the story of dr.yummy, part 2

**Part 2...I should be charging y'all a quarter a read. This is good stuff :) **

I decided if Dr. Yummy was worth taking a chance on --I needed to see how he interacted with my kids, not only for my sake, but his as well. We're a package deal, remember, the boys and I. Someone can like me, but to really make it work, they need to be able to like all the parts of me, including the four best parts. I know it can be a little overwhelming--four boys(!)--so I needed at least a sneak peek into his patience and capabilities with children. Did I mention he's never been married? And he's three years younger than me? Yeah. BUT he is from a family of four boys, so I was really hoping he could handle it. Like really, really.



I took him with us to a dutch oven cook out a friend of mine puts on regularly throughout the summer in the rural-ist location you can imagine. It's the most unglamorous event, full of dust-covered, sticky, hyper children having fun doing dusty, sticky, hyper-y things. Including my own children. Dr. Yummy passed with flying colors. He soothed my crying J after a fall and helped me doctor up his scrape. He pushed L on the tire swing. He rescued Z's football when it got accidentally thrown into the creek. Not to mention the fact that he pulled at least two spiders off my back at various times that night.


We had now gone out 7 or 8 times, had hours worth of phone conversations, settled comfortably into one another's presence...but he still hadn't kissed me.

Hadn't even tried.

I thought at first maybe that meant he didn't like me the way I thought, but that was quickly replaced by the reassurance that somehow it all still felt right. Like, it was this magical thing we could just keep anticipating. Like he was courting me :).

We thought it would be fun to go to a drive-in movie--nostalgic. There was a chill in the usually hot, latenight July air, and a distant storm flashing lightening about in the dark clouds.  It had been so long since I'd been to a drive-in, I'd forgotten that you needed to bring lawn chairs and blankets and other things to be comfortable. So, he and I attempted to get comfortable in the opened trunk of my van. Not an easy task! I ended up having to kind of snuggle close and put my head on his chest. It was the only way we'd both fit...yeah...that's it....the only way :) The movie was the X-Men prequel and it was pretty bad. At one point, we were both laughing at how bad it was ("Mutant...and proud!") when we happened to look at eachother and things got suddenly quiet. I kind of nuzzled his nose with mine, playfully, to break the tension, not expecting anything, but....he kissed me. Short, simple, sweet, but WOW!!! Lightening flashed somewhere in the distance. Or maybe it was just inside of me...

I was a goner.

Although we had not declared we were in an exclusive relationship, he became the only person I really wanted to spend time with. I was walking around with this goofy smile on my face all.the.time. What I liked most was that I didn't feel like there was some type of game to be played--that I had to keep constantly chasing him or running from him to keep him interested. He just seemed to like me for me, and I felt the same way about him. We liked eachother...equally. Easily. Knowingly.  **And that was such a nice feeling.** One I hadn't experienced with anyone since Haute Cakes or Ninja. And there were no huge red flags or obstacles that kept me forever second-guessing moving things along despite liking him. Shared faith, shared values, shared sense of humor, living in the same place, plus varied enough tastes to keep things interesting. Beyond that initial spark of chemistry over his looks, I loved how brilliant, yet funny,humble, and down to earth he was (he finished his undergrad work with degrees in Anthropology, Zoology, and English, and could have easily thrown Portuguese in there...but didn't want to overdo it :) ). He can fix anything.  He loved that I was creative, and quirky, and spontaneous, and kind. He thought I was a great mother to my boys.

One night, as he was helping me to vacuum my floor (yes, he was actually vacuuming...without being asked!), I had to go up and pinch him just to make sure he was real. He said all the right things. He did all the right things. He was just awkward enough to be believable, but still pretty darn perfect as far as I was concerned.

Then the words started to come. He "like-liked" me. He was "very fond of me." He "wished that he had more words to express how he felt..." I was returning the sentiments. We were tip-toeing around the way we really felt...just making certain. We both wanted to say it. We were both feeling it.

We were in love.

**Part 3 to come....maybe :) **