Warning: This Post Is Sappy As Hell

So the Oakland trip was well worth it. The drive there made me want to kill someone else or myself, but it was fine once I arrived to see the Unicorn's smiling face and open arms. I hung out in those arms a while as my breathing needed to slow and calm from the traffic I'd just sat in. It had taken me 50 minutes to get from here to Berkeley, which is normal. What's not normal is the 50 minutes it then took me to get from Berkeley to his place in Oakland. 50 minutes to get about 8 miles. I figure I was driving on average, 6 mph. But I did it. I did it without throwing up or crying or being out of sorts when I arrived at my destination. Well, I was a little out of sorts but not as bad as I thought I'd be. Melanie the badass: 1, Traffic: 0.

After hugging and kissing him for a while I unpacked my stuff and headed for the shower. He had laid out a washcloth and a fresh towel for me. I walked out of the bathroom with a towel covering me and told him the shower was smarter than I was. Apparently you have to do some switchamaroo where the water comes out for the tub that you have to move. He said as I walked out in a towel, "Ahh, look at you being all modest." So I said, "Habit!" and quickly dropped the towel and smiled.

I got out of the shower and put on some yoga pants and a t shirt, and bounced out to the living room. He said, "Tell me when you get hungry." After about an hour of being all snuggled up watching tv I turned and told him I was hungry. He has a teeny kitchen so I pulled a chair up right outside the kitchen so I could chat with him while he cooked. He made us a delicious skirt steak with sauteed mushrooms, a caprese salad in a bowl, and mashed potatoes. We ate in front of the tv like real life Americans. Then we snuggled some more while the food settled, until we had cake and gelato for dessert. He eats the same brand of gelato that I love, Talenti. I got to try a flavor I'd never had: double chocolate. It was DElicious.

We sat and watched the Cooking Channel, as food nerds are apt to do. I will leave out the gory details of how many times things got intimate. I'll just say that you can fit a lot of sexy time in to a 12 hour period, when you only see someone once a week or so. I have the sex drive of an 18 year old boy and thankfully, he is right up there with me.

I got up at 5:00 am Friday morning to get ready to come home. He got up with me and had yogurt and coffee for me. He listened that I eat yogurt on weekday mornings. So sweet. I hugged and kissed him a bit and really didn't want to leave. At about 5:40 I left his house. As I was driving I got a text that said, "I want you to come back." It is exactly that kind of stuff that is going to keep me around. I eat it up. When I got home it was only 7:00 am so I went by my house to unpack, check on the kitties, clean the litter box, and get ready for the day. I texted to tell him that I can totally do this every other Thursday night, so I can see him once a week. That made him very happy.

For the first time in a very long time, I feel like I have an equal partner. Someone who likes me the same as I like them. So often there is one person that REALLY likes the other, and that other kind of likes you less. That doesn't seem like the case here, and it is nicer than I can express. I am really looking forward to seeing where this relationship takes us. We already have plans to meet up with some friends of mine in the bay for dinner on the 30th. Then we're going to a tiki bar in Alameda. I like that he's a planner like I am, and doesn't look at me like I'm crazy when I try to schedule what we're doing a few weeks out. It's nice.

For now, I am giddy and happy and this is the place where Melanie is really comfortable and glad to be. A place where she talks about herself in the third person and sees absolutely nothing wrong with that. Thanks for really turning out to be my unicorn, Unicorn. I will continue to make everyone physically ill with tales of the fun we have together, and of your awesome consideration and the way you pay attention and care for me. This is going to be good times, and I am really glad for that.

Happy picture of the day: a little racially inappropriate humor to get you going on a Monday. Iiiieeeeee!