A Perfect "Match".......

Yolanda and Me

Me and Jamie

After over 20 years of being together I take it for granted that we are...well...just us. I tend to forget that society sees us with different eyes than we do. Lately I have been reminded of this on numerous occasions. The first time was at a car show a few months back. Jamie and I went to the show with his dear friend Yolanda. Jamie and Yolanda have known each other since middle school and he has been a big brother to her all of her life.

Per the usual, while we were at the show we ran into various people we knew. Yolanda ran into some old friends as well. What we didn't know was, one of those old friend's ran back to Yolanda's soon to be ex-husband and told him she was with another man. You get the idea already, right? Now at this point in time Yolanda and her husband had been split up and had filed for divorce months before, so regardless of the true facts, it didn't really matter who she was with. What did matter was, this friend told her soon to be ex that Yolanda was at the car show with some big dude. Funny huh!? Mind you, he saw the 3 of us together and all 3 of us talked, but he still assumed that Yolanda and Jamie were together because they matched. I'm still giggling today as I write this.

I'm not done, it gets even better. After the friend told the ex, the ex went to their pastor and told him! Yep. Amazing! THEN the pastor had a conversation with Yolanda and asked her if she was at a car show with another man. Are you laughing yet? So Yolanda said, "Yes I was, AND I was also with his WIFE! Here, would you like to see a picture of them? That's his WIFE and they are a MARRIED COUPLE! He is like my brother." She said the pastor just stood there quietly shaking his head.

Isn't it hilarious that this old friend automatically assumed because Yolanda and Jamie match on the outside that they must have been together? When will people remember the definition of ass-u-me?

Just a few short weeks later, Yolanda, Jamie and I went out to dinner. Nothing out of the ordinary happened until about a week after that, when my daughter and I went out to the same restaurant. Jamie was out of town visiting his sister who was ill. We happened to have the same waitress from the week before. She said, "I remember you. You were here with your friend and her husband but you were sitting next to him." I smiled nicely and said, "Um, he is my husband and this is our daughter," pointing at Tatiana who was across the table from me. Her eyes got wide and she said, "Oh sorry." We all laughed and I said, "It's okay, but that's why I was sitting next to him." As she walked off I looked at Tatiana and said, "REALLY?! Why is it so hard for everyone to believe that he is MY husband. I don't get it."

I take it all in stride at this point because it doesn't change our love for each other, but sometimes it does get old having to constantly explain us.

We have been together for over 2 decades and one thing is for sure.... 
We don't have to match on the outside because our hearts are a perfect match on the inside!