Thursday, January 12, 2006
Opposites Attract
For most of my life I thought this was a silly concept. Opposite magnetic polarities attracting, yes. Opposite people attracting… how? How could two people with opposite interests and personalities get along enough to have a relationship? It made no sense to me. Wouldn’t they fight all the time? My parents did. They were nothing alike and I never figured out why they stayed together all that time.
Doesn’t it seem logical that people with similar interests and personalities should be together? Then you would have harmony. You would have things in common that you like to do. There would be very few conflicts. Sounds ideal, doesn’t it?
So how do opposites get along? I tell you, it was a complete mystery to me for years. I always figured it was just fiction conjured up for television and movies. Until it happened to me. Yes, I’m talking about my current sweetheart. I guess I should have warned you that she’s going to come up a lot in my blog. When you’re in love, it’s all you can talk about!
Anyway, here you have me—an introverted, fashion-impaired computer geek who is distant from her family. And here she is—an outgoing, stylish clubber who didn’t go a single day without talking to her close-knit family. I loved Star Trek. She couldn’t stand science fiction. How on earth did we end up together?
It’s taken a lot of thought to figure this out, but I do believe I have the answer: we compliment each other. I don’t mean, “Your hair looks nice today.” I mean my weakness is her strength, and vice versa. I’m a stingy tightwad. She’s showed me how to loosen up, that some things are worth the cost. In return I’ve tempered her spending a little bit, demonstrated that it was important to start long-term savings. Before I met her my clothes were nothing but T-shirts, jeans and shorts. Now I have a little bit of style. Before she met me her computer skills were pretty much limited to AOL. (Oh the horror.) Now she can do intermediate photo editing, desktop publications and fancy photo slide shows. When we need to negotiate a better price, she does the talking. When we need to figure out our budget, I step up to the plate. I’m very patient and she’s very impatient. In certain situations she’ll nudge me into action if I’m waiting too long. In other situations I’ll encourage her to be a little forgiving if she’s being too pushy.
Don’t get me wrong, we do bicker quite a lot due to our differences. In our early stages we “ended it” at least two or three times. But love doesn’t die that easily. Being apart makes you ache inside and makes you want to sit down and find a resolution to the disagreement. What keeps us going strong is constant, open communication. Anything that bothers us is immediately discussed. We figure out the middle ground that we can both agree on, and the end result is harmony. In September we will be seven years strong, and we are only getting stronger.
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Categories: • Lesbian Love