It’s interesting that sometimes, we have to figure out what we don’t like just to appreciate what we do. After years of trying the same food, route, car, people, I find that I have to venture out. I do this out of some sort of wanderlust for the different, but overwhelmingly what happens is I reaffirm my love for this or that, and reach a deeper understanding of my likes and dislikes, and the objects of my affection. Occasionally, I find something I like new, and it becomes part of the new routine. That doesn’t happen nearly as much as I’d like it to, but it does happen.
What happens much more often is I am clearly reminded of what I love about my current routines and situations. For instance, I realize with each trip how much I adore my wife, and how she is a perfect person for me. What I fail to see because proximity breeds contempt is why she means so much to me. Right now, it’s her smell I miss. Her scent. Not her perfume, her scent. I could breathe her in as life each day if she’d let me. She’ll think that I just miss her naughty bits, and to some extent she’s right, but it’s the little things I find myself missing and revisiting as I get back home.
This goes back to our nature as humans beings. We miss what we don’t have, and we take for granted that which we do. What I try to do is recapture that love, that enjoyment, each and every time I return home. Of course, what she tries to do is let me know how painful it’s been while I’ve been gone immediately upon my walking through the door. At least the dog wags his tail when I come home.
The Naive Romantic 