here's lookin at you, kid.

life is going well these days, mostly. I still lie awake a few days a week worrying about money, my life, school, my relationship with eric, and so on. I know it doesn't do me any good, but I can't help thinking about everything on my plate.



this is the school story: I'm currently trying to get in the program at forest park or even meremac. that way I'm only spending less than $10,000 for my RN instead of the $37,000 for my BSN. with me and eric talking long-term (like, forever), I can't in good conscience take out another gazillion dollars to pay for my education. I won't do it.



so. at this point, the biggest thing stopping me from getting things really done and moving is me. I have such a hard time doing all the grown-up bullshit...it's like I freak out and avoid it altogether. I can cop out and say that it's because of all my baggage, but I have to move on, forgive my past, and take care of fuckin business.



today I'm hoping to look over the practice dosage test and then take it next week at fo po. I then need to talk to another advisor about signing up for the nursing gig and continuing those steps with vigor. I have to look into financial aid and any kind of grants I can get. this will happen sooner than later, and I can have a better attitude about it all because that's what will get me through this. everyone else in my life supports and believes in me; why can't I?



in other news, eric and I really are talking about the future. he said specifically last night that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. it's not the first time that's come up in our conversations, which thrills me everytime I think about it. I love the idea of being his wife, of him being my husband. and that's not it; it's more than an idea between me and him. it's so much more tangible than that. I remember telling him in the beginning of our relationship that I've never been anything but myself around him, and that's still the truth.



I can see waking up with him every day, I can see making babies with him, I can see him being an incredible father, I see him being a part of my family, I see him with me always. I'm so freakin crazy about that kid. I love touching him. I love talking to him. I love hearing and watching him sing and including me in his musical life. every day I fall more in love with him, and I thank the high heavens for sending him to me. this is what I was waiting for. all those silly romantic songs about finally finding that one person really do have some merit. we make so much sense together where steven and I didn't. what steven and I had in passion is more than made up for in eric's love, kindness, gentleness, intelligence, drive, confidence, caring....I could keep going on and on. the passion I feel (or felt) with steven keeps waning as I feel more and more passionate about eric.



ok, enough super sappy talk. the bones of it is that I have finally fallen in love with a stand-up guy. I told him the other day that I was so, so lucky to have found him. I always wait for the bottom to drop out in my life, but I see no real bottom with him. I think he loves me and wants to be with me too. I think I knew since the beginning that I could see a real future with him, and while it killed me to wait around for him to come to any realization on his own, my patience paid off. he asked me a few weeks ago that he wanted us to move in together. he's said more than once that he hopes and plans to get married to me. he regularly melds our lives together in the future tense; when I mentioned 'my dog, Mac..." he corrected me and said 'our dog!' I'm so excited to have someone who wants to share his life with me. I'm excited every morning to wake up with him. how cool is that?



...



we got into a huge fight the other day. huge screaming match in the middle of the night. I was so angry that I got my dog and my purse and tried calling someone to come pick me up (at 2am). things ended up ok, obviously, but it was fairly dramatic. the basis of the fight has to do (again) with his questioning my level of commitment, and that it really bothers him if I mention other guys in my life. it started with me getting a text from steven. why the fuck was he texting me anyway??! but he did. he wanted me to come over or something, and he said he still loves me. he was really drunk, of course, so I sent one text back telling him to have fun and be careful, but no, I'm not coming out to see him.

so when I told this to eric, that's when the fight started - the fight that we were supposed to have had weeks ago. we duked it out and got a lot of shit on the table, but I walked away without feeling settled about any one thing. he was so patronizing and didn't take what I said seriously. I couldn't tell why...? like, does he just think I'm some silly young girl he can't take seriously?? it drives me nuts. I'm so much more mature and level-headed than so many females my age, first of all, and secondly, my concerns were legitimate. I mentioned the fact that I thought his relationship with the band girls sometimes bordered on inappropriate, and he called it a 'moot point.' what the fuck? ok, I get it, I don't have anything to worry about. but it's not a 'moot point' because it bothers and concerns me, which really was my biggest argument.

what I really hate about the whole scenario is that I walked away feeling like shit. I also have all of this anxiety about the littlest things because I don't know what's going to bother him or set him off. I hate that he harbors those feelings and then explodes on me later. I have no idea if he's even mad till it's way too late. I'm a 'fixer'; I like to make things better, and I can't begin to do that if he refuses to address the problem head on.

I actually mentioned this to him the other day. his mom is being really ugly throughout the divorce, and while some of her actions are unfounded, I think that many of them are a result of her harboring anger and resentment so long that it's coming out in an explosive and henceforth destructive way. eric does the same thing, though he's obviously not nearly as awful as his mom has been. so I approached him when we were getting along and in a 'safe' place (metaphorically speaking) and I asked him if he thought that his mom was perhaps dealing with her past feelings now. I then said that he does the same thing, and he's in danger of dealing with them negatively like she is if he doesn't attend to the problem initially.

his response was that he's had this conversation a hundred times before, that that's the way he is, and that he holds things in. I told him that he may have talked about it before, but not with me, and he may have always been that way, but he doesn't have to be. I asked him to make a concerted effort to address shit in the present because...well, because shit is better fixed, is all.

to further update on the eric situation, this morning he told me that when his dad moves out (he said hopefully by the summer...gulp...I was hoping by january), I'm going to move in with him. he's then going to pick up a summer job and start saving for my ring...! we both want a short engagement and a small wedding, probably at blumenhof. I'm so excited I can't stand it. I asked him if he knew the tradition of spending a certain amount on my ring, and he said, "yeah, two months' pay, right?" I'm like whoa! no thanks! I don't need anything fancy! but it was cute, all the same.

I can't wait to really get started on my life with him. I can't bloody wait.