We are polar opposites on many fronts, yet we complement each other in many ways. Mick is the calm and collected rational thinker who keeps his feet on the ground, always has a plan and brings a level of structure and organization that makes our daily lives run like clockwork. Philippe, on the other hand, is the empath, the somewhat chaotic counterpart responsible for our social calendar, interior decorating, and wine selection, who thinks out loud and keeps a list of baby names long before we even discuss surrogacy.
They say opposites attract, and looking back, there have been many times when our relationship has proved it. A great example of this is the story of how we got engaged – Philippe’s version of that story goes as follows:
During the first five years of our relationship, I had been quite vocal about the fact that eventually I wanted to get married. Only, Mick had been vocal about not wanting to be the centre of attention during a wedding at all. I used to say that Mick was “romantically challenged” (this hasn’t really changed). Mick’s love language is running our household, not surprising me with candlelight dinners. I had sort of put the idea of a wedding on hold, but for our five-year anniversary, I asked Mick to surprise me. I didn’t need anything big, but a surprise dinner or a romantic evening would be nice.
To my surprise, one week, Mick asked me to keep my Saturday night open, and he took me to a fancy French restaurant where we had a five-course lobster dinner. After dinner, we got into the car, and I thanked Mick for his efforts. Except, instead of driving home, he said there would be one more stop and proceeded to blind fold me. We arrived somewhere, Mick helped me out of the car into the freezing November cold and took me by the hand. After walking for a few minutes, he let go and told me to take off the blind fold. What happened next was utter shock. I looked around and saw all of our best friends in a circle around me. When I looked down, there was Mick, on one knee, holding out a ring. Our friends told us afterwards that I was quiet for at least a full minute, and they were afraid that I would say no. The truth is, I was just in complete shock. I, the enthusiastic talker, was stunned silent by my quiet, down-to-earth better half.
