Four Short Years

Today marks the day Peppe and I chose as our dating anniversary. Four years ago he was in Texas on that first exploratory visit. He had been there two days, but neither of us had mentioned anything serious like “feelings” or “emotions”. It was on this day he initiated the conversation and we decided to try our loooooooooong-distance thing. He said something about me being “the one”. Come to think of it, he was under severe influence from spicy Tex-Mex and grande margaritas…I wonder if meant “the one, the one” or if he meant “the one who’d kill me??” Hmmm…

That being said, here is my message to all of you ladies out there – snag a man who doesn’t speak English. If HE says something you don’t think he should say, you can “pretend” he didn’t mean it because of his poor English skills…or, better yet, if YOU say something, and you immediately wish you could take it back, you can always say, “Oh, honey, that doesn’t mean what you think it does in English. ‘Lazy’ and ‘Selfish’ are terms of endearment in our language!”

That has gotten us through 4 years of dating, 6 years of friendship, and, hopefully will be the key to a lasting relationship…I am not speaking, of course, about tricking each other with our languages, but rather giving each other the benefit of the doubt. In most cases it works, and often assuming the worst in the other one was always wrong. I believe this is good advice regardless of what barriers exist in your relationships. For Peppe and me, we have the language and cultural divide added to what already exists with creatures from Mars and Venus. But, believing the other person won’t do things to intentionally hurt you, and giving that person the benefit of the doubt can greatly impact the value of your relationships…Now – I have to go take my own advice and see where that “sweet, loving man” put my Ally McBeal DVD…Until next time!