married and bright: Heart Grow Fonder

You know that saying, "absence makes the heart grow fonder"? Last week, Alex and I put that to the test when I took a trip up to the Bay Area to attend Bloom the Workshop (more on that tomorrow!), and spend a week with my family. He stayed in LA and worked. And ate microwave pizza. And drank beers with his friends.

Since the day that Alex and I met more than four years ago, I would guess that we have spent fewer than 30 days apart. Total. Alex and I had a sleep over on the second day we knew each other, and then every day since that. After dating for only four months, we officially moved in together. A couple months after that, we took a two-and-a-half week road trip from Boston to Los Angeles. If Alex is making a run to the bank, I'm sitting in the passenger seat next to him. If I'm working on the couch, he's to my right typing away on the dining table. We walk our dog together, always. Grocery shopping is a two person operation. If Alex goes to Target without me, it's a betrayal.

Clearly, we spend a lot of time together. And I love it.

When we first met, Alex told me he can be a bit clingy, and I was like "yes! This is the person for me! Cling away." And sometimes -- oftentimes -- I wish he were more clingy.

But last week was kind of like... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Space.

Remember when Carrie Bradshaw said, "Maybe we should see each other less, and then we can miss each other more"? I'm totally with her on that front now. Spending every waking (and sleeping) moment with your spouse is wonderful, and provides a lot of intimacy, but it was such a sweet feeling to miss Alex. It was nice to indulge my own interests, operate on my own schedule, but still wonder what what my husband was up to and how he was doing. It was fun to exchange text messages like teenagers, FaceTime before bed, and call to check in. The novelty of time spend separately was actually kind of fun.

And, being reunited, even though it was at 2am after a five-hour drive from Northern California, was like falling in love again. It was that sensation of something being so dearly familiar, yet fresh and new. Like the feeling that you've known someone your whole life, but your only on the first date. And the best part was that we are married!

It was a good feeling, borne of time spent apart. Maybe we should do this more often...