Before we start: Doug and the Slugs are playing at Morgan's Pub on Monday. Doug and the Slugs! Remember those guys?

Most mornings, I get up for work at around 6:15. This gives me 45 minutes in the bathroom, plus about 40 minutes to eat breakfast with the Tiny Dinosaur, drink a soothing cup of tea, and let the cat scratch up my hands before catching the bus for my hour-and-a-half commute to work. Given that we tend not to go to sleep until around midnight, this doesn't generally leave me feeling all that rested.

Still, I don't think this accounts for the strange feeling that came over me the other morning. I had just emerged from the bathroom, freshly scrubbed and shaven and had snuck into the bedroom to get dressed without waking Lisa.

My mind was on her, as it always is after I've shaven. The only reason in the whole world that I bother shaving at all is because Lisa hates my stubble. (That and the fact that I grow the world's nastiest beard. "Pardon me, sir, but is that the mange?") I always hold onto my happy thought while mowing my face.

I was just about to sneak out and get my breakfast, when I glanced back over my shoulder at Sleeping Beauty. She has the habit of spreading out all over the bed once my half is vacated -- quite often she doesn't even wait until then -- and was sprawled out under the covers, head to one side, one hand under the pillows, with her stuffed Panda, Xing Xing, nestled to one side of her.

Lisa is the longest relationship I have ever experienced. Some 1580 days, 16 hours, 41 minutes and 37 seconds. Approximately. Nearly four-and-a-half years with one person totally boggles my mind. We've lasted longer than your average marriage.

The thing that amazes me most, beyond the fact that anyone could put up with me for that long, is that the warm gushy feelings we get haven't gone away. Yeah, okay, we've fallen into the relationship trap of taking each other for granted once in a while, but whenever I stop and take the time to simply look at her...

...I feel it all over again.

I had to have stood there for ten minutes, watching her as she snored gently into the pillow. The cats were pawing at my ankles for attention, the Hungry Dinosaur was waiting impatiently for his piece of Eggo, and the time was ticking for my dash to the bus stop. Didn't matter. I was suffused in a warm glow all my own, looking down at my one true love.

If you will forgive me for alluding to a TV show (and a sci-fi one to boot), one of my favorite bits from Babylon 5 was the Minbari tradition of having the bride-to-be watch her chosen mate sleep for three nights, to see what face appeared when all the masks were gone.

Standing there with the early rays of the sun diffusing through the closed curtains, I saw all the things that I fell in love with in Lisa. Her warmth and brightness, her gentleness and sense of humor (she smiles in her sleep). Her odd combination of innocence and sensuousness. The beautiful line of her neck and shoulders.

Finally, I couldn't resist. I had to gently climb onto the bed beside her and slide my arms around her. She smiled muzzily and cuddled in without even waking up completely. Ah, heaven.

That was a good morning.

Awwwww...

Yesterday wasn't so mushy.

Are you going to talk about Con-Version or what?

Take me home, big fella