The Women I've Loved

She praised me more than any other girlfriend ever had before. She told her family and friends that I was “almost perfect.” She thought I was handsome and told me so. She repeatedly told me, “You’re so much of a man,” and “You’re all that and a bag of chips!” She was so good to me. I loved her family, and mine loved her. It was almost too good to be true. The next couple of months were a whirlwind. I needed her in so many ways. She encouraged me and advised me. There was so much to learn from her. We conversed intellectually one moment and childlike the next. She made me laugh out loud, contemplate my life, and dare to dream. She had been the consummate professional, wife, and mother. Our love was realistic and practical, while being fun and romantic at the same time. She was firm, yet forgiving. We dreamed of how wonderful our life could be together. Yes, there are different kinds of love. I now understood that. She took good care of herself. She worked out at the gym, ate right, and had more energy than me. She said her figure matched the shape of a Barbie doll, hence her nickname for this chapter. She was the type of woman you would want to take ballroom dance lessons with, and I gladly would have. She had the longest and most perfectly shaped legs I had ever seen. I used to hold them one at a time in my hands and would begin to kiss and caress them. Starting at her ankles, I would slowly kiss and lick my way up to the top of her thighs, savoring every moment of it, as did she. She would say things to me like, “I’ll give you all night long to stop that.” As much as we wanted each other, we were good about not getting too carried away. She wanted to wait until we were “official”, and I respected her wishes. One of my favorite things to do was to leave her surprises around town. I went to the nail shop where she got her manicures and left her a gift certificate for a free session. I did the same at her favorite restaurant, where she frequently stopped by on her way home from work. It took her a couple of months to discover all my little “surprises.” I loved getting the responses from her. It added a little adventure to our relationship. She was so appreciative of everything I did for her; it made me want to do even more. Although the thought of it terrified me, we discussed marriage. With the exception of an age difference, there was no other reason not to marry her. I dwelled on it daily and dreamt of it nightly. That’s probably what scared me the most. She was so right. I had even planned out how I would have proposed to her.