clearing out the unused trash and clutter in my apartment (and life) is taking up a bit of my time outside of work. Cat proofing my apartment windows and balcony seems to be the centre of the activity, saving my visually impaired and naive young fur-monkey from obvious death. There is a high probability my cat will try to jump on the balcony railing, not seeing how far her fall potentially could be from seven floors up. I don't want to repair my heart again, especially over a simple screen on my balcony for pet protection.

I did add a new mirror to my decor, four square tiles lined up to create a full length mirror. Now I will actually see what I am wearing fully, instead of seeing my wardrobe. We both installed this simple item together, after a rainy day in wandering through IKEA. Sometimes doing simple things bring out the best in relationships. We initially shopped in geeky computer stores for used computer items, ending up in the new couple's future planning paradise, full of Swedish furniture designs with strange names for such designs.

Spring is not my favorite of the seasons, although with the new outlook on my less than lonely future, I may have to rethink my adamant choice of Autumn being the best time of the year. It feels nice, like warm tea sliding down my throat, knowing there's someone to sleep next to once or twice a week.