Medium Cheddar

Pull into the Panera parking lot. See them in the corner of the lot, where plenty can, but they're all alone. He wraps his arms around her shoulders and she wraps hers around his torso. They hold on for six, seven, ten seconds. I just watch them. It's the journalist in me. Sometimes it makes me a creeper. But I watch. 

I know they have to really like each other, because it's 100 degrees outside and they're just holding on, holding on like that's all they have in the world. To me, it's just a guy and a girl hugging, but to them ... I'm pretty sure they're not all each other has in the world, but in this moment, they look like they're all they need. 

I remember moments like that, when Katie and I first started dating. Hugged her like that just before our first kiss. We still hug like that now, of course, but there's nothing like those long hugs in a brand-new relationship. And the Panera Parking Lot Couple looked brand-new. 

Saw the other day that Hugh Hefner—you know, Mr. Playboy—is known for saying, "The best part of all relationships is the beginning." I'm pretty ambivalent about Hef. But of course, he's wrong about that. The beginning might be the most fun part of a relationship, but I don't think that's even true. I'm heading towards Year Three as a married guy. It's been hard at times. Living with someone who knows all your s— isn't easy. Living with someone of the opposite sex isn't easy. Being a good husband isn't easy. There were times, yeah, when we'd argue and get fed up with each other and say things we didn't mean. 

But I'll never leave this girl. And here's why: Because now, two years into the marriage and four years into the relationship and fourteen years into knowing her, it's all better than at the beginning. We know each other better, we know how to work with each other, we're cultivating dreams and visions for our future together and we're a totally kick-ass team. 

Relationships force you to grow as a person. Or at least, they should. When you grow together with someone else, someone who loves you despite all your s—, there's something magic about that. The magic is found in the memories, in looking at where you've come with the person you're with, and then seeing where you're trying to go. And then, two years later, getting there and looking back and simply saying, "Whoa." 

Hope that couple in the Panera parking lot get a chance to know that. Don't have a clue who they are and honestly, I probably wouldn't recognize them if they came up to me and told me who they were. I wasn't that much of a creeper. But I hope that for them, because when you know love like that, it just adds this extra dimension to life. And it's good. 

So, sorry Hef. You've built yourself quite the little empire, and yeah, you've got beautiful women clamoring to be your girlfriends. I don't understand it. You're not particularly good-looking, but I guess you're rich as s—, and that must count for more than I thought. 

Anyway, in other good news related to love and romance:

Two years ago, best tennis player in the world Rafael Nadal's parents, Ana Maria and Sebastian, separated. Said they were getting divorced.

It devastated Nadal, 23 at the time. He lost in the French Open, where he hadn't lost in four years, and withdrew from Wimbledon despite having a championship to defend there, and was out of tennis the next two months. He said it was tendonitis and knee problems. Being that Nadal is a family-oriented kid, it's likely there was more to it than knee problems. 

Far as I can tell, though, his parents never finalized the divorce, and at Nadal's opening round win at Wimbledon on Monday, they were seen sitting together. Tom Tebbutt at tennis blog "Love Means Nothing" reports that "an impeccable source" has confirmed it: Ana Maria and Sebastian are back together. And anytime a marriage is saved from the flames of divorce, it's worth celebrating, for love has been redeemed. 

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For your listening pleasure, I give you "Quiet" by the fantastic band This Will Destroy You. Thanks to lil' bro Logan for the recommendation. It's become one of my new all-time favorites, too. Listened to it twice while writing this blog post, and it'll be on repeat most of the day.

Happy Wednesday, everybody.