Does absence really make the heart grow fonder?

There was a time when I loved to travel for work – eat out every meal, enjoy room service in a plush robe and pillow-top bed with cozy sheets and blankets, and even an occasional drink at the hotel bar with a complete stranger, that by the end of the conversation was like a new friend. Fast forward to present day, having done very little work travel in the last two years, and suddenly I’m gone over a third of the month of March on two different East Coast trips.

I’m finding my love for work travel is fading to more of a little crush. I still get butterflies in my stomach going somewhere new, but I miss all the comforts of home that much more. And let me tell you, being gone so much in the early stages of a relationship makes travel that much harder.

Things with Pele could not be better. Each and every date is an adventure, and I can’t believe just how happy I am with how things are going. Being gone so much this month has made me realize that even more. I think it’s true what they say, absence does make the heart grow fonder! I look forward to talking to him when I’m gone, sharing the experiences of the days and adventures in new cities, and even more, I enjoy coming home and catching up over dinner or a movie, reconnecting face-to-face, not to mention the feeling of complete content hearing, “I’m really glad you’re back.” I realize more and more just how lucky I am right now – even if it takes racking up hundreds of airlines miles along the way!

Gooooooaaaaaalllll!

During last year’s World Cup, I couldn’t help but fall in love with futbol, or as we like to call it in America, soccer! I attempted to play soccer as a kid, but I’ll be honest, I pretty much sucked. I did understand the game, just didn’t really play well, so I never lost any love for the sport I didn’t succeed at, just turned my attention to others until I was drawn back in. Sure, there’s some pretty good eye candy in the game of soccer too – ummmm, hello David Beckham – so that doesn’t hurt the cause.

So it’s not a surprise that when I met Pele (my friend of the last couple months), I was immediately drawn to the fact that he continues to play soccer in his spare time and manages to play at least two games every week on various rec teams. Ironically, he’s opened my eyes to another game too – hockey! Hockey is a lot like soccer, so it was easy to catch on…and I especially like the fighting. You know I love me a good throw down between two large, sweaty men every now and then (I am after all a UFC fan by choice). Even better, they yell “goal” when someone scores too. What’s not to love about that!?!

While I’ve been dribbling the ball up and down the field for years in this wonderful world of dating, I feel like I’ve finally scored my first goal in a very long time. It’s been a while since I’ve felt this happy in a relationship with someone who shares the same game plan as me and it feels great. No passing the ball up and down the field trying to psych-out the other. Just a straight shot, past the goalie (a.k.a. the guard I’ve put up for a long time) and straight through the goalposts. We’ll see how things go the next few plays, but for now, all I can think of is Goooooooaaaaaaallllll!!