you never have to ask me that again

     Laura and I are gradually developing a list of things we never need to ask each other again. So far she's given me permission never to ask her again: "Do you mind if I put some protein powder in the smoothie?" That's gonna save a lot of time and breath.
     I'm letting her off the hook for the following: "Is it okay that I'm not wearing a bra?"and "Do you care if my hair is like this?" It's always okay, and I never care.
     Now that we've conceived of the notion of such a list of things, I hope it becomes long and varied. Still, you want some questions to remain. I sort of hope we never get to not asking things like: "Do you feel like driving or do you want me to?" When a couple gets into automatic assumptions about who is going to drive, when either could -- I dunno. Something tends to get funky. So maybe it needs to be a short list, comprising things that are really, really okay never to ask again.
     So far, it's just those three questions.

     While I'm sharing (I know it's been awhile, for which I have some excellent alibis, and an apology), I will mention that Laura and I are today breaking in our new shoes for Ting's wedding next weekend. More to the point, we are breaking in our feet. Lots of women's feet are heel-ready; ours are not. But we are aiming to pull off the illusion that this is how we always walk: on tiptoes; legs not bending much, but instead moving past each other like the spikes of a compass. Except held together, and not making a circle.
     You can see we are still trying to get clear on the concept and its execution.