I was stoked! I had finally completed enough of my thesis in order to take the weekend off. All I had to do was send off the chapter to my supervisor after one last read.
I set off early to pick up Walter from the airport. Since I hadn't had time, a good friend took my flat keys and picked up balloons and a 'welcome home' sign for Walter's arrival. I had covered my car windows with funny cards/postcards all written to Walter for his journey home. I love little surprises!
It was a packed weekend. Rowing races, formal balls, tea parties and a surprise trip to Paris that Walter was unaware of. Exciting!
As we set off towards the river, Walter pulled out his first surprise - the t-shirts that said 'Go Anika, Go' on them. Deja vu? Very sweet though - I had my own fan club.
For the formal ball, Walter chose to wear his mess kit. Talk about stunning man in uniform. He looked great! I was one of the few (from my set of friends) who had brought a date, so I wanted to make sure that we didn't create any awkward moments for the girls. After all, Walter was a last-minute addition to the party as it was meant to be a girls' night out! Walter didn't seem to understand that, despite my subtle hints. He wanted to be clingy and boyfriendy all night. And I felt bad, but being brought up the way I've been, public display of affection just aren't my thing and neither is creating an awkward situation with my girlfriends and I. There was no reason we all couldn't have a good time just hanging out and dancing and save the lovey dovey stuff til later! He couldn't take a hint (or several), and so it annoyed me.
The next morning, we met up with friends for brunch. He really wanted to learn how to make an Indian dessert that I love to make (Shrikhand - pressed yoghurt + spices) so I quickly taught him before straightening my hair. Normally to make it takes about an hour (50 minutes of which is just getting the water out of the yoghurt...ie. doing nothing). The rest of the process should take no more than ten minutes. Not for meticulous military man, though. There was nothing like time-pressure with this guy. We were running late for brunch and with no sense of urgency, Walter took 30 minutes to complete the recipe (let me clarify - the 'rest of the recipe' included scraping the yoghurt off the cloth and adding three spices. 30 minutes? No offence, but a monkey can work faster!). Clearly, I needed to have more patience. That, however, wasn't even the best part. When we got to brunch, my friends asked about the recipe (knowing it was why we were late), wondering if he liked it. Now, normal boyfriend response would be "yes, it was delicious". Walter's response: "it was good, but not as good as my mom's". Who does that?!?
We rushed off to catch the train to London. Walter hadn't been in awhile and I told him that I'd gotten us a hotel room in London for the night. When we arrived, I found a cab that would take us to the hotel but asked him to look up the address on our confirmation. He was confused and said "well, this can't be the right one as this is for Paris, we're in London."
"Well, check the date, maybe I mixed them up," I replied.
"It's for today, so it can't be right....wait..."
"Surprise!!!"
We had a quiet evening as we were both exhausted from the late nights before and wanted to make most of our only day in the city, the next day. In the morning, we decided it was best to check out and spend the day walking around until our evening train back to Cambridge. So, we got ready and checked out. It took me about 20 minutes from start to finish (brushing my teeth to fully packed). Walter, the meticulous army guy, had a definite way of packing. Everything had it's place. It was a slow and steady process. Very slow and steady. It took another 45 minutes before we could get going. Patience, I kept reminding myself. Everyone is different and it's about finding compromise. I wondered how I would survive, though. For most things, I worked on hyperdrive - I like to get things done and move on. Would I be able to find patience for a man with whom every task is completed at a very slow (in relative terms) pace? 'Keep an open mind,' I thought to myself. 'This will be good on some level - he'll slow you down and you'll speed him up and you'll find the middle ground.'
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