How Do I Count The Ways?

The thing is, dipali has tagged me, presumably to write five things about the much-maligned spouse. Five awesome things about him. Interpretatively, others have been writing five awesome things said spouse has done for them. In many ways now is not the time. I am in a perfectly irritated mood, although I am working hard to overcome this. As you will appreciate, although the reasons for the foul mood are many - ranging from a most absurd ironing of clothes by istriwalla to a 'culture' that you can cut with a knife - I tend to blame it all on the spouse, or at least take it out on him. (Don't provoke me to elaborate on the 'culture' thing, for one it will sound like an irreedemable case of cribbo-holism; for another its impossible to have someone understand it).

Screw it all. Our anniversary is coming up. Its a good opportunity to stop abusing him and shout it from the rooftops - the thing I know deep inside.

Best Buddy
We have a lot of shared history. More than half my life, at this point of time. And very nearly that for him. It is not easy to be best buddy with me. I crib. I rant. I cry. I am unreasonable. I wake up too early in the mornings. I make too many lists. But he deals with it all with equanimity. I don't even know how.

Peas In A Pod
As a couple, we are as unlike each other as you can ask for. Of course tall-short; big-tiny is the obvious set. But also, he is the Idiot Box to my Chick Lit. He is as passionate about weight training as I am about running. He loves action & drama while I like it all nice and frothy. He likes weak Earl Grey tea while I like my desi boiled to death chai. But we have many common passions. Basketball. Friends - many in common. Beer. Coffee. The Kid. It works.

Long Distance Champions
We have demonstrated this beyond shadow of reasonable doubt. He drove down EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND when I was in graduate school. I took the bus every month or so and cribbed my head off about the delays. Even now, although technically we share the same postal address, we spend lots and lots of time apart. It would be unhealthy if not for all the training we have had. And last friday when he surprisingly showed up for the basketball game, my feet were two inches off the ground, I swear.

Been There
This is something we both implicitly believe in. If you need me, I will be there. Of course he has been tested a lot more than I. He was in the OT, having bulldozed down all objections. He was there smiling proudly when I defended my thesis, chatting up the boys and clicking pictures. And countless other times.

Who, me?
We inhabit very different worlds. My world is full of ink and chalk and people who fall asleep as you talk. His (I presume) is full of air-conditioned chambers where powerful people make far reaching decisions. I talk and crib incessantly about my work world. He rarely does. Of course we went to college together, all my grad school buddies are his buddies too (and to some extent, vice versa), and we share a completely crazy family. Nevertheless, its amazing to me that we still complete each other's sentences, and invariably, about ten times a day (maybe on a sunday when we are actually together and not being world champions), we say 'Hey I was just about to say that'.