Keys to the Castle

We've hit a new stage in our relationship.  My, they seem to be coming fast and furious now, don't they?  It started out as a night here or there.  Then, it was all weekend and now it's progressed to every night.  My honey is always at my place now.  In fact, he now has his own key to the house.

We were briefly separated recently due to his vacation plans and the Mynd's taking a long weekend trip out of town for a family wedding. The Mynd's have three children; two teenage boys and a second grade princess.  We had each, separately, agreed to help watch their kids before we started dating.  My honey had agreed to stay at the Mynd's to watch the teenagers.  I had agreed to watch the princess at my place for a boy-free weekend of girliness.  All of this was scheduled and arranged in January, months before our first date would take place.  Even though 'he' and 'I' are now a 'we', my honey thought it was a bad idea to stay at the Mynd's together to watch the kids.  Something about unmarried people sharing a bed and scarring young mynds for life.  So, there would be a boy house and a girl house for the duration of the long weekend.

I say we were apart, but we got the kids together as often as possible over the weekend.  It would have been cruel to keep us the kids apart for five whole days.  We took the kids out to eat, took the kids to see the new claymation Pirate movie, watched hockey games with the kids on the Mynd's hi-def, big screen TV, and took the kids to church together.  He took them to the service at their church, I went to mass at my church.  By the end of the weekend, my honey had decided that three kids was too many and he definitely didn't want to have more than two. 

The teenage Mynds are a little older than this,
but the princess from this picture definitely works.

I'm pretty sure his trip to and from church alone with all three kids in his car helped him reach the two child max decision.  When I caught up with them after mass, he looked flushed, beleaguered, and was mouthing to me, "Please, take one of them!  I don't care which one, just take one."  I took the princess, who also looked like she desperately needed a break from her brothers.  Apparently, "I'm Not Touching You" was a game played diligently during the ride to and from church.  In spite of this, we somehow survived our extended weekend of quasi-parenthood and we even found time to nap together on the couch while the princess cleaned her room and the boys played on the gaming console of their choice.

For the better part of two weeks, he wasn't at my place (what with all the vacationing and child-rearing going on in our lives).   The day that the Mynd's returned from their trip the following conversation took place:

Honey: I'm definitely coming straight home after work.

Me: Here or your place?

Honey: (chagrined expression) Here.

Me: Aww! You just called this home.

Honey: Yeah. (sighing) I've been slipping and saying that alot this week.

Me: To who? That's the first time you've said that to me.

Honey: To people at work.

Me: Really? (big smile)

Honey: Yeah, really. (smiling)


A few days later, we took the conversation a step further.  My honey gets home from work earlier than I normally do.  Since he's been staying with me so much, I've been cutting out of work earlier than normal in order to get to the house before him.  But, last Wednesday was a long day for me at work.  I had a mandatory training til after 5 pm, which wasn't going to work with the whole rushing home to open the house for my honey thing I'd been doing.  He's normally off work by four and home by quarter of five. 

We talked about ways to solve this problem.  He said he could go to his place and hang out for an hour.  I thought that was silly since he hasn't done that in ages.  I offered to leave him my key so he could let himself in when he got to the house.  He said that wouldn't work since I leave for work after him and would need the key to lock up the house.  Nothing I suggested was acceptable to him.  Then, I looked at him and realized what he was angling towards.  My honey was ready for a key to the house!

This is not the first time this key situation has occurred.  There have been times where he was off work and I wasn't, times where I left for church and he waited at the house for me to come back.  I left him the key on those occassions because I felt bad that he couldn't leave the house due to his keyless status.  I even told him to take the key and get a copy made while he was off work so that he could come and go as he pleased.  He refused, saying that getting a copy of the key was something we should do together.  Now, by refusing to accept any alternative solution to the problem, I realized he wanted a house key.  Big step, huh?

When I suggested we go to the hardware store and get a key made for him, he lit up like a Christmas tree.  He grabbed his keys and suggested we go immediately.  Yup, that's what he was aiming for with all that nay-saying of other ways to handle the situation.  So, off to the hardware store we went and together we had a key made for him.  We also had a copy made for Mrs. Mynd in the event that I ever fall out of a canoe again and need her to come to the rescue with dry clothes.

The key was apparently a starting gun for moving in together, something we have been talking about doing, but that I wanted to hold off on until after school let out.  Once my honey had a key to the casa, stacks of DVDs showed up in my living room, tons more clothing arrived in the bedroom, and a box of hockey paraphenalia showed up in my home office.  There has even been talk of his big screen TV (which won't fit in my current entertainment center) and his gaming system making the journey to the house.  I put the kibosh on that one temporarily. 

Holy moly, that's a lot of DVDs.  I owned plenty on my own,
but now there have to be like 500 DVDs in the house.

I can organize and store DVDs (as seen above) and clothes on the fly when the situation calls for it.  The box of hockey stuff can hide in the office til I'm ready to help him figure out where it will go on permanent display.  I draw the line at moving furntiure (extremely large and heavy furniture) before school lets out.  We said not til June 8th and I'm holding him to that deal.

I'm betting the TV and entertainment center are here before then, though.  He'll wear me down, I just know he will.  How else can the hockey bobbleheads lining my mantle right now be explained?



Obviously, not my best photo editing work.  But, this is what the top of my mantle looks like right now.
Three months ago, I couldn't have told you who most of these players were and now they live on my mantle. 
Don't the eyes seem to follow you?  Creepy!