Married Life

This one is thanks to Dooce yesterday. It's easy to get caught up in stories of Garrett and my own ramblings; i don't mention Jeff nearly enough. So this is about my man and me.

What are your middle names? His is Eaton and mine is now Diggins. It was Rene' before we got married, but Jennifer Rene' Way didn't have quite the ring i was hoping for...

How long have you been together? Let's see...we started dating six years ago, we've been exclusive for about 5 1/2 years.

How long did you know each other before you started dating? We met two years prior but had only kept in touch sporadically, because we didn't live in the same state.

Who asked whom out? Neither of us, really. Our first few times out were with a group of friends when he came to Arizona to visit.

How old are each of you? He is 41, and i am 32. One night he was telling me about something scandalous he did when he was 13; he paused, and i said, "Wow, i was 4 years old then." His response: "Who'd have thought that all these years later, we'd be together?" My response: "Certainly not my father!"

Whose siblings do you see the most? Unfortunately, we don't live close to our siblings, so we don't see any of them more than a couple of times a year.

Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple? We've had a few adjustments to make in the last couple of years. We used to work together day in and day out, and things went really well when that was the case. When Garrett was born, i stopped working at the ranch to stay home with him, and it was a big adjustment to only seeing Jeff at night, plus being totally exhausted when he came home. And then, being parents of little ones is always hard on relationships, i think!

Did you go to the same school? No, but we wouldn't have been there at the same time anyway. He graduated from Colgate in 1989, and after a rough start at the University of Arizona and some time off, i graduated from Middlebury in February of 2001.

Are you from the same home town? We grew up on different sides of the country.

Who is smarter? He is definitely more numbers and facts smart than i am; he can remember where specific families stay when they visit the ranch, even if they haven't been here for years. Plus, he does the accounting for the ranch and is really good with all that stuff. My success in balancing a budget comes from being anal, not because i have any talent for understanding numbers.

Who is the most sensitive? We are sensitive in different ways. He chokes up more easily than i do, but my feelings are more easily hurt than his are.

Where do you eat out most as a couple? Our favorite date spot is The Pony Bar & Grill in Sheridan for big mugs of beer and a basket of hot wings! It's not that we don't appreciate good food and fine dining, we certainly do. We're just cheap these days! Plus, let's face it, there aren't many options in our small town...

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? We went to St. Lucia on our honeymoon, and it was grand.

Who has the craziest exes? We both seem to have really nice exes, it's strange.

Who has the worst temper? Me. Well, my temper is more easily triggered, i guess. It takes a lot to make Jeff angry, but when he gets there, watch out.

Who does the cooking? i do now. When we first started dating, he did most of it, but i do it now that i'm home. i miss his stir-frys!

Who is the neat-freak? Definitely me. He is perfectly content to have mounds of clothing and piles of paper all over the house. i've made it my personal mission to organize him by the time he's 50. Or maybe by the time i'm 50...

Who is more stubborn? i don't think i would describe either of us as stubborn. My mom would say i am, though. So, me :)

Who hogs the bed? We're pretty equitable when it comes to bed space. When it comes to air space in the bedroom, however, he is the hog. i have to make him roll over at least once a night when he wakes me up by snoring!

Who wakes up earlier? It used to be him. Now it's usually me...but i can actually fall back asleep if i need to. Once he's up, he's up. This is why the whole Dad-sharing-the-night-shift-with-the-baby thing didn't work for us. He tried a couple of times, but he couldn't go back to sleep and was wiped out the next day.

Where was your first date? We left the planning up to our friend Vance...dinner and a stripclub. Not kidding.

Who is more jealous? Me, definitely me. He doesn't understand jealousy at ALL.

How long did it take to get serious? Once we lived in the same place, not long at all. We were both commitment phobic, however, so we were together for quite a while before the subject of marriage even came up.

Who eats more? Well, he can eat more because he's a larger human being than i am. But i'll bet if you compared how much we can pack away based on our relative size, i would be right up there with him. Especially when we get to travel and eat sushi.

Who does the laundry? Me. It shifted that way when i had Garrett, and now he is afraid of the new machines.

Who's better with the computer? He started referring to me as his techie when i worked in the office.

Who drives when you are together? He drives, but he doesn't like to! i love to drive, and always ask to do so, but it turns out his need for control in the car is larger than his distaste for driving it...