Time Traveler

As one of my dear friends said, my bad luck with traveling a la boyfriends is over.  Hawaii was a success.  We had a great time snorkeling at Shark's Cove, sea kayaking with the sea turtles, hiking the rainforests, and hanging out in the quaint town of Haleiwa.  For all intents and purposes, it was amazing.

I was astounded how well we did around each other.  There never was a time where I needed alone time.  I didn't scare him off with my tantrums (and there was one when we were snorkeling and I was pushed up against the reef in low tide by the strong current.)  He reframed me as a mermaid with her siren call luring men into their deaths.  Really I was cursing him under my breath, screaming into my snorkel tube, and trying to blame him for me following him out to sea (even if it was by my own volition.)  Talk about psychotic optimism on his behalf. 

Several friends (mostly guys) predicted that it would be the trip I would get engaged.  Not so much.  There were conversations about marriage (go figure, all initiated by me) that were left in a high degree of vagueness.  

Typical Conversation:

Me:  What are we doing?

Him:  I don't know.

Me:  What are the obstacles?

Him:  I don't know.

Me:  This isn't very reassuring.

Him:  I'm sorry you feel that way. We are getting married.  I love you.  I told you I was slow.

Me:  Evolution is faster than this relationship.

He will then go into a scientific explaination of why that statement isn't true, how time is relative, and if he's really on a roll, he'll bring in quantum physics vs. Neutonian physics into the conversation.  Don't get me wrong, part of his charm that I love is his geek speak, its just kind of hard to take when I know I'm working with matters of the heart.

We looked at the pictures from our trip at a family dinner party the night before he went back to Indy.  His Mother and Grandmother both asked where the ring was, I just shrugged my shoulders thinking they were asking the wrong party.  Easy to ask because if you look at the pictures in this entry, they are very romantic.

I hate to admit I'm one of "those" girls.  Where the hell is my ring?  It becomes more apparent as now every single one of my girlfriends is married or newly engaged.  (This all occurred within the past couple of months for me to be the last one standing by the way...I lie, two are still relatively single.)  Don't get me wrong, it is not a race to the altar...the only one I'm racing is myself and the strange ticking of my biological clock. 

The more I bring up the marriage thing the more I begin to feel like the crocodile in "Peter Pan" stalking Captain Hook.  Tick tock, tick tock.  He says he's aware of my clock and has been for the past 2 years. 

Time is a funny thing.  It can work to your advantage, like building excitement before a trip.  Or it can be a disservice, like when you are late.  He is typically late because he is slow or distracted.  I am typically late because I overestimate what I can accomplish in a small amount of time.  Perhaps our relationship is "late" because of all of these reasons.  I just wonder how much more time it will take.  In nicer terms, he is on "island time" which is typical of the Hawaiian lifestyle...fitting with this entry I suppose.

Aloha.