This is How I Love You, Baby

-
 She said, "Why, why don't we drive through the night?
We'll wake up down in Mexico"

"Oh I, I don't know nothin' about, nothin' about, no Mexico
And tell me why, why won't you love me for who I am, where I am?"

She said
"'Cause that's not the way the world is, baby
This is how I love you, baby
This is how I love you, baby"

-- Paul Simon,  Hearts and Bones

Ain't that the truth.

Unlike many of my other stories in which I contend dating has changed over the last 20 years, I'm not sure this aspect of relationships has ever changed or ever will. To a significant extent, we love our partners because they fit into our lives, because they do what we want, because they comply, they relent, they give us our way.

It probably all can be reduced to two words.

Yes, Dear.

Yet sometimes even this isn't enough.

Sometimes we get bored with Yes, Dear. Sometimes we get weepy and teary eyed about that mythical thing called chemistry and passion, and there's isn't much passionate about Yes, Dear. We long for something more.

So we move on.

Did you catch that?

We move on when we don't get along with each other and we move on when we do.

We just move on.

Seriously.

I mean it.

Did you catch that?

With that in mind, I turn our attention to Sarandon III. She is the oldest of the Sarandon sisters, Hockey Mom being the youngest, and Sarandon II being the middle sibling (don't worry, you didn't miss anything. If you are wondering about Sarandon II, I haven't introduced you yet). All three have no trouble appealing to my manly desires. But it is the eldest Sarandon Sister who is the subject of this essay.

Yes, she's older than me. Yes, she has less energy, and less education than Sarandon II. But you know what? She's easy going, low-key, and takes care of herself. She's so easy going, in fact, that it turns me on. It's sexy. She is making an effort to meld her life into mine.

"I have two kids, and they are young. You are an empty nester." I told her before our first date.

"No worries." She responded.

"I travel a lot."

"So?"

"I might be moving . . . further away from you. Still within driving distance, but nonetheless, further away."

"And your point?"

Talk about refreshing.

There have been times where I've wanted to throw her down on the floor at Starbucks and have at it.

I don't usually get that feeling on first and second dates. Remember, I'm cerebral and aloof.

The Eldest Sarandon Sister knows how to use her womanly charms in very subtle ways, ways that would be lost on most of the male population.

Not on me.