Hey, remember that time back in 2004 when you met that person off MySpace with plans of just casual sex? Remember how that turned into them moving in a few months later due to some outside circumstances, purchasing a house, getting married 2 years later, and having a child in year 3? No? Oh yeah…that’s my story, not yours.

Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it. – Robert Baker

It’s a funny thing, love. We’re all surrounded by it, yet many of us continually yearn for it. We talk as though it will solve all our problems, but we tend to focus on the negatives that come with it. Why? Is it because we don’t know what it really is? Maybe we don’t respect the joy (and pain) it brings in our lives? Or perhaps, just maybe, we don’t really want love? Hell if I know, I’m just the guy who after a few years of boozin’ & whorin’ got married to a woman who is far beyond my league.

Love thy neighbor as yourself, but choose your neighborhood. – Louise Ball

For those that know me, you’d probably agree that I’m not the rainbows and sunshine type. Pragmatic? Yes. Surly? Absolutely. Prone to swearing? Fuckin’ A right. That’s me. And my personality is one that tends to come out in all situations, dating being no different. So previous to meeting my wife, my dating life consisted of the following:

1. Meet girl
2. Begin to date girl
3. Go through the ‘meet the friends / parents / etc’ approval period
4. Notice the ‘shine’ is wearing off
5. Girl gets tired of me (or vice versa)
6. Stop dating
7. Wash, rinse, repeat

For many years, gals would find me interesting and quirky, but soon those quirks would become annoyances and the interesting things would be come boring. It’s the life of a nerd, I get that. Hell, based on my hobbies, I should be 300 lbs, pimpled, and wearing the 3 Wolf Shirt without understanding the irony. But thanks to a generous set of genes and being a swimmer for 15 years, I avoided that.

I love being married. It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life. – Rita Rudner

That quote was on the wedding invitations. Yep. If you know nothing else about me, my wife, or our relationship, know that we agreed on that above quote with no debate whatsoever. And in the end, that is what is important. Because let’s face it: you’re gonna spend a lot of time with this person and you damn well better have the ability to enjoy the annoyances that you each are going to cause. That’s what love has always been for me. Not loving someone because of them, but in spite of them.

All You Need Blogger: Andrew Norcross

Andrew Norcross is a freelancing web monkey in St. Petersburg, FL. Heavily tattoo’d, he sleeps too little, drinks too much coffee, smokes entirely too many cigarettes, and otherwise does his thing. He’s got a fantastic wife and a rock & roll son. He occasionally blogs at Restless Like Me and is one of the founders of Untemplater

Hailing from the mean streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, Norcross makes magic with all things WordPress. He’s available for freelance gigs, you can see his work at AndrewNorcross.com

Song: Lucero – Hey Darlin’ Do You Gamble?

In the interest of full “FTC Disclosure” I should note that if you haven’t read the credits at the bottom of my page, Andrew works on developing, programming and coding my site.  He is essentially my technical ninja/guru/lifeline for Ophelia’s Webb.  I make out like a bandit in my working partnership with him, and would recommend ANYONE looking for someone to help them with anything online and most things tech don’t even shop it, JUST HIRE HIM!  This is not the reason he’s in the series though, it’s because he’s effin’ awesome all around.