and the good in On loves.

As soon as it hits midnight on my birthday, it starts.

Boyfriend and I are watching iZombie. They’re talking about the Susan B. Anthony coins.

“You know what the B. stands for?” he says to me. “Birthday.”

One of the character’s last names is Babineaux.

“You know what Babineaux means in French?” he says. “Birthday.”

Later, there’s a sex scene. “Do you know what she’s wearing?” he says and then, very pleased with himself, says, “A birthday suit.”

He took me out for birthday drinks last night. I showed up wearing a party dress and a sparkly Birthday Girl tiara and carrying my unicorn clutch (same one –> http://bit.ly/1ZNgABh).

This morning, after I’ve left his place, I get a text from him:

HEY
HEY YOU
IT WAS YOUR BIRTHDAY

This afternoon I get a text from him:

HOW ARE YOU BABY
IT ISN’T YOUR BIRTHDAY, BUT I STILL CARE

This evening, I get a text from him:

How’s your post birthday going u hottie tits

I tried talking to my mom a little about the racist stuff that I’ve been getting from her and my dad. I bring up the, “He didn’t even speak Spanish!” comment we heard my dad make and how it upset me and how my half-Mexican boyfriend doesn’t want to meet them because of all that.

My mom’s reply, essentially, was, “Your brother’s girlfriend is black and he’s never said anything about her having any issues with her race, so why do you think your boyfriend is so sensitive?”

For the record: my brother’s girlfriend is black and a doctor. I imagine race is an issue she must contend with every day.

There was more, including a declaration that they have no problems with his race and don’t care at all, followed up with a comment about how we need to understand where they’re coming from and she dealt with “all the beaners pinching my butt and cat calling” when she was growing up. So, yeah.

My brother and I had a good long talk about our parents and race (he and I are both seriously dating people who aren’t white) and seemed to really connect over it. I asked him for advice on what to do about the situation with my boyfriend and my parents and he was like, “…”

Boyfriend does not want to meet my parents. It makes me sad that my mom and dad are like that, that my mom has so much built in prejudices that she either refuses to acknowledge or tries to justify.

We’re at a housewarming party with a bunch of strangers, playing a game. You’re given a prompt, anonymously write in your answer, and everyone votes for their favorite.

“What’s the best way to blow one million dollars?”

People write in:
Hookers and coke
Prostitutes
Unlimited Taco Bell for life
(Him:) Cup the balls
(Me:) Lots of saliva and steadily increasing pace

Another one was, “If only one item could be taken into outer space, what would it be?”

I started to write in “Fleshlight,” before abandoning it in favor of something I thought was funnier (but now can’t remember).

His answer? Yep. Fleshlight.

He groped me a lot at that party.

It’s not all a shared sense of humor and adorableness. We have good conversations, serious and intense, almost as much as we talk about nothing at all. We dog sit together all the time. He’s eons smarter than I am, but he never makes me feel dumb. I got him an engraved flask for Christmas and he got me a pink unicorn flask for my birthday (“I swear I bought it before Christmas,” he said). We argue nicely and respectfully and fairly (him more than me).

My alarm goes off the morning of my birthday, and then my phone vibrates with a bajillion notifications, and I see him stirring. He will text me later to say, “Oh so for future stuffs: I’m easily awoken by vibrating - it’s why I always sleep with my phone in airplane mode.” But at this moment, when I’m grabbing my bags and about to slip out the door, he peeks out from under his eye mask and says, “It’s your birthday.”

Last updated January 06, 2016