Random and Cheesy

I must warn you, if there is anyone else besides Ericka and I that read this, that this post is going to be extremely gooshy and cheesy. Even you Ericka, be warned. This morning, Ericka left for Dallas to spend time with her grandmother and I missed her after about 5 seconds. Tomorrow, she is spending time with her mom and this means that I wont see her for over a 24 hour period. This is ridiculous but I miss her severely. I miss her smile and her laugh and the way she puts her feet on the dashboard when we drive in the car. I miss her very unique dancing style and the funny songs she makes up on a whim. Anyhow, some of you may think I am just infatuated but I am not. The infatuation is over. We have had some big obstacles in front of us that we have overcome and now the roots are beginning to dig down. Were getting ready to travel on our first major road trip and I'm sure that will put us to the test. I love road trips but being in a car with someone for long periods of time can create un-natural social situations. It will be interesting to see how we deal with one another. Most likely, I will play the air drums way too long and way too seriously and Ericka will jump from the car, do a barrel roll and then shoot out the back tire with a pistol. Or, I will fall asleep listening to mixed cd's filled with songs from musicals. Either way, we're going to make it down to Austin eventually and eat the best barbecue in Texas at a place called "The Salt Lick." Thats right, Ericka is a vegetarian who happens to love barbecue sauce and all the sides you can get at such establishments. I love that she is a vegetarian and I am a meat eater and we get along just fine. We are also heading to Houston to attend my cousins wedding. There will be dancing at this wedding, just like there is dancing at all of my families weddings. I will pretend to want to sit on the sidelines for a while, but eventually the music will overwhelm me and I will give in and I'm pretty sure Ericka is going to get her first taste of major embarrasment because of me. I am hoping that this will bring out her unique dancing style as mentioned before. This will be the first time Ericka will meet my family and she really has nothing to worry about because everyone likes her. The family will probably like her more than they like me.

On a random note, I recently shaved my beard and it turns out that I look pretty wierd without it. I had all kinds of people at work assume that I did it at the request of Ericka. However, this is not true. They kept trying to give me a hard time saying, "oh yeah, and now it begins, you shave once and she will never let you grow a beard again." The truth, she can't wait for it to come back. Also along this topic, I have had several older men give me warnings like"now you get to go out and look at curtains and fancy soap and pillows. Stay away from Linens and Things as well as Bed Bath and Beyond. Never ever get trapped into going to the mall." Its funny, they couldn't be more wrong, I actually enjoy doing those things with Ericka. We genuinly just like being together and experiencing life together. We're getting ready to start riding bikes and we might go canoeing in Austin. These are things that I like doing and to have the person you Love with you is something I will never take for granted.