Bigger or Better: Life outside of Texas

Prior to getting married and starting school, I would take vacations simply to travel. I now realize that's not normal. It's like the little old lady who swallowed a fly--we don't know why she swallowed that fly. Maybe because she was bored, and she could. I still have a little travel bug in me, but now it's a bit more escapist. Laundry to do and thank-you cards to write and a car to fix and school books to buy? Let's put that on hold and drive to Austin. This is not Austin. It's Buccees--a mega-gas-station rest stop. This was our first non-honeymoon vacation as a couple. Mark did the planning, and I provided the location and motivation. Good teamwork. Lady Bird Lake Trail! It was so much fun to introduce Mark to the Hill Country of Texas (as well as Buccee's. That was entertaining too.) Most of the time we were indoors [because it's August in Texas...] but as we drove around we got to appreciate the skyline of hills. Purple martins. They

My shift started with a warning from the night shift nurse: "The patient told me he was horny, so I'm interested to know how your day goes." Oh, boy. I went into his room, and he said I looked good. My response was "Well, I got dressed." [which was the WRONG thing to say; I meant it as 'didn't comb my hair, but I'm here and appropriately wearing scrubs', but he didn't take it that way.] He exclaimed "Damnit" then followed it up with calling me a tall glass of water. Such remarks can be flattering, and afterwards they're pretty funny, but in the midst of it, it's awkward. How do you play it off so that the comments stop, but still get them to agree to finger pokes for blood sugar checks? Even though he didn't make any other inappropriate remarks, for the rest of the day, I tried to put off every entry in his room--which was difficult, because I was supposed to do flap checks (a pulse check on a surgery site) every

I just had an eureka moment. And just like Archimedes, I want to share it. Without the whole complete exposure thing. RomCom, or rather, some romance and some comedy/humor, [and I'm not referring to the movie genre] are integral to surviving relationships. Probably rather key in starting relationships, too. I base this on my relationship with Mark, and since everyone can't have a relationship with Mark [hands off, ladies], I'll give some examples. For starters, Mark and I met on a dating website. They are not romantic, but they are pretty funny. [ Like the old guy who mass e-mailed females asking for something more than platonic love. I didn't respond to that one .] Under the username soccerfan or something like that, Mark messaged me--woolbluegirl--friendly non-aggressive chatter. And so we communicated, until he found out that he was also simultaneously messaging my sister. He handled it well by offering to go on dates with both of us, and decide between us at a l