Holden

Holden is the best.  He brings me breakfast in bed, just because, on a school day. And the breakfast is not some half-baked piece of toast with unmelted butter spread haphazardly on it. The breakfast is  sausage.

He seems particularly attuned to my feelings and is always there with a hug when he thinks I need one (and I do). He never tries to solve my problems. Or, if he does try to solve them it's usually through a hilariously impractical idea that ends up just making me laugh. He thanks me for making dinner every night. Every night!

 He gets as much of a kick out of poor writing as I do, and we have even started a blog (coming soon) to parody the Local Review. I read the bad writing out loud ("if you have any questions regarding any questions you may have, please write to the editor at...") and he laughs till he can't breathe.

Once we spent three hours on a Sunday afternoon challenging each other to come up with words for Cajun Man. "InspecSHONE....contribuSHONE." We only stopped when it was time to say the invocaSHONE on our dinner.

He laughs at my jokes and likes to hear stories from my youth. He has integrated my past inside jokes into his conversations with me, and we laugh together about them all the time. He will quote lines from home movies I have made ("beef stew! That's good grub! I'll have a turn of that!") and actually thinks they are funny. It is very validating for me! He really builds up my sense of self-worth, ya know?  Like I know I am supposed to build him up, but mostly I think it's the other way around.

Sometimes I think that I probably rely too much on Holden.