Raoul

I am sure many of my readers noticed an absence of new posts in the last week. Astute observers may suspect that this absence coincides with the appearance of Raoul. They would be correct. Please forgive the twitterpated rambling that is about to ensue...

Raoul and I met in early December when I began my new job 'for real'. He was temporarily assigned the task of wandering around, helping out newbies like me. Anyone who knows me knows I ask a LOT of questions and he quickly became one of my favorite answer-people. He struck me as smart and kind, and I apparently struck him as smart and attractive, which I did not suspect at the time. After the holiday rush was over he went back to his previous post and we saw very little of one another.

When I was temporarily assigned to a team adjunct to his, he stopped me in the hall to congratulate me. One would think that at this point I'd have noticed that he was paying attention to me, but I did not. Additionally, I apparently need to wear a sign that says, 'Yes, I AM single' because he says it took quite some time to find out that I was not married. Anyway, after that temporary assignment was over and I headed a new one, he mysteriously kept appearing near me on my lunch breaks. A couple of spots were opening up on his team and he encouraged me daily to apply. I was resistant (I think I noted that here) but Raoul was very encouraging and eventually when I opted to apply I sent him an email asking for interview-prep advice. At this point he cleverly obtained my home email address, which is a good thing, because I honestly don't think he would ever have asked me out at work. (we are still figuring out the complexities of dating a co-worker)

As you know, I got the job. This put us in the same place, or nearby anyhow, on almost the same schedule. We can't see each other from our hidey-holes but I can hear him pretty well and he makes me laugh. We started emailing about work stuff and eventually non-work stuff and eventually a lot of chatting online while at home, staying up too late and losing sleep because we were just having too much fun to go to bed.

It felt to me like it took him forever to ask me out on a date. I don't think he feels the same way, but that's ok. In any case, he is making up for lost time. We have been to the movies, out for coffee/tea, dancing (he is very patient and is teaching me to swing dance), hiking (well, I tried at any rate), walks in the park, etc. The boys have been gone for several days so I guess I have had a bit of a romantic-vacation-at-home. We'll have to go back to normal lives now, I suppose, but it's been fun.

Raoul is intelligent, funny, sweet, generous and patient. He makes me laugh and teaches me new things. He behaves like a gentleman. He bravely met half my family for dinner last night. He has a great smile and warm brown eyes. He's also a crazy driver and tells awful puns, just so you know I am not totally blind :-) Expect to hear more about him in future posts. (and I do hope he finds this one not-too-embarrassing)