More than Like

Thomas and I have been officially together for a week now, and we are probably in our "Honyemoon stage" when I find everything he does adorable.

I am officially a convert to dating western men. I am glad that I decided to give the white guy a go. It's so refreshing to be in a relationship where everything is clear-cut and safe. No second-guessing, no gray areas. I know what to expect. I know what I'll get. Filipino men may be maalaga but western guys give it to you straight-up and honest. That is something I definitely like.

I practically live in his flat. He makes me breakfast. An amazing lover and a good cook. What more can a girl ask for?

He digs that I'm smart and that I give great massages.

He tells me he'd be crazy to let me go. I would be crazy if I let him go.

We are so deliriously happy that we are getting paranoid. We're waiting for us to fight, we're waiting for the other shoe to drop. We're so worried that everything moved so fast. But we also believe that since everything happened so organically and so naturally, could there have been any other way?

We're just thinking of today. I do agree in principle that it is best to live for today, but to actually practice it?

He's the wisest guy ever! I kept on stressing out about the future, and he told me a story about the time he and his best friend trekked across the Alps for 21 days, from Germany to Italy. He said that their co-trekkers who stocked up food for 2 months failed to complete the trek; they on the other hand brought only enough for two weeks and bought food from little pitstop villages along the way. It takes a lot for a man to shut up any of my arguments, and he did that very calmly. I'm waiting for the time when his unbelievably logical nature annoys me.

He is so uncompromising in his principles I am bowled over. We went grocery shopping, and he actually refused the plastic bag and placed everything in his big-ass mountaineering backpack. I watched with slight embarassment, amusement, and admiration as he placed an entire salami, jug of water, a stick of butter and assorted cold cuts into his bag. I know that it is common practice in Europe, but if I were in his shoes, I'd do as the Romans!

He stuck to his guns when the owner of his P 18,000 unit refused to pay for the cleaning of his sink's grease trap, which was already clogged when he got there. I would've just shrugged it off as something not worth stressing over, and forked over the P 100. But he does have a point.

Today, he gave me the keys to his flat. He is so unafraid of commitment! He's okay with the fact that my aunt doesn't like him! He's okay with my crappy house and my crappy dorm room! That my parents are worried about my future.

He is so helping me become an adult, and is slowly teaching me to not be bonded to my parents' opinions of my life, and actually shrug off my aunt's attempts to control my life.

He likes that I'm creative and do things my way.

We're not yet at the stage where we are comfortable with saying I love you, but his feelings for me are crystal-clear. He woke up last Sunday morning with a headache. I asked him if it could be because of the beer he drank last night, which he described as "shit." In his limited English, he answered "I think I'm scared. I definitely like you more than like."