Fishing

Matt took me fishing this morning. This is the latest in our outings together. We've seen movies (in fact, we made an entire list of movies we want to see this summer and fall), gone to the zoo, hung out at the pool, played countless video and board games, had a cookout with friends and one with his extended family. But today, we went fishing. 

I fished some when I was little, but I was ill-prepared for today. I was all gutsy when we got to the bait shop to buy the bait, and acted like the knowledgeable girlfriend when Matt and I conversed about what type of bait to buy. And when we got to the lake, I hauled the tackle box and the pole (he carried the chairs) down to the dock. It was going well so far. 

And then he opened the container of worms-- two kinds of worms: earth worms (really, really long ones) and glow worms (no, not the toy you had when you were growing up!). I instantly became the squeamish girlfriend and backed away, telling him he could have the honor of putting the bait on my hook. He readily agreed, chuckling a little bit. And whenever I needed new bait, I would carry the container over to him, hand him my pole and offer my sweetest smile. It worked. Haha. 

We didn't catch a thing, but we had a wonderful time. It was sunny, albeit a little too warm and we got to see some heron and lots of turtles, as well as a lot of geese and ducks. 

Anyway, all of this was to say that today was a perfect example of our relationship. Matt doesn't  love me because I have a stomach of steel and can put up with gross things. He also doesn't love me because I'm the perfect girlfriend or a complete girly-girl. Nope, he loves me because I'm me. And I am really enjoying the freedom of not having to become someone else to please him. It's very freeing and it allows me to love him better, because I'm not doing it out of compulsion or fear, but because I just do.